Hi guys.. I know I stir up trouble a bit :) sorry.. any how I am currently researching some of my arguments on early desexing.. nothing concrete yet ( except commonsense) but I have another issue I want to raise.. sorry if this has been raised before.. But I see a lot of "issues" with deaf ferrets, which particularly bothers me, when we all seem to know this is associated with "selective" breeding in order to get "colors" I am sorry if this has been raised before, but was hoping for some feedback ? I am not sure about the USA, but we have similar problems with dogs, (in Australia) where selective breeding for particular traits has also introduced genetic problems, ( a prime example is hip dysplasia, or worse the "pug breed " who can actually pop out an eye, from sneezing too hard).. Anyhow I find it rather bizarre that after the thousands of years of careful breeding it took to turn a wild animal into a placid fun loving domestic housepet, we are now not only seemingly and randomly breeding for colors, ( rather then personality, docility, robustness and lack of health issues), but, on top of that we are introducing genetic defects just for the sake of "pretty colors" sorry but introducing defective genes just for the sake of "cuteness" bothers me... I myself would love to own a panda or silvermitt.. but not at the sake of the possibilities of genetic disabilities.. do others have feeling on this ? Darrin [Posted in FML issue 4666]