Okay, now let's get something straight here.  Everyone keeps clouding issue.
Of *course* Debbie if you have an intact descented ferret he still stinks.
He's intact and most of his seasonal scent comes from glands all over his
body, especially on his face, not from his anal sacs.  People keep trying to
cloud the issue by saying descenting doesn't remove all of a ferret smell.
And they *are* right.  But *neither* does neutering without descenting remove
the terrible stench that occurs when they express their anal sacs.  And if a
ferret is in the habit of doing this several times a day, and on cloth
material that tends to hold the smell, it can be terribly unpleasant to live
with.  These ferrets may not be the rule, but they do exist, and my Tribble
was one of them, until I had her descented.  Now, with appropriate baths and
bedding cleaning, I rarely smell ferret in my house.
 
Ear cropping is a totally different and irrelevant issue.  It is *completely*
cosmetic except for the shaky argument that cropping might help eleviate
problems with ear infections.  Long ears do *not* make a dog difficult to
live with.  Anal sacs on a ferret who insists on expressing them every time
you look at him cross-eyed *do* make that ferret difficult to live with.  He
may not be the rule but that doesn't make him or your house smell any
prettier.  So adopt him out, right?  Why -- shuffle him to another home when
he's perfectly happy and very loved?  That makes no sense to *me*.  In fact,
I think that's even crazier than ear cropping.  What if he's also got other
ferret friends in that home whom he would miss greatly if he were moved?  We
all agree that ferrets *do* miss their closer ferret friends when they're not
around.  And the shelters are full of more and more ferrets.  Why should this
one be deprived of his already loving home for want of one operation?
 
The bottom line here is this -- if you don't like descenting, don't have it
done.  But don't judge the rest of us who don't think it's wrong.  I love my
ferrets (and the people's ferrets whom I will be treating for the rest of my
life) as much as any person on this list who thinks descenting is wrong.  I
respect your right to your opinions.   Kindly give me the same curteousy.
(Gee, haven't I said that here before?)
 
I'm sorry for the probably snippy tone of this note.  I'm usually in the
habit of trying to be a little more diplomatic even in the face of a total
lack of diplomacy by others.  I guess I've just read one (in my opinion)
unreasonable comment too many on the subject.  BIG, are we almost to the end
of this discussion yet?
 
Laura
 
Laura L'Heureux Kupkee
U. of Illinois Vet Med Class of `96
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[Posted in FML issue 1151]