Where can you go to find more than 200 ferrets in one place?

Nowhere else than the 2014 Spring Nationals Ferret Competition at the Leesburg Volunteer Fire Company Station #1 in Leesburg, VA. Local ferrets, as well as ferrets from all over the country, will be competing for top honors at the show.

AFA will also be holding their Ferret of the Year Awards dinner at the Ironwood Tavern in Leesburg, Friday evening from 7-9. We will be having about 50 folks attending the dinner and awards presentation.

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 (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!