Kathy,
Unfortunately the 1999 Ferrets USA Annual is already on the stands, and
don't feel bad, you aren't the only one who was dissapointed.  I read the
same article you mentioned first thing, and found it a bit odd that the
best first impression the writer had was that the ferret kits attacked him
with their teeth, I would have thought maybe instead he would have
mentioned how cute they were (was the first thing I noticed).
 
In any case the thing that bothered me most about the magazine is that on
the cover it labels itself "Ferret Care for Beginners", but throughout the
magazine there are some very questionable pictures that make no note that
what you see in the picture isn't necessarily the best thing to do for a
ferret, the picture was obviously used because of it's cuteness factor.
 
On pages 2-3 there is a cute picture of a DEW laying down, wearing a
sweater, but what caught my eye is the plastic ball with lots of
multicoloured nubs sticking out all over it.  The first thing I thought
was, "Gargy would chew each of those nubs off and eat them."
 
There is another picture on page 10 of a little girl holding a sable who is
chewing on a soft latex dragon shaped toy, and he has already torn most of
the nose off, and is still chewing.  No mention about latex, just that you
need to be careful with ferrets and children.
 
Almost all the pictures (not just ads) that show ferrets in cages, do not
show anything between them and the cage floor, most are just walking and
playing and laying on bare wire.  There are also two pictures (one very
cute, page 6) that show ferrets in cedar shavings with caveat "you might
want to avoid cedar, because it has been suggested that this particular
wood might cause respiratory problems in ferrets."
 
The two that bother me most though, are the picture on page 58 that shows
two ferrets playing with several partially unraveled rolls of toilet paper,
and no mention that this isn't a good idea.  Nothing that says they can get
their heads stuck in the tubes, or that they might ingest the toilet paper.
Lastly, the picture on page 66 that shows a DEW drinking out of a vase full
of long stemmed roses, the caption mentions that ferrets are agile climbers
and will show ingenuity to attain height.  The roses in the picture still
have the thorns on them, and flowers from florists almost always are coated
in pesticides and the water always contains floral preservatives.
 
Anyway, if you thought you were being too critical, you might think I'm
downright insane, and I realize that magazines can't think of everything,
but the observations about these pictures were the first things that came
to my mind when I saw them and I'm sure that seasoned veterans like those
that put out this publication, know better.  Especially since they claim
this is the magazine for beginners, and these new owners might not know of
some of these dangers.
 
Robynn McCarthy
[Posted in FML issue 2505]