Hi Andrea
 
As a child we had working ferrets, un bred female ferrets never lived to
be older than about 3, but no one expected them to.  In those days it was
normal for a ferret to be short lived.  For around 25 years I have kept
ferrets as house pets, I also did a lot of shelter work and re homing; In
Holland ferrets are not doctored when they are young.  I have had intact
female ferrets needing a new home, That have come in at the age of 9
months with almost no fur left on their body, I have had ferrets come in
at the age of 3 who were so weak with Aplastic Anemia that we could do no
more for them than put them to sleep.
 
I have a female ferret who came in at the age of 6 who surprised us by
coming into heat, we though she had adrenal problems, but she had not
been doctored, We tried giving her a hormone jab, but this made her very
aggressive so we had doctored, she is now 10 and still going strong.
Yes ferrets do get Aplastic Anemia and yes they do die from it, But while
one can die from it at the age of 1 year, another can live too 3 or 4
before they have too much trouble.  As with people the age varies.  One
girl becomes a woman at 10 the other at 15.  But if you know it's going
to happen eventually, why take a risk?  .  Aplastic Anemia is not always
visible if you don't know what you are looking for and people will often
say, my ferret died of old age or she was sick.  If the vet has not seen
the ferret, how can anyone be sure that the ferret did not die from
Aplastic Anemia?  By taking away the chance of the ferret getting
Aplastic Anemia you are giving her a better chance to live a long life.
And if you don't take the ferrets to a vet, you don't know what they
died of, and so you can never really say that ferrets do not die from
Aplastic Anemia
 
Stephenie
Stichting De Fret
Netherlands
[Posted in FML issue 5197]