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Post by Sherry on Nov 20, 2011 18:00:21 GMT -5
Wenmister- I think I'm going to steal and sticky those questions for those looking for breeder ferrets ;D Fantastic list!!!
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Post by Deleted on Nov 20, 2011 20:50:37 GMT -5
No problem.
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Post by joan on Nov 21, 2011 10:43:53 GMT -5
Well said, Nancy! I'd add one more caution to this sentence: "Just because a breeders ferrets are winning at the shows does not necessarily mean it is a better ferret" or that it will be healthier and/or have a better temperament.
I've been getting 15-20 emails a year for the past few years asking if I have kits which are not related to the show ferrets, due to the problems they'd had or had seen with such ferrets...it ran about 50/50 re health and temperament. This past year such emails have more than doubled, with many specifically stating that they were looking for kits with little or no BRM in their background due to the health problems they had encountered.
I couldn't be of much help to most of these people, since they lived too far away from me to make a trip out here feasible for most of them...nor was I aware of any breeder in their area who did not have similar lines to the one(s) they'd had who died at a relatively young age from cardio problems, lymphoma, kidney disease, etc.
Until/unless show wins become less important than breeding ferrets who will live at least 7-8 HEALTHY years, so that breeders are willing to cull lines which are consistently producing ferrets who don't even reach their 6th birthday, I don't have much hope that ferret shows will prove to be any less detrimental to ferrets than dog shows have to many breeds of purebred dogs. Genetic testing has been developed for many canine diseases so that carriers and affected dogs can be identified before they are bred, but there is nothing comparable for ferret breeders.
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