There isn't anything yet in http://www.avma.org/press/ but there IS a news article with more details in http://www.avma.org/onlnews/javma/may08/080515f.asp which is apparently on-line 3 days ahead of time. Begin small quotes: The new Exotic Companion Mammal specialty practice area received provisional recognition from the AVMA, following review by the AVMA American Board of Veterinary Specialties and approval in April by the AVMA Executive Board. The new specialty will focus on ferrets, rabbits, guinea pigs, rodents, and other small exotic mammals that people keep as pets. It will fall under the auspices of the American Board of Veterinary Practitioners, which offers board certification in a number of other specialty practice areas. ... According to the 2007 edition of the AVMA's U.S. Pet Ownership & Demographics Sourcebook, Americans own about 6.2 million pet rabbits-- an increase of 1.4 million in five years. Americans also own 1.2 million hamsters, 1.1 million ferrets, and 1 million guinea pigs along with hundreds of thousands of gerbils and other rodents. [But this does not mesh reporter WSJ's Ken Well's estimate several year ago (maybe about 7) of 3.2 Billion per year because people don't spent $3,000 every year on each ferret. It would be good to know what the numbers are based upon. For instance, if they are from federal figures from the farms with an estimate of privately bred ferrets added on then it could make sense.] ... The ABVS consists of one voting representative from each recognized specialty organization plus liaisons from the Association of American Veterinary Medical Colleges and AVMA Council on Education. Recommendations for recognition of specialties or specialty organizations go from the ABVS to the COE and then to the AVMA Executive Board. Information about the ABVS is available at www.avma.org/education/abvs/default.asp . To attain full recognition, the Exotic Companion Mammal specialty must submit a second petition for review between year four and year 10 of provisional recognition. Sukie (not a vet) Recommended ferret health links: http://pets.groups.yahoo.com/group/ferrethealth/ http://ferrethealth.org/archive/ http://www.afip.org/ferrets/index.html http://www.miamiferret.org/fhc/ http://www.ferretcongress.org/ http://www.trifl.org/index.shtml http://homepage.mac.com/sukie/sukiesferretlinks.html [Posted in FML 5962]