>From:    Ferret Rescue of Tidewater <[log in to unmask]>
>Subject: MF
>I am not a breeder, I am a shelter.
 
We are both a shelter and a breeder.  I have seen good breeders and shelters
and I have seen bad shelters and breeders.
 
>I have seen many small breeders who have open colonies do very well in the
>areas of temperament, resistance to disease, no known genetic traits, who
>also prescribe to the second-cousin theory- no closer than that for
>breeding, regardless of the cost or suitability of the match.
 
Marshall Farms is technically a closed colony and the private breeders are
technically open.  But that is not as significant as the size of the
colonies.  In a way ferrets in general are a closed colony as they are not
normally bred outside the species.
 
The size of Marshall's colony is larger than the gene pool available to all
of the east coast private breeders combined.  The private breeder's are more
closed in regards to available pool.  They are in and out of each others
colonies all the time.  There have been incredible breeding problems over
the past couple years that cross political (organizational) lines.  Several
have not had viable litters in two years.  Marshall's has not seemed to have
this problem to the same extent.  By the explanations of the building method
of breeding Marshall's also uses about the same "second-cousin theory- no
closer" proposition.
 
>I don't consider it a waste of energy, I consider it as educating those
>who are not aware. Would you subject your breeding jills to forced constant
>heats, or unnatural lighting in order to continue the production of kits?
Education about the young kits is the most productive thing I think those of
us more knowledgable could do.  We should do it an a calm informational
manner avoiding the hysterics and we could actually have success.  I would
support work towards legislative efforts to prevent the shipment of kits
under 8 weeks (or even 10).
 
I do not really condone the breeding of jills more than once per year.  But
anyone who keeps their ferrets indoors is keeping their ferrets under
unnatural lighting conditions.  The fact the hobby breeders are having
litters before Christmas is a sign of that.
 
My opinion has always been that Marshall Farms is far from perfect.  But
they also are certainly not "the Great Satan".  We as concerned ferret
owners will certainly achieve more through co-operating with Marshall's than
attacking it.  You catch more flys with honey than vinegar.  Lets try to
educate the people into not wanting the 6 week old kits.  Lets educate them
into not descenting ferrets.  Then it will no longer be economically viable
for Marshall Farms to ship ferrets as young as they do.  It sounds cruel but
buying the young kits to 'rescue' them from pet stores is encouraging the
bad practices.
 
>From:    Howard Davis <[log in to unmask]>
>Subject: Vaccination question
>Do not be confused by the person who advised you that "There are political
>fights involving Galaxy-D".  I am not entirely sure what was meant by
>"political," but as noted in the "Vaccine Update" posted on FML on 4/4
>detailing results of the survey taken by Acme Ferret Co. and STAR , the
>questions being raised about Fervac-D are strictly medical.
 
Lets examine this.  I and vets on this list recommend using the vaccine
approved by the USDA.  You put out stories about how flawed a approved
vaccine is.  Who is trying to scare?  Who is trying to inform?  Now lets
examine the data published by ACME/STAR* carefully.  Quotes below from FML
1528...
 
>Serious reactions are more than 8 times as likely to occur with FERVAC-D,
>the only USDA-approved vaccine for ferrets, than with FROMM-D or its
>successor GALAXY-D,
 
This sounds very significant but it wholly unsupported by the data presented.
 
>A total of 1,827 ferret vaccination results have been tabulated so far in
>the new survey: 868 injected with FERVAC-D, 483 with FROMM-D, and 476 with
>its successor GALAXY-D.  The fact that over 52% of the ferrets were not
>vaccinated with FERVAC-D may indicate continued customer acceptance
>problems for the USDA-approved product.
 
The second sentence says more about who responded and whose responses were
accepted.  I know of literally thousands of Fervac vaccinations and only
hundreds with Galaxy-D.  I also personally know of only five reactions to
any vaccination out of those thousands.  2 fatalities.  2 much lesser
reactions.
 
>Minor reactions (stinging, itching, squealing, or lethargy) were reported
>in close to 4% of the ferrets,
 
As I remember it a well respected vet posted in this very forum that these
are not reactions in the medical sense of the word.
 
>The most serious problems--seizures, death, or post-injection contracting of
>distemper--were rare (0.49%), being reported in only 9 cases (5 FERVAC-D, 2
>FROMM-D, and 2 GALAXY-D).
 
I am a mathmatician by training.  There is no way I can transform this
information into your earlier claim.  Rather by understanding statistics it
is very clear to me that the reaction rate by your data is approximately the
same.  Standard deviation and error of sampling cause these values to
overlap.  Your data even matches the 0.5% rated claimed by United.  It might
be possible Fervac-D has more reactions but not from the data you posted.
You also mentioned South Carolina.  Galaxy-D was not used in any ferrets in
this case.  It is insignificant whether FROMM-D had been as it is no longer
available.
 
This is not a medical controversy based on your data.
 
bill and diane killian
zen and the art of ferrets
http://userwww.qnet.com/~killian/zen_home.htm
[Posted in FML issue 1532]