yikes, what am I getting myself into now...
 
in yesterday's FML, John Gordon <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
>My Marshall Farms questions for all you to think about is: 1. Since Buddy
>was born at MF, should I blame them for this illness?
 
>To do so would be to ignore the fact that his first humans starved him for
>his first nine months or so of life by feeding him cheap dog food and then
>Cheerio's when he stopped eating the dog food.
 
This one really struck a familiar note with me, although not in an
explicitly MF way.  Cully's a no-name ferret presumably from somewhere
in Quebec or perhaps Ontario-- no tattoos on him, and he came to me in
Montreal.  I took him in when he was about three and a half, and it was
pretty obvious that despite receiving ok (not great) care for the last half
year, he was not a well-nourished ferret.  He had brittle fur and nails,
and a major sugar-fetish.  Now at age 8(ish), he's had/currently has four
different kinds of cancers (mast cell, adrenal, lymphoma, and insulinoma),
and I wonder the same thing: do I blame his bloodline, presumably from a
smaller operation, or do I blame his early care during those crucial
growing years?  It somehow makes more sense to me to blame his past diet
and treatment (especially for the insulinoma!).
 
I think Cully also illustrates that it's not only MF ferrets who get
cancers.  Have any studies actually been done that determine that the
cancers that ferrets get have a genetic component to them?  I think that
those would be great studies to have.  Even if MF ferrets are more prone to
cancers because of a genetic component, MF isn't likely to accept that or
act on it if there aren't quality, scientific studies done to demonstrate
that their bloodlines contain those genetic components.
 
On pet stores: this is such a tough issue.  I would never have found the
wonderful world of ferrets if I hadn't seen them in a pet store, and then
purchased Amelia from another pet store.  Amelia is a Hagen ferret, pretty
much the Canadian equivalent of MF, only their ferrets do not have a
reputation for being sweet-tempered.  Even had I known about breeders and
shelters, I didn't have a car at the time, and would not have been able to
get to the Montreal-area shelter (and in my particular case, my French is
terrible, so there may well have been a language barrier between me and
ferret ownership as well).  The store where I got Amelia treated their
animals well; the store where I first saw ferrets didn't, though once I
knew a little about ferrets I began bugging them about it.  I certainly
benefitted by having ferrets available in pet stores, and I think Amelia
did too, but I feel like it's a selfish benefit because of the ferrets who
aren't treated well.  However, I don't think that I'm the only person who's
ever been in my situation, so I can't whole-heartedly agree that ferrets
should not be in pet stores.  In a perfect world, ferrets would be kept
appropriately and store personnel would be well-educated about ferrets--
maybe that should be the goal of pet store reform?
 
Regina, Cully and Amelia
 
 
Regina Harrison
[log in to unmask] or [log in to unmask]
http://www.geocities.com/SoHo/Lofts/1083
Electra the Brujah's page:
http://www.geocities.com/TimesSquare/Labyrinth/8096
 
Wrapped in my mongrel wings, I nearly freeze
In the howlin wind and drivin rain
All the trash blowin round 'n' round
[Posted in FML issue 2961]