From:
Sukie Crandall
Date: 2008-03-03 22:04:57 UTC
Subject: Re: [ferrethealth] Re: BE AWARE FUNGAL ORGANISMS LIVE IN THE SOIL WHERE THEY DIG..............
To: ferrethealth@yahoogroups.com
On Mar 3, 2008, at 3:53 PM, possum1213 wrote:
> --- In ferrethealth@yahoogroups.com, "kblausman" <kblausman@...>
> wrote:
> > I am beginning to think that keeping ferrets in a bubble is the only
> > way to have them safe.
>
> The best way to keep them safe is to do your research and make
> informed choices for them. The best time to do this is BEFORE you
> get a pet. You can then decide whether this pet is the appropriate
> one for you.
>
> Read the various lists and get a feel for who can give you the best
> information. You'll get as many opinions as there are people, not
> all of it good. You have to filter out who you should listen to.
>
> Read Ferrets for Dummies. It's the best book on ferret care, IMO.
> There are good websites with excellent information. Again, you have
> to filter the good from the bad.
>
> There is a world of information out there, so much more than when I
> got my first ferret. Educate yourself and then make informed
> choices. Try different things and see what works best. And, as
> Sukie said, weigh the risks.
>
> Katharine
>
I have to agree with Katherine, though I do admit that i understand
the frustration (and the wry humor about it) which was expressed.
Let me add that there simply is not such a thing as perfection. That
is just the way of life; perfection simply doesn't exist. You can
find what is perfect for you or for your individual ferret, but that
doesn't mean that it is perfect for each ferret or each ferret person.
That isn't just true for health issues. It's a basic aspect of life.
My husband is perfect for me and apparently I am for him, too (though
I think I have the better taste in spouses) and that has been for the
29 years we have been together. Does that mean that either of us
thinks the other is perfect, or even that either of us would be
perfect for anyone we currently know? Nope. Same with so many of
life's choices: jobs, health, classes, activities for kids (Ever sign
your kid up for a lot of activities only to learn later that "free-
range" kids are thought to more often grow up to be creative?), which
animals fit in one's life, home design, vehicle choice (Get the size
you need for when you transport the team so it is handy, or rent a
large one those times -- extra work -- and have a smaller and far
less polluting one for the vehicle you own?), etc. Nothing else in
life is easy; why would ferret care be?
Nothing is an exact fit so you find what fits best of the options FOR
YOU and FOR YOUR FERRET and know that life isn't easy. Also, don't
let it be a popularity contest. Just because something is right for
someone else, or something is the current bandwagon does not mean that
it is automatically right for your ferret or for you, and sometimes
that option might not even be right for most individuals if people
just looked more closely.
So, learn the upsides and the downsides; everything has them. Both of
those help make your choice, and then knowing the downsides later
allows you to more easily spot and identify problems when they happen
so that you can jump on them in a timely way. Downsides are really
important to understand, not as attractive as upsides, but really,
really essential.
Are there places and people with conflicting statements? Yes.
Consider the source, learn from several places. Weigh the data rather
than the popularity. Look at dates, too, because sometimes older info
is replaced when new research has been done.
Also, remember that skill sets and preferred tools are individual.
I've known excellent ferret vets who do their best adrenal surgeries
with cryosurgery and others who do their best adrenal surgeries with
scalpels. Both have done marvelous surgeries, but different things
work better for different people. Instead of assuming that one
approach must be just better ask which works better for the vet you
are seeing.
Remember that "research" in terms of health, although it can be
applied as a fancy way to say "looked it up", INSTEAD optimally refers
to actual studies with actual controls by actual experts in the field
and with actual significant results. It is easy to look things up and
avoid what a person doesn't want to see, but having a compilation of
some results or of some hypotheses, while potentially useful, is far
different from an expert doing a real study which holds up to serious
challenges by other real experts. Science isn't religion. Religion
says, "Believe me and then prove your faith by ignoring all
challenges." Science says, "Make me prove that this result is valid
and then continue to hit me with every challenge you've got so we can
see if the result needs to be modified."
If something is a hypothesis you can still try it in case it might
work, but do not confuse it with something that has been through the
above described trials. You know how it often seems -- WHEN LISTENING
TO THE NEWS -- that scientists are forever changing their minds?
Well, actually, what is all too often going on is that news reporters
are acting as if hypotheses were a lot more certain than hypotheses
ever are. The scientists used conditional words and the reports
neglected them. OR sometimes the reporters also were careful but the
readers or listeners were not. That isn't scientists changing minds
(though that can happen with new data) but instead it is careless
reporting, or careless listening or reading. ALL of the same things
happen in relation to ferret health data.
So, yes, it can be frustrating, and no, not all sources of data are
equal, and yes, some ferret health precautions often taken are only
hypotheses, and...
Hey, it's worth it. The road to progress in optimal ferret care is
rocky, but so are precious gems and some ice creams... ;-)
Sukie (not a vet) (and yes, it is important to remember that I am not
a vet because it is essential to use a grain of salt always, and then
increase it to a boulder of salt when people speak outside their areas
of expertise as so often happens, and that is true for EVERYONE, so
beware any worship or over-weaning belief placed in another human, and
beware a salt shortage... ;-) )
Recommended ferret health links:
http://pets.groups.yahoo.com/group/ferrethealth/
http://ferrethealth.org/archive/
http://www.afip.org/ferrets/index.html
http://www.miamiferret.org/fhc/
http://www.ferretcongress.org/
http://www.trifl.org/index.shtml
http://homepage.mac.com/sukie/sukiesferretlinks.html
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
Yahoo! Groups Links
<*> To visit your group on the web, go to:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ferrethealth/
<*> Your email settings:
Individual Email | Traditional
<*> To change settings online go to:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ferrethealth/join
(Yahoo! ID required)
<*> To change settings via email:
mailto:ferrethealth-digest@yahoogroups.com
mailto:ferrethealth-fullfeatured@yahoogroups.com
<*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to:
ferrethealth-unsubscribe@yahoogroups.com
<*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to:
http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/