>From: Debbie Walker <[log in to unmask]> >Subject: attention Taylor Michigan >PLEASE STOP BREEDING FERRETS, if you love them, there are too many out >there, you can't give them away, and this is really becoming a problem. >I don't care how great your genetic line is........and neither do the sad >ferrets from MF. You ARE just doing it for profit, no matter what you >claim, and are no better than MF, you don't really love ferrets if you >are breeding them. This is a fact. Face it. Thanks for insulting a portion of the ferret world. Most breeders are not doing it for the money. Nope. No way. No how. Some probably are. Hope you aren't really meaning all private breeders should stop breeding. That would be real silly. In about three seasons, then Marshall and the other ranches would be a total monopoly. That would be a bad thing. The shelters would be no less overloaded. Not in the least. "Its a fact. Face it." If you mean very specifically Michigan. This was unfortuantely expected on their legalization in that state. Highly accurate predictions from those outside of the state and perhaps from some inside. It will subside within a few more years as those that thought there was money all bail out. >From: daniel pelletier <[log in to unmask]> >Subject: Re: on feline distemper shots We do not need to arrive at a consensus. This isn't something that is a gray area. It shouldn't be a controversy. The ONLY area of controversy is how readily to accept Galaxy-D as an alternative. Check the vet books and the manufacturer labels/literature. Confused individuals are not authorities. We claim only to be passing along what we have learned specifically from authorities. If requested we will cite very plainly all authoritative sources. Fervac-D is the only canine distemper vaccine USDA approved for ferrets. It does come from United Vaccines. It is based on DistaMink which is a canine distemper vaccine for domestic mink and also from United. Ferravac-D or Ferrevac-D do not exist. Galaxy-D is a possible alternative though not recommended for use in ferrets by the manufacturer. An earlier manufacturer was rather adamant that it should NOT be used in ferrets. But that was most likely from the legal department. We do not use this vaccine but the manufacturer has changed and to the best of our knowledge currently has Fort Dodge on the label. (Thanks Lisa) No real authority recommends feline distemper vaccinations for ferrets at this time. In the past it wasn't so clear. As far as we are aware Fromm-D was replaced by Galaxy-D and has not been available for years. At least in the US - can not speak as certainly about other countries. Canine distemper should be considered 100% fatal. Not quite but do not count on any survivabilty even though there is an extremely expensive and very unreliable experimental treatment that has been discussed in the first edition of the Fox book. We heartily subscribe to the opinion expressed by all vets we've talked to that it is far better for an infected ferret to be euthanized to relieve it of the misery. We personally have had in our shelter one of the very few survivors but the percentage that survived was very low and almost all of them show neurological damage. Those that showed it were likely to have had it but now show it. Oh and in case you mised it, extremely expensive it destroyed a family finacially to somewhat save a small percentage of their ferrets. Very much destroyed. The debts will never get repaid type of destroyed. Thats why the ferret ended up with us after all. That last paragraph has some original thought. All others are very much direct paraphrasing of real documentary sources. -bi&d -- bill and diane killian zen and the art of ferrets http://www.zenferret.com/ mailto:[log in to unmask] [Posted in FML issue 2789]