Ok this is going to sound very strange but I was bathing my ferrets today both are rescues and noticed they both had two blue dots tattooed in their left ears one of the ferrets is about two and the other is about a year old. I don't remember ever noticing these dots on our old ferret. So my question is does anyone elses ferrets have these tattoos and if they do have them do you know why?
Ferret Question
- Thread starter jess
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Thanks I was begining to think I was nuts or that for some god unknown reason the former owners did that to them. Our old ferret didn't have them I'm sure of that she was almost seven when we lost her so I would have noticed. Must be identifing marks so they know which farm they are from then?
They same thing is done with rabbits. Breeders use a large plier type instrument with spikes arranged in different patterns or letters. Once the Rabbit is "tattooed" a black ink is rubbed in it and it becomes permanent. Our county fair requires this or they won't let you show. Same thing with ferrets too.
iwannaboxer
Boxer Pal
a tad more info on the tats...
just to add a bit of info for you on this... most likely your cute little fuzzies are marshall ferrets ( I don`t know of any other breeder that tatoos thier ferrets). Marshall Ferrets are the most popular ferret, they are the most common to find in petshops but they do take great pride in the health of their ferrets, they usually come with a guarantee of health and their first shots, desented and fixed. They tatoo them to keep track of which litter they come from so if any genetic problems arise as the ferrets grow up it can be tracked back to the litter and stopped. marshall ferrets does have a very informative web site (i`m not sure the address) and they can awnser any more questions you have about your fuzzies. good luck with your ferrets, they are definatley a one of a kind pet.
just to add a bit of info for you on this... most likely your cute little fuzzies are marshall ferrets ( I don`t know of any other breeder that tatoos thier ferrets). Marshall Ferrets are the most popular ferret, they are the most common to find in petshops but they do take great pride in the health of their ferrets, they usually come with a guarantee of health and their first shots, desented and fixed. They tatoo them to keep track of which litter they come from so if any genetic problems arise as the ferrets grow up it can be tracked back to the litter and stopped. marshall ferrets does have a very informative web site (i`m not sure the address) and they can awnser any more questions you have about your fuzzies. good luck with your ferrets, they are definatley a one of a kind pet.
Boxer_21
Boxer Insane
Two of my ferrets have these tattoos. Chase (my male silver mitt) and Trouble (my female sable) both will be 3 this April. They're Marshall Farm ferrets and the reason that they have tattoos is to show two things. One, that they have been spayed/nuetered. Two, that they have been descented. As far as I know, MF is the only ferret breeders that do this, but I don't know of all of them so I could be wrong. I do know that Noel, my female albino, who is also a rescue does not have them so I can say that she is not a MF ferret.
warmellie
Boxer Booster
Two of my ferrets came from Path Valley Farms and they did not have tattoos.
Also, I've read sometimes a ferret may be tattooed between the toes.
Here's the website for Marshall farms.
http://www.marshallpet.com/
some ferret owners do not like Marshall farms because they claim MF also sell their ferrets to labs for animal testing. I'm not sure if that is true or not, but you can get some extremely heated debates on ferret message boards about it.
I had a rescue named Meeko and he had the tattoos. He was a sweet, sweet boy and I miss him.
Now, I have Binks. He was a stray but he was intact so he didn't come from a breeding farm.
Also, I've read sometimes a ferret may be tattooed between the toes.
Here's the website for Marshall farms.
http://www.marshallpet.com/
some ferret owners do not like Marshall farms because they claim MF also sell their ferrets to labs for animal testing. I'm not sure if that is true or not, but you can get some extremely heated debates on ferret message boards about it.
I had a rescue named Meeko and he had the tattoos. He was a sweet, sweet boy and I miss him.
Now, I have Binks. He was a stray but he was intact so he didn't come from a breeding farm.
Proof of Sale to Labs
Please click on the link to see the proof that Marshall Farms does sell there animals to Labs. This is not really a debate as they openly admite to it and advertise it. Feel free to call them and ask if this ad is not enough proof. Scroll to bottom of page to see ad.
ALL of there ferrets have two Tatooed dots. This in no way can be traced back to a litter because they all have them. They are not unique or special dots. They simply repersent: One Dot = Spayed/Neutered Two Dots = Descented. Many other breeders also do this.
http://home.comcast.net/~tucsonjan/Marshall.html
My little Ralphy was a Marshall Ferret, please use the link above to see the site dedicated to him (a work in progress).
Please click on the link to see the proof that Marshall Farms does sell there animals to Labs. This is not really a debate as they openly admite to it and advertise it. Feel free to call them and ask if this ad is not enough proof. Scroll to bottom of page to see ad.
ALL of there ferrets have two Tatooed dots. This in no way can be traced back to a litter because they all have them. They are not unique or special dots. They simply repersent: One Dot = Spayed/Neutered Two Dots = Descented. Many other breeders also do this.
http://home.comcast.net/~tucsonjan/Marshall.html
My little Ralphy was a Marshall Ferret, please use the link above to see the site dedicated to him (a work in progress).
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