Yesterday I received my copy of Fox's new edition -- FINALLY got around to
ordering it from Ferret Ware (1-800-FERRETW, 1-650-917-0346 if outside the
U.S., $63.95 after S&H).  Hildy has about 30 left; our earlier inquiries
elsewhere indicate that the printing run is finished on this.  From a
recent issue of the Ferret Report I think that the AFA MIGHT have some left
in stock, too, though I haven't asked them.
 
One downside as far as the book goes: printing predates the 1998 Compendium
so those unaware of the change may think from the book that death is still
recommended in bite situations though it is not by the State Public Health
Vets in most states Another aspect of the Fox book which might greatly
bother some people is that there are detailed mentions of some of the
research uses of ferrets and some failed (as in ferrets not getting the
diseases) uses tried in the past.  The Caging factors mentioned are
questionable -- TINY cages shown and so on.
 
It does have a MARVELOUS section on diet and nutrition, though, and I
noticed some things which have come up here some in recent months (some
probably longer ago), and other very interesting abberations: alkaline
urine and bladder stones from diets which are high in plant protein (in a
case mentioned a colony was on mostly plant protein, mention also that
yellow corn as a primary protein source turned out to be especially bad for
stones -- important to us since we recently found out after buying food in
a rush that one of the ones we use in our mix has changed to have loads of
ground corn), nutritional steatitis (yellow fat disease) due to Vitamin E
deficiency from a diet high in polyunsaturated fat or high in marine fish
(mentioning because people have recently asked about polyunsaturated fats
and fish diets), thiamine deficiency from a diet high in fish or from raw
eggs (ditto), zinc toxicity from galvanized dishes (Ferrets are VERY
sensitive to this.), salt toxicity in ferrets fed 1/3 of their diet from
tuna stored in salt brine, Hyperphosphorosis (like rickets but not true
rickets) from a diet of meat protein without calcium supplementation, etc.
etc.  There's an entire chapter on nutritional needs, figures when
available, and nutritional problems.  ANYONE SERIOUSLY INTERESTED IN DIET
QUESTIONS NEEDS TO HAVE THIS BOOK.
 
BTW, Missouri, (Thought about you since the Compendium came up above.) is
anyone there addressing the problem that turned up (?) -- that the past "No
Kill" was NOT based in hard policy but in the influence of the past Public
Health Vet who has retired so now there is local autonomy?  Wish he'd been
upfront when asked.  The AFA is going to be doing a state by state re-check
to find as many problem areas which need to be addressed as possible, BTW,
according to a recent chat.  If you are involved in trying to bring about
change in any state with a problem, please, contact Diane Rogers of the
AFA, P.O. Box 255, Crownsville, MD 21032-0255.
 
Sukie
[Posted in FML issue 2552]