From:
sukiec@optonline.net
Date: 2005-03-02 18:14:07 UTC
Subject: RE: Hob with no smell + genetic problems
To: ferrethealth@smartgroups.com
Message-ID: <5484603.1109787247557.JavaMail.root@thallium.smartgroups.com>
I would suspect that you could have lack of smell either with or without br=
eeding problems.
In the distant past we had a female with no scent. The lack made her insec=
ure and that of course affected her behavior. For her the answer was for m=
e to apply a safe scent to her using a cotton swab. She needed the scent g=
enerally near her anus (so we put it on her lower back) and generally near =
the head glans so we put it on her neck. In her case it did not need to an=
y closer to those gland locations. She became so secure that she eventuall=
y was our alpha ferret.
(When adding scent it needs to be remembered that it can make the one getti=
ng it feel more powerful so giving it to a submissive individual may lead t=
o fights from upsetting the dominance hierarchy, but if the hierarchy is al=
ready in question... Sometimes it can end fights if a dominent individual =
receives some extra scent if the individual is being challenged temporarily=
. In other words, before adding scent always carefully study the interacti=
ons for a decent amount of time first. It's not just the scent that needs =
to be safe but also any possible social change the scent may cause. Stink =
is status.)
There IS a paper on hypertrophic cardiomyopathy and one grouping of genetic=
conditions. It is more commonly seen in conjunction with neural crest gen=
etic varient markings. In such a situation it is thought that what is actu=
ally changes is the cardiac neural crest, a very early fetal cell grouping =
that occurs before the neural crest cell grouping and the cardiac crest cel=
l grouping split from each other. Since what are affected are very early f=
etal cells that later differentiate into many things a range of expression =
of such genetics can be seen. That is called "variable expression".
From:
http://circres.ahajournals.org/cgi/content/full/92/1/73
"The Homeobox Gene Lbx1 Specifies a Subpopulation of Cardiac Neural
Crest Necessary for Normal Heart Development"
Konstanze Sch=E4fer, Petra Neuhaus, Julia Kruse, Thomas Braun
Circ Res. 2003 Jan 10;92(1):73-80.
including:
>Interestingly, in humans there have =
>been reports about hypertrophic
>cardiomyopathy in association with l
>entiginosis as manifested in the
leopard syndrome and other disorders =
>of the neural crest tissue further =
>emphasizing the potential role of =
>neural crest in the development of a =
>hyperplastic or hypertrophic heart disease.
This observation and some other cardiacneural crest info (including early d=
eaths and fetal deaths) can be read about in the archives of
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Ferret-Genetics/ which has an Italian genetic=
ist, Silvia Pizzi, who is studying MEN (multiple endocrinological neoplasia=
) genetics in other species to thank for letting us all know. (That may be=
Dr. Silvia Pizzi but I don't know if she is a student, has completed her d=
issertation, is a post-doc, a professor, or what. I just know that she fin=
ds good information and shares it and has a great on-line friendliness.)
The commonly seen neural crest varient pelage indicators in ferrets are bla=
ze heads, panda heads, and extraneous, unevenly margined, non-bilateral bod=
y spotting or splotching (i.e.not cleanly margined and complete white bibs=
with white socks which come from a different genetic cause and are simply =
the change of two dark pigmented normal patterns into white ones).
This is often referred to as Waardensburg in ferrets and I am afraid that I=
am to blame for that likley error because ages ago I noticed that neural c=
rest varients were being seen but WS was the only cause I knew at the time.=
Since then geneticist Brett Middleton has pointed out (See FHL Archives a=
t http://fhl.sonic-weasel.org.) that the genetic varient seen is more likel=
y KIT at least when there is white spotting or splotching in areas other th=
an the head. Another important thing to know is that KIT is an oncogene wh=
ich can increase the susceptibility to getting tumors, incluing malignant o=
nes.
So, if one of the ferrets you are breeding has a blaze or panda head or oth=
er neural crest genetic varient markings that may have something to do with=
at least part of what is being encountered.
We currently have two with the extraneous spotting of neural crest varients=
. Our habit is to have such individuals get extra vet care, extra testing,=
and to start the old age schedule for vet care and testing more early than=
we do for others. It seems to work best for them to do so.
BTW, I do not know for sure if there are ferret who have a lrge number of l=
entigenes (LEOPARD syndrome when it shows up in humans) but there may be. =
The same Danish breeder of angoras about whom there has been so much distur=
bing stuff said recently (inappropriate topic for the FHL so members will b=
e trusted to keep it off the FHL and to look elswhere if more info is sough=
t) shows the side of a mustelid on his website. There are conflicting repo=
rts on if the animal is mink or a ferret, but whichever it is the individua=
l is white with small black spots. It is also impossible to see if there a=
re skin lentigenes (raised dark pigmented areas of skin) associated with th=
e fur spotting. IF there are and IF this is a ferret then the LEOPARD neur=
al crest genetic varients (which can be associated with their own range of =
serious medical problems) is possible in ferrets. =
=
=
End of ferrethealth Digest
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