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Post by Heather on Nov 5, 2010 0:09:20 GMT -5
Here is my Thor, it was with him that I started investigating waardenburg syndrome. He's a cute little guy and can hear but has a rather slow mentality and I'm not sure how well you can see it in this photo but he has a broad flat head, eyes are the wrong shape, his legs are too short for the length of his body, his head is also the wrong shape. You will note that his eyes appear almost on the top of his head, whereas they should be on the side Fun-Go B Squiggly is a DEW. He also exhibits the broad nasal passages, flattened skull. Squiggly on the other hand, is bright, fast on his feet. He's profoundly deaf, doesn't use the proper body language to communicate with other ferrets, exhibits antisocial behaviour for ferrets. I had to laugh because someone mentioned or asked if these guys had a hard time staying out of water. Fun-Go can't pass a container of water that is full or the water is standing still. According to Fun-Go, water is meant to run free and is best exhibited all over his body I realized that I didn't have a good picture of my little fellow who is probably the worse case that I have...Boris. So I will have to get a photo of him. Actually the only photos I have of him are in sleep positions that would probably give a chiropractor nightmares This is a photo of Boris, it doesn't show the abnormal shape of his head and there is no way for me to let you hear the horrible weazing and snoring noises that this poor little fellow makes. Boris isn't the brightest tool in the shed but he loves life. He like Fun-Go, doesn't know how to communicate to other ferrets. He gets along well in the misfit group that Fun-Go rules. They are a silly bunch, most of them deaf and prone to poor judgement but they are sweet. ciao
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Post by shilohismygirl on Nov 5, 2010 7:30:18 GMT -5
What I find odd is the fact that both of them, AND the pics of the other possible Waardenburg's babies in this thread, almost seem to have a "sweeter" look to them, if that makes any sense? I feel like that does make a lot of sense-Hiro IMO is the sweetest looking , baby faced ferret of all of my guys, and all these other ferrets seem to have that same quality. Hiro has really wide set eyes, and his head shape is different than the others. He is really energetic, and sociable-he doesn't seem to be the brightest, but really acts as though he can't be bothered with doing tricks or sitting still. And, he wheezes when he sleeps.
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xeopse
Cageless and Roamin' Free
Raw Feeder
Posts: 235
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Post by xeopse on Nov 5, 2010 11:04:05 GMT -5
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Post by Heather on Nov 5, 2010 12:34:48 GMT -5
Thor is very dark almost black. Thor is a BY breeder's ferret, not a farm ferret. According to a friend who has been breeding for years, Thor's problem may be not only genetic (there may be a bit of "line" breeding in Thor's background...there aren't a lot of intact ferrets in Canada) but poor nutrition to the jill during her pregnancies and after when she was nursing. She says you can see this type of thing if calcium needs aren't met and poor nutrition in the jill. You can also bet that the jill was subjected to multiple back to back breedings, double that up with poor nutrition and you're going to have problems with the kits. Did you happen to notice that Lullabelle has a reversed blaze? It's quite pronounced. ciao
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Post by sherrylynne on Nov 6, 2010 0:02:09 GMT -5
Did you happen to notice that Lullabelle has a reversed blaze? It's quite pronounced. ciao You know- I'd never thought of that! It's still a blaze, but blackish instead of white!
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Post by Heather on Nov 6, 2010 2:07:42 GMT -5
Thor has one too, that's why I mentioned it. If you look at his photo you can just see it, not very well and it's not as clear as Lulabelle's. I know we're always looking for the white blaze, but I wonder if it works the same in reverse. ciao
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xeopse
Cageless and Roamin' Free
Raw Feeder
Posts: 235
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Post by xeopse on Nov 8, 2010 13:38:51 GMT -5
What is a reverse blaze?
