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Modern Ferret News Mailing List Issue #32
http://www.ferretnews.com
October 24, 2002
by Mary R. Shefferman and Eric Shefferman
contact: mary modernferret.com
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Hi
-- Big News: The FerretFaces.com Calendar is here!
The Ferret Faces 2003 Calendar features amazing
up-close and personal photography of ferrets. It's
conveniently ferret-sized at 6" by 6" to fit wherever
you need it - in the kitchen, in the office, or just
keep it by your bed! Crisp black and white photography
captures the subtlety of ferret expression: the ears,
the masks, the whiskers... you'll want to give them
all a treat!
The photography is by me - Eric Shefferman - so you
really should give it a look!
You can order the Calendar and Address Book here:
http://ferrettradingpost.com/caladbook.html
Save $2.99 by ordering the set package to get both
the calendar and the address book at the same time.
Get yours now before the holiday season rush!
- Eric
----- The Modern Ferret News -----
>>> In this issue: <<<
==> Chameleon Ferrets: Why Do Ferrets Change Color?
by Mary R. Shefferman
==> Special Moving Sale
==> Update on Modern Ferret Things
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==> Chameleon Ferrets: Why Do Ferrets Change Color?
by Mary R. Shefferman
We've had a couple of questions recently about
ferrets whose fur color has changed. Although this
is a normal occurrence, many people become concerned
when they notice that their ferret has changed color.
Q: We bought a ferret about three months ago and
absolutely love her. She is already like one of the
family. However, one thing concerns us: my wife
accidentally dropped her (don't worry, she is fine),
but ever since then she has started to go gray.
Can you give us any insight?
A: First off, if you have medical concerns about your
ferret, always bring him or her to the veterinarian.
If you think your ferret might have been harmed in a
fall, have your vet check it out -- ferrets can get
internal injuries from falls. That said, it sounds
like it's probably coincidental that your ferret's
color changed when it did.
Color changes in ferrets are really quite normal.
Many ferrets go through radical color changes
throughout their lives. This is particularly true with
ferrets who are gray or who have white markings (e.g.:
silvers, silvermitts, blazes, pandas). These colors
are the least "natural" for ferrets (the ferret's
ancestor, the polecat, varies little from its basic
brown coloring). Often the ferret kit coat is
different from the adult coat. A case in point is
our ferret Knuks. When she was a kit, she had a dark
stripe down her back. At her first coat change, the
stripe began to fade. By the time she died at 6 years
old, she had fewer than about five dark hairs on her
whole body.
The turning gray or white of a ferret's fur is called
"roaning." All of our ferrets with white or silver
have roaned by the time they were adults. Our Ralph's
(blaze) hind end was pure white when he died; it had
been dark when he was a kit. Balthazar, our silvermitt
who recently passed away, changed dramatically over
his lifetime. Looking at photos of him throughout his
life, it is difficult to believe he is the same
ferret. As a baby he had pronounced black shoulders
with bright white paws and his nose was pink with a
slight dark overcast. Before he died he was nearly all
gray/white and his nose had several black spots on it.
Our Knuks (dark-eyed white), as mentioned above, lost
her stripe. Gabby (panda/mutt), who is now four years
old, has lost some of her dark splotches on her head
and has grayed quite a bit. We've heard many times
from people that their ferret seemed to totally change
color overnight due to a coat change -- so much so
that the ferret was unrecognizable.
Then there's the winter/summer seasonal differences.
Twice a year ferrets shed their coat and grow a new
one. This is generally done to prepare them for either
summer or winter. Winter coats are thicker and plusher
than summer coats and they can have a noticeably
different color. Even a ferret's mask can change shape
with the seasons.
When ferrets are shedding their coat, we recommend
giving them hairball remedy suitable for ferrets.
Ferrets do not generally cough up the fur they
swallow the way cats do -- instead the hairball
remedy helps them pass the fur through their system.
-- aside --
This is the hairball remedy we use for our ferrets:
ferret lax
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Note: Along with the coat change is a weight change
than can be quite extreme. Ralph used to gain a full
pound for winter; some ferrets can gain even more than
that. Of course, they lose most, all, or even more
than that for summer.
Our ferret Trixie is a pale cinnamon and, depending
on her whim, she is either more reddish or more coffee
colored each season. She rarely gains or loses weight
and generally just looks like herself. Each ferret
does things in his or her own way.
