Dawn wrote: >1- My ferrets are all Marshall Farms ferrets from a pet shop, and seem fine >to me. I hear a lot of talk insinuating that Marshall Farms ferrets are >somehow "inferior" or people who get Marshall Farms ferrets are somehow >"not real" ferret lovers. I couldn't love my boys more and feel sorry for >ferrets born under poor breeder conditions. We have and have had ferrets from a wide range of breeders in the last 16 to 18 years (not sure how many years any longer). The Marshall ferrets we've had here have not been ANY different from the others in terms of health, except for one retired breeder who lived a longer than normal lifespan and later died of Sogren (sp?) Syndrome (the only ferret I've heard of with that mucus membrane disorder). There was a shelter survey which indicated that MFs in a shelter setting are more prone to adrenal growths, but two later home surveys, one of which was as reliable as the shelter one and one of which may have been a tad better, did not find that pattern in the home setting (even among past shelter ferrets if memory serves). Aside from that one shelter survey I know of no reputable evidence that MFs are any less healthy than the standard ferrets out there. Does that mean that I agree with all of their practises; no, of course not. I most certainly don't. What it means is that when we are realistic about what actually is wrong instead of adding on top things which are unsubstantiated we have the best luck of making constructive changes. The worst situations that Steve and I have known about have involved some horrid back-yard breeders. The best have involved some private breeders. Dawn also wrote: >I think we started out wrong by letting ours have the run of the >house while >we're home. As a result, we can't have anything on end >tables or coffee tables >and our ferrets have completely claimed our >dresser. Sounds good and right to Steve and me!!!! Ferrets will be... Ela wrote: >With the holidays rapidly approaching, please think of the ferrets in >shelters across the country and around the world. Please take a second >to consider including them on your holiday giving list. Yes, and if you are afraid that you didn't have enough charity checks going out this year for your taxes, then don't forget that a number of ferret shelters now are 501c status so are tax deductible for givers and that even more are pursuing this status. We give to our local one mostly and that's not tax deductible -- the same place where kissy Glueball was found last year, but being tax deductible does make a useful difference for some people's wallets, and might increase the amounts given. The Morris Animal Foundation is also tax deductible and you CAN request that the moneys over something like $25 or so go to help veterinary studies that benefit ferrets or even that benefit domestic ferrets (though a number of medical things which benefit domestics also benefit BFFs and visa versa). They even have a webpage now, but it's not completed for the exotic section: http://www.MorrisAnimalFoundation.org . They have funded veterinary research projects in the past which helped improve care for domestic ferrets, are now helping with a BFF problem, and will further help ferrets in the future when enough is given toward such projects. So: remember shelters and remember veterinary improvements at this time of giving thanks. don Quixote -- errrrrrr -- Sukie (Yes, people actually know who I am!) You folks know me since I've been here forever -- which is probably why no one actually yelled at me privately when I got angry, though I got some polite comments on the FML. You know that I don't often get angry and I don't often cry. All I ask you to take into account is that I know some things about the situation which you very likely don't due to them being private pieces of information, and that since my behavior was not typical of me I very likely had strong and excellent reasons to blow my top about that topic, though I really should have instead been humorous on the list and asked Bill to forward a quit-your-hurting flavored comment to the poster about that behavior and timing in case that person is a member of a small but very manipulative group set on taking away a resource which benefits us all. Certainly read like that was the case again, being anonymous and especially considered along with the poster's second nudge, without which I would have just continued wondering if it was only a badly worded joke and never said that stuff but just joked back. I apologize to the folks who had to hear the cross-fire. I should have taken 10 deep breaths and waited a day then re-written. Granted, I'm only human, but the innocent folks -- pretty much every single one of you since ferret people tend to be constructive -- here didn't need to be in the middle so I really blew it, and I am sorry that I did. I sure do thank you for being patient with me. [Posted in FML issue 2861]