This letter is carried to the FML and FHL with the author's permission.
Dr. Heller writes that this letter may be carried to other ferret forums
and ferret newsletters as long as it appears in its entirety without
changes, and with full attribution of Dr. Heller and her hospital.
 
Only a short time remains before it will be too late to get in
letters in time to meet the 11/18/05 APHIS deadline for trying to get
ferret-specific APHIS standards designed by ferret veterinarians, a move
desired to save ferret lives.  Letters right now are worth so very much
to protect ferrets.
 
---
 
Ruth L. Heller, DVM
Borderbrook Animal Hospital
374 1 William Penn Highway
Murrysville, PA 15668
(724) 327-2200
 
Docket No. 04-088-1
Regulatory Analysis and Development, PPD, APHIS, Station 3C7 1
4700 River Road Unit 1 18
Riverdale, MD 20737-1238
October 26,2005
 
To Whom it May Concern:
 
This letter is to congratulate you for taking the time and effort needed
to consider the current lack of protection for ferret kits being sold
through pet stores.  As ferrets become more and more popular, the lack
of standards that require them to be shipped and sold with consideration
to their physical and developmental needs becomes an ever more pressing
danger to them.  Kits are taken from their mothers at very early ages,
sometimes prior to their eyes opening, subjected to a major surgery, and
shipped even before they should be weaned.
 
As a long-time ferret owner, a veterinarian with a special interest in
ferret medicine, and for the past several years, a hobby breeder of
ferrets, I can say that I have seen both health and social differences
between kits that are taken from their mothers at early ages and those
allowed to remain with them until natural weaning occurs.  The kits that
are allowed to be with their mother and litter mates are far healthier as
far as bone density, muscle development, social interaction skills, etc.
Those that are taken away earlier are retarded in their development,
often leading to later life health issues such as fabric sucking and
chewing, inability to interact appropriately with other ferrets, and
stunted growth.
 
In addition to that, the stress of shipping at a very vulnerable time
physically can lead to very serious problems.  I have seen kits arrive at
stores (and be sold) when dehydrated, with fractured jaws, with infected
surgical incisions.  I have seen kits that are incapable of eating the
food provided for them because their developmental stage is still at the
point where they cannot eat solid food.
 
I urge you to thoroughly evaluate the situation and provide care and
shipping standards for these animals that will protect them from the
above problems.  A minimum age at shipping of eight weeks would allow
them to be weaned naturally, to have the ability to eat solid foods
without difficulty, to develop greater bone strength and greater ability
to withstand the traumas of surgery and shipping itself.  That age is
easy to ascertain based on teeth eruption.
 
Temperature standards should be set to protect them from being shipped
in times when extreme cold or excess heat will cause them distress and
damage.
 
Thank you for looking at this important issue.
Ruth L. Heller, DVM
[Posted in FML issue 5055]