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Post by Heather on Nov 8, 2010 13:42:32 GMT -5
Instead of white she has a dark blaze. It's perfect on her. Thor's is only visible during the winter when his coat is lighter and his mask is different. During the summer you can't see it but Lulabelle's is a perfect blaze except it's dark ciao
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xeopse
Cageless and Roamin' Free
Raw Feeder
Posts: 235
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Post by xeopse on Nov 8, 2010 16:17:36 GMT -5
And the blaze is the stripe down the back of her head? One of her sisters has two stripes down the back of her head, it's the weirdest thing - it's the only way I can tell her apart from another one - I think of them as racing stripes
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Post by Polecatty on Nov 12, 2010 2:33:18 GMT -5
I had a DEW with Waaredenburg's; pretty much what you would expect. Wide set eyes, poor skull structure, weak hips and back, mentally slow and I had a very hard time keeping him in decent condition. He was also pretty bad with other ferrets, but super placid with people. He was an average worker. His sister, a polecat without any extra markings, was structurally much better but was an absolute nightmare around other ferrets. Very highly strung. she maintained condition well. She was a terrible worker! They were both very sweet towards people. Both died early at six years of age from congenital facial tumours.
They were poorly bred ferrets, bred for no purpose other than colour. Never again.
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joan
Gnawing on bones
Natural Ferret Breeder
Posts: 57
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Post by joan on Nov 12, 2010 6:09:42 GMT -5
From your descriptions, I'd guess that both Ping and Lulabelle may have severe neurological defects in addition to the typical WS ones. Given their lack of energy, I'd recommend that they be checked for possible cardiac abnormalities if they haven't been...that's also a typical WS defect.
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Post by rarnold18 on Nov 12, 2010 6:41:53 GMT -5
No, Ping hasn't been checked for anything cardiac wise... Thankyou for suggesting that! I know that Ping is a Marshal but the only other backstory on her is that her and her cage mate Tai were abandoned at a boarding facility...one of the workers contacted me (I still don't know how they got my info...) and on his way home from work my husband picked them up, they were down in the Kissimmee area which is about an hour or so away from me. How do they check for cardiac abnormalities? Ultrasound? If so are they sedated for the procedure? I assume so because I jsut don't see Ping cooperating... How safe is sedation for these little guys?
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Post by sherrylynne on Nov 12, 2010 10:29:51 GMT -5
Whenever mine have had to be sedated for xray(haven't had an ultrasound yet), the vet's used something she calls a "bounce" sedation. Basically, they are put under mildly, and brought right back out again, so the risk is minimal. Sinnead has to have that whenever blood work is needed. She's not, shall we say, cooperative?
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Post by rarnold18 on Nov 12, 2010 12:52:39 GMT -5
I don't see Ping being cooperative at all should we have anything done... I mean she's a good fuzz, and you can pick her up and love on her for a bit and then she's done and will give you a warning bite. She does not like new people handleing her at all and has definitly choosen Emmett as her human and when given the chance she will crawl into his shirt sleeve and go to sleep. I could see her biting the vet or tech that's trying to handle her and with this state in general being very "sue" happy, a lawsuit would probably be in my furture with my luck.....
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xeopse
Cageless and Roamin' Free
Raw Feeder
Posts: 235
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Post by xeopse on Nov 12, 2010 16:11:18 GMT -5
Lulabelle was put under on Wednesday to see what was going on with her since she's been having some issues - we put her in the same chamber we use for lab rodents (I'm used to doing a cone for animals larger than her, but she barely weighs a pound so we did the chamber which is less traumatizing than holding a funny-smelling cone to her face and making her breathe into it) She went nighty-nights for a little nap in the chamber, took some x-rays real quick, tried to take blood, and I carried her back to our procedure room and rubbed her for about 10 minutes on a heating pad in a towel. While she was out I went and grabbed swabs to finally clean the gunk out of her ears... little known fact, the more you stimulate them, the quicker they wake up - so I half did it because I wanted to clean them quickly, half because I wanted her to wake up. She DEFINITELY knew I was trying clean the build up even just on the outside of her ear! LOL so that didn't last long They will shake for a minute after waking up (which they do anyways, so no big deal), but once they're awake they're cognitive pretty quickly and can self-thermoregulate so they're ready to go back in their carrier.
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