Some ferrets, especially when they are young, might
not change coats exactly with the seasons. Even adult
ferrets can vary when they change their coats by a
month or so, with some changing early on in the season
and others a bit later.
Ferrets can be a little confused with regard to
seasons, especially their first or first few seasonal
changes. This is because they are bred year-round.
Left to their own body clocks, ferrets naturally breed
through the spring and fall. To get ferrets for pet
stores all year round, breeders use artificial light
cycles to bring the ferrets into heat so they can
breed them whenever they want kits. Thus, many pet
store kits are born out of sync with the season it
actually is. They naturally want to change into a
winter coat with their very first coat change, but
if they were born in December, for example, that
means they'll be putting on a winter coat (and weight)
for their first summer. As they are exposed to natural
light cycles in your home, they can gradually get on
track -- but you might notice "off-season" coat and
weight changes until they do. Also, depending on how
many hours of natural daylight your ferrets get
(depending on your home's windows, the trees in your
yard blocking light, the direction the room with the
ferrets faces, and so on), your ferrets may or may
not wind up in sync with the seasons.
Q: I have an albino female (descented and neutered).
I give her a bath once every other week. The problem
that I am having is the color of her coat is getting
more and more yellow! When I do shampoo her, the
yellow coloring is not coming out. I was wondering
if I should be bathing her more often, or if there
is such a thing as shampoo for albinos.
A: Albinos are a different story from colored ferrets
because albinos have no color of their own. Their fur
is not actually white, but it has no pigment at all.
It only appears white to us because of the way it
reflects and refracts light.
Since they have no pigment, anything that goes into
them can cause them to pick up a slight coloration.
This can be ingredients in their food, for example.
Some foods might have a very high fat content of a
certain type of fat that can affect the albino
ferret's coat coloring. The environment can also
impart a color to an albino ferret's fur. We once
used a brand of recycled newspaper litter than made
the white fur on our ferrets gray (of course, we
stopped using that brand). Age can also affect the
appearance of an albino's fur. Also, some albino
ferrets just wind up whiter than others do. Our
Marshmallow was always a frosty white; our Cauliflower
was always yellowish -- more like a "French vanilla"
ice cream.
Albino ferrets' fur can also be colored by oils their
skin secretes. Some ferrets just put out more oil than
others (just like some people have oily skin and some
have dry). Neutered ferrets generally put out less oil
than sexually intact ferrets; early-neutered ferrets
may secrete less oil than late-neutered ferrets.
Sexually intact albinos can wind up very yellow from
the oils they secrete.
Bathing a ferret too often stimulates the secretion
of oils to make up for the natural oils being removed
by the bathing. Therefore, bathing your ferret every
other week might actually be too often. There are
"whitening" shampoos or oil-removing shampoos
available that might help reduce the yellow you are
seeing in your ferret. However, no matter how
frequently (or infrequently) we washed Cauliflower,
he remained fairly yellow. Marshmallow always stayed
white. Still, less frequent bathing or a food change
could accomplish the same result as using a whitening
shampoo.
-----------
What's important to note is that the yellow tinge
you're seeing in your albino ferret isn't likely any
sign of poor care on your part. More likely it's an
individual thing with how her body processes food --
and maybe she just produces more oils.
:)
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If you've been reading this newsletter and would
like to see what Mary and Eric do in a real printed
magazine, you can go to our online store and order
a single copy.
http://modernferretstore.com/24/cat24.htm
Modern Ferret Magazine issue #32 features:
- A Dozen Helpful Hints from Bob Church
- Bob Church's Forgotten Ferret History
- Insulinoma to Diabetes: Scoots's Story
- plus ferret cartoons, funny stories, and more!
*and* a very special Patriotic Pin-Up Centerfold!
Note: you'll want an extra copy to be able to hang
this centerfold in your office!
You can also order a subscription, back issues,
and other Modern Ferret products from the site.
http://modernferretstore.com
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==> Special Moving Sale
We're moving and we have to be out by the end of
October. Our move is your savings -- we're offering
our newsletter subscribers a special deal on our
heaviest products!
