From:
Sukie Crandall
Date: 2005-11-08 01:44:53 UTC
Subject: [ferrethealth] one of the vet letters written to APHIS
To: ferret-list@cunyvm.cuny.edu, ferrethealth@smartgroups.com
This letter is carried to the FML and FHL with the author's
permission. Dr. Heller writes that this letter may be carried to
other ferret forums and ferret newsletters as long as it appears in
its entirety without changes, and with full attribution of Dr. Heller
and her hospital.
Only a short time remains before it will be too late to get in
letters in time to meet the 11/18/05 APHIS deadline for trying to get
ferret-specific APHIS standards designed by ferret veterinarians, a
move desired to save ferret lives. Letters right now are worth so
very much to protect ferrets.
---
Ruth L. Heller, DVM
Borderbrook Animal Hospital
374 1 William Penn Highway
Murrysville, PA 15668
(724) 327-2200
Docket No. 04-088-1
Regulatory Analysis and Development, PPD, APHIS, Station 3C7 1
4700 River Road Unit 1 18
Riverdale, MD 20737-1238
October 26,2005
To Whom it May Concern:
This letter is to congratulate you for taking the time and effort
needed to consider the current lack
of protection for ferret kits being sold through pet stores. As
ferrets become more and more popular, the
lack of standards that require them to be shipped and sold with
consideration to their physical and
developmental needs becomes an ever more pressing danger to them.
Kits are taken from their mothers at
very early ages, sometimes prior to their eyes opening, subjected to
a major surgery, and shipped even
before they should be weaned.
As a long-time ferret owner, a veterinarian with a special interest
in ferret medicine, and for the
past several years, a hobby breeder of ferrets, I can say that I have
seen both health and social differences
between kits that are taken from their mothers at early ages and
those allowed to remain with them until
natural weaning occurs. The kits that are allowed to be with their
mother and litter mates are far healthier as
far as bone density, muscle development, social interaction skills,
etc. Those that are taken away earlier are
retarded in their development, often leading to later life health
issues such as fabric sucking and chewing,
inability to interact appropriately with other ferrets, and stunted
growth.
In addition to that, the stress of shipping at a very vulnerable time
physically can lead to very
serious problems. I have seen kits arrive at stores (and be sold)
when dehydrated, with fractured jaws, with
infected surgical incisions. I have seen kits that are incapable of
eating the food provided for them because
their developmental stage is still at the point where they cannot eat
solid food.
I urge you to thoroughly evaluate the situation and provide care and
shipping standards for these
animals that will protect them from the above problems. A minimum age
at shipping of eight weeks would
allow them to be weaned naturally, to have the ability to eat solid
foods without difficulty, to develop
greater bone strength and greater ability to withstand the traumas of
surgery and shipping itself. That age is
easy to ascertain based on teeth eruption.
Temperature standards should be set to protect them from being
shipped in times when extreme cold or excess heat will cause them
distress and damage.
Thank you for looking at this important issue.
Ruth L. Heller, DVM
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