Anthony asked:
>once concern I have is with commercial breeders.  If shipping standards
>are set at 8 wks AND require surgical incisions to be fully healed,
>isn't it possible breeders just won't alter kits, leaving it up to pet
>stores & owners to do?  If that is a possibility isn't it likely MORE
>communities may ban ferrets to prevent release of unaltered ferrets
>into the wild?
 
Nope.
 
Before there was as much competition as exists these days the farms
didn't send ferrets to pet stores until they were 8 weeks old.
Competition drove the ages down into the current often seen unhealthy
5 week range.
 
Why would you think that it would cause them to not sterilize them?
Farms know about ferret math and want it involve purchases of their
ferrets rather than reproduction.  Plus the pet stores that sell them
do not want whole ferrets.
 
The same reasons for the farms not selling whole ferrets exist when
selling them at 8 weeks old as selling them at 5 weeks old like they
currently are doing.  Going back up three weeks to what was once the
norm, and is extremely healthier is not going to cause a radical change
in farm behavior that would increase the competition they have from the
private sector.
 
The surgical incisions take about a week to heal in kits that age.  If
the age is pushed up to the 8 week old minimum age for transport or
sale then the surgery could be done anywhere up to almost 7 weeks age
and still be healed by the time they are ready to be shipped or sold.
Currently a number are having the surgeries when they are about 4 to 5
weeks of age and then being shipped less than a week later.  There is
nothing wrong with expecting an individual to be healed from surgery
before shipping.  It should be the norm to let patients heal first.
 
Anthony, did you perhaps not realize that the 8 week age is a minimum and
that the problem is that currently it is common practice for much younger
kits to be sold and shipped?  It sounds like maybe for some reason you
thought that this was an age reduction from what is currently happening
with most pet store kits.  The only way I can see those questions arising
would be if perhaps you didn't realize that it is quite common to find
kits as young as 5 weeks old who are just past surgery in the stores at
present time.
 
Re: pet stores: Pet stores are also among those who are not in USDA/
APHIS jurisdiction, so, no, the USDA/APHIS can't tell them what to dozz
on that score (timely vaccination).  That is an issue which will have
to be addressed state by state when people can get together enough folks
in their states to tackle it.
 
USDA/APHIS only regulates a few type so places but those places affect a
large number of ferrets.  This is how to improve conditions for farms,
distributors, the transportation they use.  For instance, it won't affect
most breeders because very few are anywhere near large enough to be USDA
regulated, and almost none of them sell ferrets to retail stores.  (They
fall under their states' licensing and inspecting agencies instead.)
 
-- Sukie (not a vet)
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[Posted in FML issue 4983]