>From:    Shari Diane <[log in to unmask]>
>Subject: Aggressive Canadian Ferrets?
>A local Raleigh, North Carolina vet has asked me to ask the FMLers
>(especially Canadians) if they are aware of non-MF aggressive ferrets bred
>several years ago?  The vet was practicing in Michigan then, and saw some of
>the most aggressive ferts (compared to MF), not sure if they were Hagan's,
>not unusual in size, but thought they may have been brought in from Canada.
 
Any reason why this vet thought they were brought in from Canada?
 
There was a fairly large scale breeding operation in Alberta that was closed
down a few years ago for poor breeding practices.  The ferret kits coming
out of there were horrendously awful.  We had one from them, that we had
purchased at a pet store as a 6 week old kit, and she was still terribly
nasty at well over a year of age, when she was euthanized for her behaviour
(don't even bother flaming me, we didn't euthanize her -- but I didn't
disagree with the decision.  When we owned her she was never abused or
mistreated and yet twice I ended up in Emergency getting stitches thanks to
her aggressive behaviour).
 
At any rate, I know this breeder shipped all over the continent and most of
the ferrets on the West Coast came from him until Hagen moved into the
market.  As I heard, his ferrets were in terrible shape, housed in truly
awful environments and he mated anything to anything, no concerns about
bloodlines or inbreeding.
 
Hagen has pretty friendly ferrets, although we've been seeing a lot of early
deaths and other strange problems in them over the last few years.  CDC has
nice looking ferrets, and they're pretty big too.
 
On the whole, however, I am always amused when people try to say Canadian
ferrets are more this, or less that, than American ferrets.  I don't see
what makes them any different from all your ferrets.  We have American and
Canadian ferrets, neutered and not, and they all have lovely personalities.
I don't see a whole lot of differences in temperaments or smarts.
 
Sheena - [log in to unmask]  | "To Err is Ferret ... To Forgive|
VP - Ferret Association     | "... Well, That's Our Job"      |
     of Greater Vancouver   (Wherret Web Pages Coming Soon!)
  We're on the Web! http://www2.portal.ca/~cmc/ferrets/fagv/
[Posted in FML issue 1823]