The AFA would like to announce that Paula Woodland has accepted the position of Vice President of the AFA. Paula has a wealth of experience in the ferret community and will be a great asset to the AFA executive board. That said, we would also like to announce that Staci L. Lombardo has moved up to the position of President of the AFA. Staci has done well in her role as VP and we are sure will continue to strive to make the AFA an even better organization.

Sara Hamilton had to step down as AFA President due to increasing personal obligations. While we will miss Sara as president, we are sure Sara will continue to work for the AFA where and when she can.

Please extend your congratulations to these folks as they take the helm of the AFA.

The American Ferret Association (AFA) finalized data collection in its first-ever ferret census in March. Throughout the past year, more than 2200 ferret owners logged into the survey and answered 55 questions about their ferrets, health and nutrition, color patterns, ages and more!

The AFA’s Education Committee has now analyzed the data for 33 of these questions and continues to work on those remaining. After the analysis, we will be sharing the results. Ferret owners, veterinarians, shelters and retailers of products for ferrets will all benefit from the sharing process! Reports of the data will appear in the American Ferret Report, on the AFA web page, on the AFA Facebook page and in special publications.

Volunteers interested in assisting with the remaining data analysis, interpretation and sharing of the census results should contact the AFA.

The winner of the one-year AFA membership (from those who submitted the survey) will be announced here SOON! Thank you to everyone for participating in this ground-breaking research. We couldn't have done it without you!

It is that time of year again when Merial decides to stop producing Purevax. The current batch will expire on June 14, 2013 and the next batch will not be available until October 2013

Whenever available, the American Ferret Association recommends the use of a licensed vaccine against canine distemper in ferrets (currently only Merial's Purevax Distemper). When such a vaccine is unavailable due to shortages or other problems, the AFA recommends considering the use of a limited antigen vaccine that has a track record of safe and efficacious use in protecting ferrets. At this time, that is limited to Nobivac DPv, also known as The Puppy Shot, which has been used extensively in Europe and contains the vaccine strain formerly available as GalaxyD. Although it does also vaccinate against canine parvovirus, which ferrets do not get, it is still the most proven vaccine available at times when the licensed product is not. As always, the AFA recommends discussion of any vaccination protocol with the ferret's treating veterinarian, and use of such tools as antibody titers and risk assessment to determine the ultimate protocol used for each individual animal.

The American Ferret Association is aiming to go green whenever and wherever practical. Starting in 2012, membership renewals are being sent via email. We hope that these changes to our membership communications will result in big savings for the environment, our budget, and the amount of time required to manage memberships.

In order for this to be successful you will need to be a proactive member and follow these simple steps:

• Renew early ­ the fewer emails and letters we have to send, the more your membership dollars can be stretched and the more savings of printing ink, postage, paper, and time. You can find your membership expiration date on your membership card and also on the line above your name on the AFR mailing label.


• Share your email address ­ or addresses. We can send to multiple email addresses, as you prefer.


• Make sure you add the AFA to your email address book(s). It won't do either of us any good if you are not receiving our emails and they are ending up in your spam folder. Membership renewal notices will be coming from afaferret@gmail.com


• Keep your email address up to date in our database. You can uppdate your membership online at http://www.ferret.org/about/updateContactInfo.html

We also look forward to sending out breaking news or other messages we deem important to all AFA members that can not wait until the next newsletter cycle.

AFA does not share it's database, so you as an AFA member can feel secure in the knowledge that any information we have in our master database is safe and secure.

If you have any questions please feel free to email afaferret@gmail.com or call 1-888-FERRET-1.

Vickie McKimmey