Greetings, Everyone!
I have been absent from the List for about 3 months while I
moved, settled into my new house, and started a home business, so I
will reintroduce myself-- I'm Debra Thomason (computer operator in
Ft.Worth, TX), and my husband Scott and I are the adoptive parents of
5 fuzzy wonders. They are, in order of appearance in our household:
Pixie (Pixinator,Pix)- Chocolate Siamese,MF,cuddle-girl supreme. Very
sweet disposition,sensitive to human needs/emotions.
Shadow (ShadowMeister,HandsomeBoy,BegMeister)- Sable,MF,long and
lean,came from Patty's Beggars and Thieves,blind, likes to BE
with his people,is a supreme treat beggar.
Laska (TinyWease,ElfWeasel)- Sable,MF,very small,our rescue girl,
extremely neglected for nearly 2 years before coming to live
with us,checks on us to be sure she knows where we are,an ear
cleaner!
Thor (Thorn,Pest,BigBoy,Tor)- Adopted from a fellow ferret club
member at 6 mos. He came from a breeder and was whole for a few
weeks upon joining our family. Has a "dumb jock" personality
mostly, but occassionally surprises us with sweet behavior.
Sierra (BabyWease,F105-G)- A petstore ferret from Canada,arrived with
the tell-tale nylon stitch in her belly,started out a silver
mitt, but grew significant black guard hairs (undercoat still
white and she appears light colored from a distance). She has
a constant expression of surprise or wonder on her face.
"Talks" alot when playing with chase toys, FASTEST ferret I've
ever seen, hence F105-G, since it was designated the "Wild
Weasel" and she does seem jet propelled....
On a personal aside, <waving> Hi to a certain CA anon poster with 8
(or is it 9 now?) fuzzies, and if Gail Beebe is still on this list,
please drop me a quick E-mail to respond to-- Scott is in Denver and
will be again at the end of the month!
TroyLynn recently requested info on the numbers of ferrets tested for
rabies versus number of postives. I sent off for reports that would
yield this info for the state of Texas over the years 1989-1993. I
requested that info in late September 1994 and accompanyed my request
with the $ amount quoted me by the head of the zoonosis contorl
department in Austin (who is also on the NASPHV board I might add).
My check cleared the bank in late October. I called the Zoonosis
Control department in mid-January and again in early March about these
reports and finally received them last week. From the 5 annual
compilations I extracted the following figures:
1989 1990
# Tested # Positive # Tested # Positive
Ferrets 50 0 46 0
Cats 3461 12 3533 13
Dogs 3468 43 3301 32
Bovines 189 7 152 6
Equines 83 15 77 5
Weasel 3 0 Human 1 1
1991 1992
# Tested # Positive # Tested # Positive
Ferrets 38 0 41 0
Cats 3349 17 3528 16
Dogs 3326 36 3681 56
Bovines 184 15 210 11
Equines 101 7 85 6
Weasels 1 0 2 0
1993 5-Year Totals
# Tested # Positive # Tested # Positive
Ferrets 34 0 209 0
Cats 3515 21 17386 79
Dogs 4025 54 17801 221
Bovines 208 11 943 50
Equines 84 6 430 39
Weasels 3 0 9 0
Humans 1 1 1 1
These are not anywhere near all of the animals tested by the Texas Department
of Public Health, nor are all positives spelled out by me. These are just
figures that I thought might be interesting or useful to pro-ferret people
fighting the myth that ferrets are rabies carriers or even prone to rabies
infection and shedding. Just as an example, the greatest number of positive
rabies tests in 1993 were from skunks, foxes, bats, and coyotes. These
species together represented 78% of all positive rabies tests in Texas in
1993. In the same year, 14% of all positive rabies tests were from dogs and
cats, species which may be released with only a 10 day quarantine! Public
health guidelines ALLOW for a 30 day quarantine of biting ferrets but
RECOMMEND that they be destroyed and tested. There is obviously a record of
killing and testing an animal that has not been proven a rabies risk as 209
dead, rabies-free ferrets testify. Please, somebody in each state gather this
information and share it freely! It may help change laws and policies long
before we can see the results of years of shedding studies and save ferret
lives. I will make copies of the Texas reports for anyone who wants them for
the cost of copying and postage. Each report is in the 15-20 page range as it
was mailed to me, but the most vital info is on 2 pages only, the rest being
listings of numbers of tests by county and distribution maps (stuff most
likely useful to Texans, but I think that being able to produce the report
complete might be useful in some legalization campaingns). I would like to
find out how many of the ferrets tested above were vaccinated and under what
circumstances testing was ordered, but I found that to do that I would have to
get detail reports from each county reporting negative tests in the other
catagory (into which ferrets fall) since the state doesn't indicate which
counties required testing of ferrets. My mind boggles considering the cost
and time involved in polling 71 counties just for the year 1993 since it took
$10 and 6 months to get a pre-prepared report from the state!
Oh, well, I have gone on quite long enough for one post. I hope you find the
information above informative and useful. Kisses to everyone's fur-babies!
Debra in Ft.Worth
[Posted in FML issue 1156]
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