What's wrong with this mink??

[northof50]

It's no wonder that I got the STAR BUCK's Craving when I was grading for colour, I was coming across your coffee stained mink Marky Mark. Now if it was tea stained that would have thrown Dave Benwick into break time mode more often.(Dave is wild mink fur grader for NAFA)

[doyleflory]

Its not caused by just eating fish,it is eating fish that have a certain enzyme in them.

[raynard]

Thanks for all the input. I'm thinking of selling the mink to our local dealer to see what kind of response I get.

[trappnman]

the first rule in debating, is to understand the exactly what the point is-

and the point IS- that cotton mink are VERY rare here- VERY RARE-

and that I'd guess....a not unreasonable guess- that in a population of 1000 mink lets say all based in the same areas, eating the same food- that their diets would be pretty much the same-

agreed?

or are you saying that ONE mink- found a totally different food source, and ate that 100% time, while every other mink ate different food?

seems a bit unreasonable I think-

so- logically thinking- there must be another factor present-

now- did I ever say it wasn't diet related?

no- I did not-

what I did say- is perhaps it could also be genetic-

Now- are you saying 100%- that the condition of cotton fur- is never genetic inany way? That the genetic makeup of some mink lines, combined with what ever diet you want, causes the condition to occur?

if so, point me in the direction of that research-

thanks!

[markymark]

Dr. L Stevenson found this out back in the day from working with the Don Head Ranch. Purina dumped a ton of money back in the day to come up with a 4 season diet.

I found this is out from purchasing mink ranching books. Major McClinton who at one time was the MacDaddy of mink ranching almost lost his whole operation due to a fish diet. He had an endless supply of free fish and was dreaming of all the cheese he was going to make.

[trappnman]

cotton mink, according to the studies- suffer from microcytic, hypochromic anemia.

this condition can be corrected with diet-

Microcytic anaemia is a generic term for any type of anemia characterized by small red blood cells. The normal mean corpuscular volume (abbreviated to MCV on full blood count results) is 76-100 fl, with smaller cells (<76 fl) described as microcytic and larger cells (>100 fl) as macrocytic.

In microcytic anemia, the red blood cells (erythrocytes) are usually also hypochromic, meaning that the red blood cells are paler than usual. This can be quantified as the mean corpuscular hemoglobin or mean cell hemoglobin (MCH), the amount of hemoglobin per cell; the normal value is 27-32 picograms (pg). Similar is the mean corpuscular hemoglobin concentration or mean cell hemoglobin concentration (MCHC), giving the amount of hemoglobin per volume of erythrocytes (normally about 320-360 g/l or 32-36 g/dl). Typically, therefore, anemia of this category is described as "microcytic, hypochromic anemia".

Now- its CAUSED by:

1) iron deficiency anaemia, by far the most common cause of anemia in general and of microcytic anemia in particular;

2) thalassemia; (Thalassemia (from Greek èáëáóóá, thalassa, sea + áßìá, haima, blood; British spelling, "thalassaemia") is an inherited autosomal recessive blood disease. In thalassemia, the genetic defect results in reduced rate of synthesis of one of the globin chains that make up hemoglobin. Reduced synthesis of one of the globin chains can cause the formation of abnormal hemoglobin molecules, and this in turn causes the anemia which is the characteristic presenting symptom of the thalassemias.

3) sideroblastic anemia, congenital or acquired;

sometimes, anemia of chronic disease, although this more typically causes normochromic, normocytic anemia;

4) lead poisoning (rare);

5) pyridoxine deficiency.

------------------------------------------------------------------

so science, while noting that diet deficiency's are the #1 cause, certainly does not state its the only cause, and clearly states that is CAN be genetic.

[RdFx]

Ta Da... nothing like research...

[trappnman]

when all else fails..............

[raynard]

Good info T-man

[minkman99]

cotton mink can be both genetic or diet. For us its genetic cause the feed we feed is pellets. All the same. Every year our ranch ends up with one or two cotton mink out of thousands of mink. To me, that mink in the picture just looks sick not necessarily cotton. Diseased maybe.

[raynard]

After all I've read here and after skinning the mink and brushing it out, it is definately cotton. The pelt actually looks pretty nice. After brushing it, I blew into the fur to reveal the under fur and it's "cottony" white. Not that bad of a pelt, but for sure, cotton.

I can post a pic of the pelt if anyone wanted to see it for discussion sake.

[markymark]

www.nature.com/nature/journal/v215/n5097/abs/215187a0.html

www.cababstractsplus.org/abstracts/Abstract.aspx?AcNo=19731406449

[robertw]

I live in area where the cotton mink caught some years runs as high as 20-25% of the entire harvest.

[mustelameister]

Well, I'll be danged . . . . . too much fish in my diet and I'm going anemic and I'm winding up cotton . . . . sure does explain why the beard's going white!

[raynard]

Good info MM