All I can say is this: I emailed the person who accused me and my company
of this, and invited her to
1. Go to my website and look at the farm picture of the hanging cages,
and 2. Come visit the farm herself, and 3. Retract her statement.
 
That is a perfect example of someone spreading misinformation with the
intention of damaging someone's reputation or hurting their business
under the guise of "informing or warning buyers, or backing up someone's
accusations." Isn't that what usually happens in inquisitions and witch
hunts?  My ferret farm has a building (2 in fact, but I only use one)
that is 40 by 300 foot with cages hanging from the ceiling, except for
the play area that is 48 feet long and on the floor, and the platform
play cage that volunteers are still constructing.  If anyone had come
to my farm and gotten a ferret from me, I could have given them any
information that they wanted about the ferrets, such as if it was
descented or not.
 
If a ferret is not descented, I tell a buyer.  Some people want a ferret
descented, and other people realize that it is not necessary.  I sell
them both ways, according to which vet does the surgery, or by what the
buyer prefers since so many are neutered after being sold.  But something
is wrong with the claim that a person came and bought two smelly, biting
ferrets from me out of nasty stalls.....so the issue of those particular
ferrets is useless.  Again, go to my website with an open mind, and read
it for yourself:
www.carolinaferrets.net or www.carolinaferrets.com.
 
As to our company sending out kits that are 4.5 weeks old at the time of
surgery, there again, go to the site and read it for yourself.  I can't
argue with anyone who is convinced that a ferret is a certain age and
that they are correct and then proclaim me to be unreputable breeder--
BUYER BEWARE!...... All I have is the jill, to whom and when she was
bred, the date of birth on a card, the litter information, the lactation
notes, the vaccination notes, and other information to reassure me that
the kit was not that young at the time of surgery AND the vets (8 of
them ) making the final decision.  What she has as "proof" in an email
from me is a discussion back and forth about a kit that I could not
immediately identify because she told me that the person bringing it in
was one man, when in fact it was another, prompting me to email him my
best wishes for his service in Iraq (wrong guy)!
 
The problem with the proposed changes in USDA rules is that the
enforcement will be an issue, and I don't think that it will be enforced
evenly from state to state, PLUS, time and time again I have had
occasions when veterinarians were mistaken about ages when the ferrets go
in for exams after being shipped, off by several weeks.  My angoras, for
example, develop very slowly compared with my regular ferrets, and any
kits that are half angora develop more slowly.  If a buyer wants a kit
that is 5 weeks old, I have them check out their neutering costs and
discuss that with them, and then they buy them intact if they want a very
young kit that is weaned and can afford the surgery.  Often, it is local
people coming by the farm, selecting a kit, then returning the kit when
it is time for the surgery and picking it back up after surgery with my
vets.
 
Half information, misinformation, intentionally misleading
information.... these are the types of posts that no sensible group of
people needs.  I saw on one post where a buyer came to my house to pick
up her "healthy" ferret.  It contained all sorts of misleading
information, such as the ferrets being crowded into one story cages.  My
goodness.....have you ever tried to pick out a ferret in a cage that is 8
by 4 by 4 with tubes and hammocks in it?  And what about the heat issue?
 
I ask for an appointment, then they usually call me lost on their cell
phone, which gives me time to take them out of their cage in the air
conditioning, which is usually where the kits are that are spayed and
neutered and being sold are, in the summer, away from the breeder ferrets
at the farm to limit the risk of disease exposure to the breeders, and
put them into a smaller cage in the shade outdoors where they are very
entertained for a short while by people taking them out and playing with
them in the yard, making their decision while looking at all their
choices clearly.  But to read it the way she wrote it would certainly
lead you to believe otherwise.
 
People are not wrong to want information about ferret farms, breeding
practices, etc, but all of the finger pointing and false accusations are
really not what everyone needs.  If anyone wants to, they can come visit
the farm after the new floor dries and the cages are repositioned FROM
THE CEILING, which is what you will note if you look at the pictures of
the farm on my website.  But dirty stalls..................??????  I
guess I will wait for the next accusation to appear tomorrow.  I wonder
what it will be: fleas?  , my husband is really a vet so why do I take
them to Canada?  I can't possibly raise angoras?  Maybe it will be that
I am really Elvis.  The sky is the limit, isn't it?
 
--Kathy Jordan,
Carolina Ferrets
[Posted in FML issue 5022]