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Post by Deleted on Jan 3, 2016 15:41:47 GMT -5
yes a long life to Leelee :beer:
As well as being so cute, she was eating her paper pellet bedding, and I felt she needed rescuing. U know the excuses we make for getting another one:)
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Post by Heather on Jan 3, 2016 22:57:41 GMT -5
I've found that I've been totally unsuccessful at getting any longevity out of blazes, silvers, DEWs. It may have just been bad luck. One thing to remember all these ferrets have "history" some of it very scary. Nasty Ivan and Odin were 2 'binos that I've had and they both lived to at least 11 yrs of age. Nasty Ivan was a PV and Odin a BYB breeding. As far as blazes, mitts, DEWs....they've all been waardies, some worse than others. I've had Odin, blaze...total cardiac failure, 4 yrs (RC). Porthos, silver to DEW; 18 months...juvenile lymphoma (RC). Lady Pandora, silver....failed surgery for insulinoma 2 yrs (Marshals). Balthazar, (PV) silver, lymphoma 7 yrs. Lady Zena, silver, cancer of the spinal cord....7 yrs (Marshals). Minion sandy blaze 3 yrs, renal failure (RC). Thor sable mitt with lightning flash on chest 5 yrs aggressive lymphosarcoma (BYB), Yuri, silver, duodenal cancer (RC). Fun-Go B. Squiggly 6 yrs lymphoma (RC)... to name a few of the dilutes. Whereas, old school sables, Mayhem...10 yrs, cardiomyopathy, (PV), Meeteef 11 yrs, cancer of the spleen, (Marshals), Mad Max 11 yrs...advanced adrenal, prostate(PV), Houdini 9 yrs pale sable, adrenal (Marshals). Captain Jack, sable 9 yrs cardiomyopathy (RC), Loki, sable adrenal, 10 yrs....now to throw a monkey wrench into theory.....Napoleon, dark sable 5 yrs cardiomyopathy. Lady"B" Itchy, fancy silver to DEW 9 yrs, renal failure. These except for Thor and Odin were from one of the "farms" ciao
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Post by Klarissa on Jan 4, 2016 9:20:15 GMT -5
I've found that I've been totally unsuccessful at getting any longevity out of blazes, silvers, DEWs. It may have just been bad luck. One thing to remember all these ferrets have "history" some of it very scary. Nasty Ivan and Odin were 2 'binos that I've had and they both lived to at least 11 yrs of age. Nasty Ivan was a PV and Odin a BYB breeding. As far as blazes, mitts, DEWs....they've all been waardies, some worse than others. I've had Odin, blaze...total cardiac failure, 4 yrs (RC). Porthos, silver to DEW; 18 months...juvenile lymphoma (RC). Lady Pandora, silver....failed surgery for insulinoma 2 yrs (Marshals). Balthazar, (PV) silver, lymphoma 7 yrs. Lady Zena, silver, cancer of the spinal cord....7 yrs (Marshals). Minion sandy blaze 3 yrs, renal failure (RC). Thor sable mitt with lightning flash on chest 5 yrs aggressive lymphosarcoma (BYB), Yuri, silver, duodenal cancer (RC). Fun-Go B. Squiggly 6 yrs lymphoma (RC)... to name a few of the dilutes. Whereas, old school sables, Mayhem...10 yrs, cardiomyopathy, (PV), Meeteef 11 yrs, cancer of the spleen, (Marshals), Mad Max 11 yrs...advanced adrenal, prostate(PV), Houdini 9 yrs pale sable, adrenal (Marshals). Captain Jack, sable 9 yrs cardiomyopathy (RC), Loki, sable adrenal, 10 yrs....now to throw a monkey wrench into theory.....Napoleon, dark sable 5 yrs cardiomyopathy. Lady"B" Itchy, fancy silver to DEW 9 yrs, renal failure. These except for Thor and Odin were from one of the "farms" ciao Wow, reading this is informative & sad. Not a good prognosis for Riker - sable mitt, with bib & white patches on his belly & knees. I've been looking for the aforementioned books on ferret coat to no avail. From reading this thread & others: albinos & sables are the only natural coat colors. Everything else is fancy, and can result in health problems & shorter lifespan ?