You can save 25% on any (or all!) of the following
items just by entering the coupon code
movingsale
The products on sale are the Monster Pack of
Modern Ferret Back Issues (formerly known as the
Take 25 Pack), and our books _500 Things My Ferret
Told Me_ and _The Wit and Wisdom of the Modern
Ferrets_. Hurry the sale ends October 25!
** The Monster Pack of Modern Ferret Back Issues **
http://ferrettradingpost.com/take25pack.html
We've renamed the Take 25 Pack to be in the spirit
of Halloween and we've even thrown in a bonus mug!
"I enjoyed every page of the Modern Ferret Take
25 Pack. This was an excellent deal for me. The
informative articles on ferret health, the humorous
stories, and the sweet photos of other people's
fuzzies is awesome. I just wish that I had the
other back issues that are out of stock! I keep
them in a basket so I can refer to them when one
of my ferts has a health or behavioral issue."
--Joyce Huff and the 9 li'l "devils"
(Sara, Kooter, Fuzz, Tootsie, Fuji, Nikki, Sasha,
Tweeters, and Spanky), Pennsylvania
This Holiday Season, get yourself and your ferret-
loving friends a gift they'll enjoy and that will
help them help their ferrets live happier, healthier
lives -- the Modern Ferret Monster Pack!
http://ferrettradingpost.com/take25pack.html
** 500 Things My Ferret Told Me **
http://ferrettradingpost.com/500ferret.html
This fun book gives you 500 enjoyable ferrety quotes
all wrapped up in a nifty little square book. You
can save 25% ordering a copy for yourself or get
extra copies with our -buy two get one free- deal and
save 25% off that as well! Order them now!
http://ferrettradingpost.com/500ferret.html
** The Wit and Wisdom of the Modern Ferrets **
http://ferrettradingpost.com/witandwisofm.html
Compiled from the columns written by our ferrets
during the first 5 years of publishing Modern Ferret
Magazine, this book has the kind of writing that
got us to be chosen as one of the 12 Best Magazines
in the Magazine Business!
Use this link to catch a rare photo of Eric in a
suit and Mary with bright red hair!
http://modernferret.com/about/awards.html
Read about the Wit and Wisdom book here:
http://ferrettradingpost.com/witandwisofm.html
Remember:
You can save 25% on any (or all!) of the above
items just by entering the coupon code
movingsale
on the checkout page. This offer is good until
October 25, because after that we'll be busy moving!
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==> Update on Modern Ferret Things
Please tell other ferret people to go to our site
ferretnews.com and subscribe to this newsletter!
The more the merrier!
-- Our moving day is fast approaching!
We're still not sure which exact day is the day the
truck will come, but it is going to be soon. The new
place is sure to spark a whole bunch of articles on
ferret-proofing and making a new place safe for
ferrets.
Be sure to take advantage of our moving sale
(mentioned above) before October 25!
-- Be sure to check out FerretFaces.com
We're really excited about the new FerretFaces.com
2003 Ferret Calendar and Ferret Address Book.
In the next few days, there should be some new
stuff on the Ferret Faces web site as well as some
free goodies (like downloadable ferret desktop
wallpaper).
Keep an eye on:
http://www.ferretfaces.com
-- Halloween Safety Tips
Halloween is coming!
For some useful articles on various aspects of the
holidays and ferrets, see the Modern Ferret News
article archive:
http://www.ferretnews.com/articles.html
That's it for this issue!
Stay tuned! More great stuff is on the way!
Remember that shopping at
http://www.FerretDesigns.com
and at
http://www.FerretTradingPost.com
helps support this newsletter and keep it free.
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Please let your ferret friends know about this
newsletter and encourage them to read.
Shopping at these websites to helps support this
newsletter and keep it free.
http://www.ferretdesigns.com
http://www.ferrettradingpost.com
You can provide feedback about this issue by sending email to:
marymodernferret.com
Disclaimer:
http://ferretnews.com/disclaimer.html
The shortened version of the disclaimer is:
If your ferret is ill or you think your ferret
is ill, bring your ferret to a ferret
knowledgeable veterinarian.
Previous articles from this newsletter are at:
http://ferretnews.com/articles.html
Archives of this newsletter are available at:
http://ferretnews.com/issues.html
http://modernferrets.com/newsletterarchive.html
Copyright 2002 Modern Ferret magazine.
All rights reserved.
http://www.modernferret.com
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