I have to send this again.  Our sorter is doing some very weird things
recently, but you guessed that when a note sent to my hubby showed up in the
fml, didn't you?  BTW, WE never got it!  Thanks, Grace for giving us that
info; we will pass it on to Art.  And thanks, Bill, for helping us hear good
news from a friend.  Steve found what broke and tackled it.
 
MORE SHORT FACE ( consider BIO/MED/BREEDING): When people first see our
Ruffle they are usually enthralled by two things: she has one of the most
beautiful (short) faces seen on a ferret (She looks like a malamute puppy.),
and her fur is lush, long, and fine as that of any kit.  After that they
notice that she walks like a skunk -- with a unbouncing waddle, that her
legs are unusually short, that she has arthritis ...  What happened with
Ruffle was that a breeder was trying to get long fur and a short face
without realizing that individual genes can affect more than one structure.
Poor Ruffie has very bad pain from her back and limbs because of this error
which resulting in the breeding of acondroplasic dwarves.  (This is on top
of asthma, retardation, and other health difficulties which are not
necessarily of the same cause; I've had friends with dwarfism who get
treated as if they are retarded by some fools, but R. actually is.)
 
It is very important that breeders remember that one locus (genetic
location) can affect many areas of the body which are far more closely
related in a fetus than they would appear to be in even a new-born.  Today
(Wednesday, 2/13/96) on pages C1 and C7 of the New York Times (which your
library can obtain for you) is an article on genetic loci that appear to
affect the FACE, HANDS and FEET (extra digits, flattened phalanges, unusual
shapes and orientations ...), HEART and AORTA, and possibly other
structures.  Done from a human perspective (though we here already know that
some of such is translatable to ferrets and other species, as with Ruffle's
dwarfism, and with Waardenburg -- the latter of which seems to use a
discussed locus, and several variants of which are in the article) the piece
includes mention of such variations as: Noonan's (broad nose, downward
slanting eyes, narrow pulmonary valves, etc.), Greig's (broad nasal bridge,
extra digits, etc.), Treacher Collins (from work in the current Nature
Genetics), William's (with elfin face and aortic valve problems, etc.),
DiGeoge (squared-off nose, small or missing thymus, aortal defects, etc.).
Toward the end of the article there is brief mention of loci which affect
other significant organs as well as the face, including mid-line variations
such as having only one central eye and a failure of the hemispheres of the
brain to separate normally.  (Highlighted structures in case they ring any
bells.)
 
Yes, we all find an appeal to short faces because of neoteny (the condition
of remaining child, or kit, or baby-like) and such features promote
nurturing since they are well wired in for us, but that does not mean that
they can be bred for without risking (note: risk, i.e.  a probability rather
than a definite result) very serious complications.  It's a crap shoot.
Your short faced breeding stock may be clean or they may be harboring
alleles which can damage hearts, or brains, or other organs as well as
possibly producing difficulties with the sinuses (another of Ruffle's
problems) or teeth, or ears, or eyes, or some other salient aspect which
affects comfort and interaction.  That is why so many advise caution.  It is
not because we do not like the look of short faces, or because we assume all
ferrets with short faces will have problems, or that we do not like you when
we actually value your friendship and knowledge, but because we have studied
enough genetics to know that the quest for short faces is one which travels
in loci that are LONG known (though their locations and mechanisms are new
information) to cause many possible syndromes that can make mammals suffer
or die prematurely.
 
There have been several holy grails used by some breeders: unusual colors
such as red, unusual patterns such as panda, long hair, short faces (and, OF
COURSE, many focus well on behavior; I've met and been very pleased with the
kits of a number of the breeders here over the years).  What we REALLY need
now is comprehensive tracking of lines, which could also give our breeders
an extra selling point, perhaps leading to other breeders also trying it.
(There is supposedly such software already used in the breeding of
racehorses and of endangered lines bred in zoos, though I have not traced
them.) with conclusions drawn about longevity, mobility even in old age, and
an assortment of health problems.  Here's a question: vets and owners, WHICH
HEALTH PROBLEMS would you like to see tracked in such a way to determine if
there may be a genetic component (knowing that even if something shows up
along lines it may be something else such as a juvenile or parental virus in
the colony which set individuals up for later conditions/cancers/whatever)?
If a national organization could monitor such data once enough breeders
agreed to track the items then we could buy based upon health probabilities
rather than appearance.  There are many breeders here.  What longevity
figures do your lines have?  If you have any with unusually long or short
life spans, or especially robust or ill health/handicaps what other features
(unusual pelage, unusual skeletal aspects, etc.) do these individuals share?
What are the health problems seen?  With enough information collected over
the years some patterns and syndromes (some which may be ferret-specific)
might be noticed and this could help you, other breeders, vets who need to
take prophylactic action in some situations, purchasers, and most of all
ferrets (and perhaps other mustelids and their breeding programs).
 
VETS: It struck me that in all the discussions of hind end weakness I don't
recall any mention of adhesions (as a response to earlier surgeries, or
infection/malformation/other causing chronic infammation) even though I know
these can impinge upon blood vessels and nerves supplying the lower limbs in
humans.  Are ferrets too short lived for these to be a problem?
 
         Sukie, Steve, Meltdown (almost 7&1/2, developing on and off
too lacksidasical eating and drinking habits recently as many geriatrics
do, so we are watching her closely, though nothing is clearly a non-age
problem at this point), Ruffle (almost 6), 'Chopper who at 4&1/2 is no
longer a helicopter, Spot (whose jaw problem was an abcessed tooth root
damaging nearby bone and is still the happiest boy on Earth, 3 &1/2),
Meeteetse (one of the gentlest kissers known, 3&1/3), and Warp (What can
we say (?); at 1&1/2 she has still not outgrown her name so it fully
defines her speed and sense of humor.)
[Posted in FML issue 1481]