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Post by Deleted on Jan 4, 2016 9:31:06 GMT -5
Well it does seem to be the case in the US sadly :-( I guess these fancies have been inbred and overbred without thought to health just for looks so that's more than likely where the problem has arisen :-(
But here, I have lost one sable to a malignant adrenal tumour at 2.5 years old, and another sable to malignant lymphoma at 2.5 years old and have another 2.5 year old albino here with malignant lymphoma so she won't be around all that much longer. But I am in the UK.
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Post by crazylady on Jan 4, 2016 12:05:41 GMT -5
Vicki you are spotting what a lot in the uk are running into my own personal opinion for it is a combination of genetics and life style ! think back in England ferrets were never pets they were working animals they lived out doors never receiving artificial light and they lived on a natural diet ( normally the parts of rabbits and pigeon the hunter would not eat ) now there are fancy foods ( kibbles man made how is a kibble full of carbs and sugars good for a ferret ? ) and they have been brought into human homes as pets and exposed to false lighting ( there glands work over time thinking its breeding season all year round never shutting down in autumn result adrenals disease )the excessive amounts of kibble fed not only ruins the teeth it can contribute to insulinoma ( the ferrets version of diabetes) no where in the wild is there a kibble tree food manufacturers need to take a long hard look at what goes into there foods I have researched dozens for people and it is mind blowing what is in there everything from sugar beet to peas to seaweed I think as the ferret becomes more popular as a house pet in the uk we will see exactly the same problems as the usa owners need to take a long hard look and say how have they survived all this time in the wild what did they eat how do they live ( normally they sleep all day and hunt from dusk to dawn ) just my two pennies worth take care bye for now Bev
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Post by Sherry on Jan 4, 2016 12:17:31 GMT -5
In Australia they are already starting to see the issues with poor breedings as it is legally impossible to import a new line of ferrets to improve the bloodlines. They are getting more and more issues with poor genetics. And as more change husbandry practices they are also getting more and more adrenal and insulinoma. We have rescues from around the world between here and the facebook group, and they have also started talking about seeing more of these issues.
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Post by Deleted on Jan 4, 2016 13:53:57 GMT -5
Vicki you are spotting what a lot in the uk are running into my own personal opinion for it is a combination of genetics and life style ! think back in England ferrets were never pets they were working animals they lived out doors never receiving artificial light and they lived on a natural diet ( normally the parts of rabbits and pigeon the hunter would not eat ) now there are fancy foods ( kibbles man made how is a kibble full of carbs and sugars good for a ferret ? ) and they have been brought into human homes as pets and exposed to false lighting ( there glands work over time thinking its breeding season all year round never shutting down in autumn result adrenals disease )the excessive amounts of kibble fed not only ruins the teeth it can contribute to insulinoma ( the ferrets version of diabetes) no where in the wild is there a kibble tree food manufacturers need to take a long hard look at what goes into there foods I have researched dozens for people and it is mind blowing what is in there everything from sugar beet to peas to seaweed I think as the ferret becomes more popular as a house pet in the uk we will see exactly the same problems as the usa owners need to take a long hard look and say how have they survived all this time in the wild what did they eat how do they live ( normally they sleep all day and hunt from dusk to dawn ) just my two pennies worth take care bye for now Bev I think you're dead right Bev. Although, all of these ferrets came from working homes where they were kept outside and fed whole prey and I myself keep my ferrets outside and now feed raw (although didn't feed whole raw diet until this last year). I wonder how much of this is due to too much linebreeding going towards inbreeding. I have never owned enough standard ferrets to be able to compare, but some of these minis are stupidly inbred. Mind you, many standards are too - with the dishonesty surrounding ferrets passed on and sold, I don't doubt that many brother/sister pairs are sold as potential breeding pairs just to get a sale. Many ferreters want a potential breeding pair - they don't want to have to worry about splitting brothers and sisters etc IME. Only by buying in plenty, and neutering what I don't want will I stand a chance of ensuring this doesn't continue down through the minis. Having said those ages above ... I didn't ever check teeth. I will have to go and have a proper nose at Snowy's teeth to see what age she might actually be. In fact I ought to have a proper look at all teeth on ferrets I have bought as adults. It's surprising how every single working ferret you may ever come across for sale is last year's kit!
