If I have fundamentally changed the idea behind anyone's statements by
summarizing their comments, I apologize, and please let me know.  Otherwise,
I've tried to summarize points that I'm responding to (instead of quoting
entire messages).
 
Kymberlie Becker wrote:
>Someone with time [should] volunteer to do a web site.  [...] The web site
>will be the place the volunteers go to find instructions, updates, etc.
>about the issue.  [...] Make a list of things you want to accomplish;
 
An updated information resource like this is not a bad idea.  Look at the
CDFA page, the Kodo page, and many others as examples.  However, is this an
informational site about MF practices and the issues centering around MF, or
a site dealing with actions, updates on progress, etc?  A combination of
both wouldn't be bad but it'll be hard not to ruffle some feathers no matter
how diplomatic the site is.  But am I volunteering to do it?  Yes, why not.
Specifically, though, I'd like to find out what people want to see on this
site and what, in addition to Kymberlie's ideas, they feel would be useful
to see (information that isn't duplicated elsewhere).  I've got the time,
the web space, the server, and (already) one volunteer to help out who can
be objective (he thinks I'm wrong frequently enough, at least :).  Who else
wants to help out?
 
>get someone to be granted a tour of MF.  Figure out how to get a study
>going into the relation of illness/MF ferrets.  BTW, don't try to do the
>study to prove MF is the cause, do an impartial study.
 
I agree that we should try to get someone to tour MF.  Dr. Williams, maybe?
The above mentioned volunteer knows a vet student at a very good veterinary
college, and I'm going to soon get in touch with her to find out a good
faculty member to contact there about doing ferret studies.  I feel it's
important that the study take place in a lab or a university, primarily
because lots of vets and certainly some breeders would be much more likely
to call into question a study done in individual ferret owner's homes - how
do they know the factors were similar?  How do they know that different
types of lighting didn't affect the results?  Etc.  A willing lab could
standardize the conditions much more easily, and I'd bet the study could
even be done empathetically - we're not testing the effects of nasty drugs
on these ferrets, we're testing other factors, ie -
 
- Flourescent lighting / altering "day length" with artificial lights
- Early neutering vs late
- Food?
- Vaccinations
- Ferrets from different regions & breeders
- Communicability (ie, lymphosarcoma?)
 
Anyway, at this point in time I'm trying to find out what researchers out
there are working to discover the causes of health problems in ferrets.
They'd be the most likely to be interested first, and to be able to suggest
other researchers who'd be interested if they couldn't themselves.  Btw, we
don't even know for sure that someone somewhere isn't doing work like this
already!
 
So, in short, getting ferret owners to do this study is a good idea but
unfortunately won't yield truly scientific results that vet schools and the
larger breeders could take seriously enough to implement necessary changes
in their operations.  :(
 
>through and pay for a ferret.  If raising the cost of a ferret went up to,
>say, $200 or so (that is, MF raises it's cost, not the pet stores
>themselves), that would be more money for MF to use for studies,
 
You'd have to talk to someone at MF or to an economist to find out why this
would or wouldn't work.  My guess was that a price hike like that wouldn't
be absorbed by the buyer's market, and that not enough higher priced ferrets
would be sold to make up for the loss in revenues caused by a price hike.
Gasoline is a "necessary" commodity that can absorb huge price hikes because
people won't do without it.  The number of people that won't do without
ferrets is much smaller.  :) But you should call MF and see what their take
on it is, maybe.
 
Tatia Johnson wrote:
>There is a greyhound race track near me and when the dogs are too old or
>unable to race any longer, but still healthy, they are adopted to homes as
>companion pets.
 
I had this idea last week.  I'm looking around currently for information on
who originally founded the greyhound adoption program and how they managed
to start chapters in practically every state across the nation.  My hope is
to talk to them about how to advertise such a program and how to sell it to
the source of the animals (racetracks or MF, whoever).  I'd like to find out
stats on number of greyhounds retired each year, # adopted by these
programs, etc.
 
Again, to summarize: I am trying to get in touch with researchers and vets
who can point me to groups or universities who'd be interested in hosting a
long-term health problems in ferrets study.  To this end I am going to talk
to one veterinary college and have contacted the AFA for any possible
resources they might know of.  I volunteer to put together an "MF Issues"
web site along the lines of what Kymberlie discussed but I'd like ideas on
what else it should include as well as a few more volunteers.  Last, I'm
researching how the greyhound adoption folk started their program and hoping
to be able to use that as a guide to start a similar retired breeder program
with (just MF?  Other breeders, certainly) ferrets.
 
Melissa
[Posted in FML issue 1998]