I agree with Joann on shipping. I think a lot of breeders don't ship because it simply forces the potential new owner to demonstrate enough time, money, and dedication to the ferret to be a good owner.
And, yes, accidents can happen with shipping. They can happen with cars, in hotels, anywhere. As far as stressing the ferrets goes...most owners who travel out-of-state to go to shows are completely thrashed by the time they get home while their "little beasts" are happily napping in their carriers.
Remember, shipped kits from a good private are going to be at least 10 weeks of age, and there's a huge difference between a 6-7 weeks and 10 -13 weeks.
That's one thing that sucks about breeder kits...I do miss the 6-7 week old stage of development
......
Hey Joan, will you please move to the Denver area so I can visit some young kits?? LOL!!!!
Anyway, that is very brave of you to offer such a health guarantee. I'm sure you're aware that of the risk, and you're doing this more to track issues as you already mentioned. You get my vote of approval for your dedication to your babies.
But I honestly could not blame adrenal or insulinoma on a breeder based upon what I "know" (?) today.
The reason why I made the above statement is because I have 4 late alters, one is over 4 and the others are over 5. One just began to show fur loss on the tail and a different shedding pattern. The only "symptom" that has expressed itself has been behavior. I know breeders who claim that their late alters do not get adrenal disease. But I also know the vet who treats them, and the vet has done necropsies on these "non-adrenal" ferrets- he says that these ferrets do indeed have adrenal lesions in spite of their owners' clams.
It has been demonstrated in Dr. Johnson-Delaney's publication that all ferts, whether or not neutered or intact, experience hormone surges in late winter/spring. Low time of year is during the fall. If you test a ferret and find that it's "over the limit" in the Springtime but "normal" in the fall, does it have adrenal disease???
If you alter your ferrets after they come into full season, this supposed set/limits the level of hormone production. SO the hormonal surge in ALL ferts is normal - it's just that once you neuter a ferret, the source of the hormones in now the adrenal glands. Late alters may not "peak" as high and early alters, but the process of overdriving the adrenals begins as soon as you neuter unless this is stopped in some artificial way.
I did all the "right" stuff, inluding alter after coming into full season, preventive lupron, lighting cycles (to the best that I could achieve this), and my ferrets have great blood lines (JBF/SH/MMF). I just do a LOT of blood work so I KNOW my ferrets are "adrenal".
It's my fully biased opinion that we have no clue when the "disease" really starts because a hormonal surge in the spring is NORMAL.
I just had one of my fert's adrenal glands removed no cancer and very smooth sailing through the surgery in a ferret that's over 5 - now that, I believe, suggests good genetics.
It's pretty much a "given that if you put any endocrine organ into "overdrive" to extreme levels of hormone production and/or into lower levels of production over an extended period of time, that organ will become diseased and eventually cancerous if the animal lives long enough. (This is why the medical industry states that if a man lives long enough, he'll eventually get prostate cancer - generally, males gonads product indefinitely.)
SO, now here is a interesting question that obviously has no answer....I always HATE it when there's SO much accusational talks about American ferrets having all these genetic problems that started in the US because of color breeding (My dark sable out Balck Hawk is my "worst" adrenal case). Shoot, Denmark ferrets even have blue and green eyes. ANyway, how do we know humans have bred adrenal and insulinoma tendencies into ferrets when there is ABSOLUTELY NOTHING in the natural environment that would weed out ferrets prone to this genetic through natural selection. In other words, there's nothing in the natural evvironment to romote a development of resistence to these diseases. Living on starch and having your "parts" chopped out as a ferret is NEVER going to happen in the wild, so nature has provided no reason to develop resistence to these issues. (i.e., there is no similar challenge of the adrenals and pancreas in the wild that would weed out "weaker animals" via natural selection).
ANyway, I'm sure there are some breeding-related genetic issues... But there are in everything that is not controlled by natural selection (look at humans, for example). But I still think American breeders have been treated rather harshly for something that they're probably not fully responsible for.
Bottom line...in my fully biased and possibly full of "stuff" opinion....ferts never should have been domesticated because our treatment of them as "pets" is completely caustic to their health. But they are here now, and they will never go away. The medical industry has their hands on them, so if we don't keep them as pets, learn more, and continue to educate on their behalf, all that will happen is that ferts will be bred in to hairless (we're already half way there) lab rats
. (I love rats too
) We owe these wnderful little animals a better life, and we ARE making headway, and I think some day not too far off in the future, we'll have a handle on preventing/mitigating some of these issues.
I have to stay positive about ths to deal with it
since it rips my butt up (and that's an enormous amount of work based on the size of my posterior
) up thinking about it too much. I love my babies... they are my only kids.
OK, enough emotional BS from me for today. Gotta run to work so I can pay those vet bills!!!
Thanks, Joan, for sharing your perspective on shipping
-jennifer
ALSO....My des. implants just arrive and I'll be getting them implanted next Tuesday.