>From: "Mary L. McCarty" <[log in to unmask]> >Subject: reaction...hi kymberlie...Gabriel >My vet said that he wasn't sure why Fromm-D (Galaxy, now, right?) was >not the "approved" distemper shot anymore, because in his experience >Fromm-D caused less negative reactions in ferrets. Has anyone else >noticed or heard this? Why is Fromm-D (or Galaxy) no longer the >"approved" shot? Here we go again... Not your fault for not knowing but this is a politically charged issue. FROMM-D was never an approved vaccine but just widely used. Fervac-D is the ONLY CDV vaccine ever to go through the USDA approval testing and formal approval. I also in my personal experiences do not think Fervac-D does have a much higher reaction rate than Galaxy-D. One ferret group has decided to make a political issue of this claiming another ferret group gets "kickbacks". There are no kickbacks. There are no scientific controlled studies suggesting Fervac-D has more reactions and under what conditions. There is anecdotal evidence to suggest there is a problem. Now our political opinion is that United Vaccines who makes Fervac-D has publicly and overwhelmingly shown that they want to support the ferret. Solvay has very publicly stated that you should not use Galaxy-D and that they will not support the ferret. Well Lets then tell United "thanks" and Solvay "get with the program". Support the company that supports us. One of the reasons Solvay will not support ferrets is the real nasty political nature of some ferret owners. If they did do something to support ferrets than they would be open to the same nasty politics that United Vaccines (as well as Marshall Farms and other companies) has had to endure from the radical fringe. Support ferrets and support companies that support ferrets. Don't support those that do not truly support our ferrets. Seems simple. >From: Paul Ogles <[log in to unmask]> >Subject: ferret genetics >I think the albino/cinnamon relationship is pretty well understood, but >DEW/panda/blaze are not clear to me. My experience says that Panda is a >partial dominant, frequently expressed only partially as a Blaze. DEW seems >related, but I haven't seen enough of them to make an educated guess at the Well by some. I tend to think there are two different albinoes. There is the normal albino that has been around for a long time. The other albino seems to be the one related to champange/cinnamon and is the overdominant like the blue merle in dogs. The breeders around here aren't as in to the study of genetics and we haven't discussed that with others but it certainly explains the litters with albinoes, champeganes and chocolates. Panda, blaze, colored mitts (non-black) and dews are all expressions of the same genetics. It could easily be the same overdominant thing or it might be a lethal if homozygous thing. The DEW(-P) seems to be the Warrdensburg gene (I or II) along with a dilution gene and a roaning gene. That many things together in genes that are not strict dominant/recessive is why they are harder to breed for. Surprised though you hadn't had champagne blazes much down there. We've got champagne blazes, mitts and pandas rather common up here in the mid-Atlantic area. (We're in Virginia) Perhaps if you need to outcross you should come on up and check out a bunch of local breeders. Some of us have records (incomplete) going back to the seventies. We do agree that it would be much better of the shelters would lighten up on hobby breeders and realize they are allies not opponents. Most of the better breeders are heavily involved in shelter work. As for the genetics of Angora. It may be an overdominant thing or it may be homozygous lethal. Its too new on this continent and no known angoras are here. We might have non-angoras that carry a gene, we might not. But angora is not the same as just long hair. Our Swedes are longer haired than our non-Swedes. The Angoras are longer haired and have a quirk in the undercoats. >Is there a separate marbling trait in ferrets? We don't know yet. We've got tri-colors that we don't know about yet either. Another breeder had near dark-eyed white with one sable leg which is definitely different than most anything else we've seen but he unfortunately was lost to some dogs before enough breeding to know more about it. We have a hob which is also a fading DEW-P that we wanted to work with and somehow cross with that other breeders hob (but obviously it couldn't work hob-hob so we would have had to get offspring from one or the other first. Lots of folks here don't seem to like this sort of discussion. If they really want us to move, thats fine - other forums exist. >From: Bob Church <[log in to unmask]> >Subject: Elizabeth Tells on Dad GREAT! Keep these stories coming! >From: Austin Owens <[log in to unmask]> >Subject: MF,this and that and hogs >Hedgehogs arent tied with the >ferret bill RIGHT?! gesh I hope so.... cause thats what I told em! You missed the fight about this one a while back then. No, the ferret bill ferrets only. Some think it would be harder to get it through with just ferrets, some think it would be harder with not just ferrets. bill and diane killian zen and the art of ferrets http://www.zenferret.com/ mailto:[log in to unmask] [Posted in FML issue 1899]