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Post by Deleted on Jan 4, 2016 13:54:48 GMT -5
In Australia they are already starting to see the issues with poor breedings as it is legally impossible to import a new line of ferrets to improve the bloodlines. They are getting more and more issues with poor genetics. And as more change husbandry practices they are also getting more and more adrenal and insulinoma. We have rescues from around the world between here and the facebook group, and they have also started talking about seeing more of these issues. This is very sad, I do understand the strict import rules that Australia has on one hand, but on the other they are ruining the future of ferrets over there :-(
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Post by bitbyter on Jan 4, 2016 14:03:57 GMT -5
For those with markings and a tenancy to deafness there seems to be three possibilities: Fully deaf, partially deaf (responds to some sound frequencies) or full hearing.
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Post by crazylady on Jan 4, 2016 14:19:16 GMT -5
Hi what you normally see from some working owners are they will have a group of jills ( they live together so no problems ) and he will only own one hob this one hob covers all the jills ( he has to bring them out incase they have problems as a lot wont have a vas hob or pay the cost of a jill jab ) once he has covered all the jills someone may come along and say oh I will have one from that litter and one from that litter there different colours oh so nice as potential owners see kits with different moms they assume dads are different too after all aren't the kits different colours ! I am not saying all working owners are like this they are not I have a wide group of friends who are like me they write everything down and can contact close friends to inject new blood into there groups at the present time between me and my son we have thirty plus whole hobs of every colour ( mine are mainly albino and poley lol ) between us along with jills plus 3 vas hobs soon to be five lol as they are shattered at the end of breeding season lol) I breed only when needed for myself and no more than two litters in one year ( too much work lol ) and my jills never have more than two litters in there lifetime most of the time its only one and I don't breed a jill under the age of two they have one years break between litters if I plan on breeding again as vit and calcium levels need to be replaced if the jill is to produce healthy kits some years I don't breed at all if I have plenty of a certain line I am trying to keep and they are young enough ( I don't breed a jill over the age of four so it would be two or four if I was going to breed for example if I wanted to breed a poley line and I had four sisters I pick out what I think will produce the best kits and breed that one a dab on the ear with food colouring makes sure I always know which one it was lol and after five weeks she is separated from her sisters to a maternity cage to begin nest building and get ready for the big day her siblings are now simply pets because she has carried on that particular line for me its pretty nerve racking deciding who to place your years of work into sometimes they produce nothing then its rethink time lol take care bye for now Bev
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Post by crazylady on Jan 4, 2016 14:23:53 GMT -5
Hi Sherry I read your post In Australia they are already starting to see the issues with poor breedings as it is legally impossible to import a new line of ferrets to improve the bloodlines. They are getting more and more issues with poor genetics. And as more change husbandry practices they are also getting more and more adrenal and insulinoma. We have rescues from around the world between here and the facebook group, and they have also started talking about seeing more of these issues
these issues are happening all over the world when I go judging I see it over and over a ferret may win ribbons then before you know it everyone wants something from it so hobs work overtime destroying the gene pool that exists. England is now being threatened with the blackself and the angora thrown into our gene pool you have to know who you are buying kits from or you could be breeding in hidden problems take care bye for now Bev
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Post by Deleted on Jan 4, 2016 16:36:07 GMT -5
I had a sable who died at two from lung cancer---don't know if it started there or not. No smoking in this house ever. After that, I started getting paranoia about the carpet and linoleum that goes down in my house as far as out gassing and also what i spot cleaned it with. This little girl is 7 mostly fed evo and wysong( not too good on wysong) and raw since 2014 She is not deaf and a marshall farms girl. I do not know what her coat color is maybe blaze-ish?
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Post by Heather on Jan 4, 2016 21:31:11 GMT -5
The one thing to remember...we can point our finger at the farm ferrets but the one thing to note...inbreeding is not the problem. They have thousands of ferrets to choose from. The note that I got when Marshals imported from Scandinavia they imported 3000 ferrets (with another 3000 ferrets to be added to their lab lines). Guess what? there is no inbreeding done there. There is no need. The problem is creating ferrets for public demand. What sells best? Guess! the unusual, the oddly coloured, heavily marked. Just for shits and giggles post an usual specimen and watch everyone's reaction.....you will get all sorts of enquiries. Post a really nice sable and you will get cute ferret remarks. Oh, by the way...I'm not defending the Farms, they disgust me. They are commercialism at the price of a life. That is disgusting. ciao
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