>BEGIN QUOTE

Reprod Fertil Dev. 2009;21(2):351-63.
The effect of the breeding season, cryopreservation and physiological
extender on selected sperm and semen parameters of four ferret species:
implications for captive breeding in the endangered black- footed
ferret.
van der Horst G, Kitchin RM, van der Horst M, Atherton RW.
Department of Medical Biosciences, University of the Western Cape,
Private Bag X17, Bellville 7537, South Africa.

In the present investigation, comparative baseline information on
selected sperm characteristics of ejaculate spermatozoa of the domestic
(Mustela putorius furo), fitch (Mustela sp.) and black-footed ferrets
(Mustela nigripes) and the Siberian polecat (Mustela eversmanni)
are presented. The main emphasis was to establish differences and
similarities among these species in relation to semen and sperm
quality during the breeding season, in cryopreservation success and
in supporting sperm motility in different extenders or physiological
media. The results confirm that most sperm morphology abnormalities
were evident during the beginning of the breeding cycle in all four
species. No significant interspecies differences were apparent in
the sperm attributes examined, for all sampling months during the
breeding season. Moreover, all species exhibited comparable patterns
of reproductive seasonality. Cryopreservation suppressed sperm
characteristics equally in all species studied. Ejaculate spermatozoa
of closely related ferret species shared many similar motion
characteristics using computer-aided sperm motility analysis. These
results suggest that the basic sperm physiology of the ferret species
under examination is very similar. Disparate to the interspecies
comparisons, there were significant differences for most sperm motion
parameters when spermatozoa of any of the ferrets were compared in
different extenders. Assisted reproductive technologies developed
for use in domestic ferret, fitch ferret or Siberian polecat may be
successfully applied to captive breeding of the black-footed ferret
using semen during any of the functional breeding months.

PMID: 19210927

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URL:
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19210927

Although work in a different species "cousin"), this is worth checking
to see if applicable, too, and is new to Pub Med as of several days ago:

BEGIN ABSTRACT

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19198077

Izv Akad Nauk Ser Biol. 2008 Nov-Dec;(6):713-7
[Approaches to pregnancy diagnosis in the sable (Martes zibellina,
Mustelidae, Carnivora) by noninvasive methods: postimplantation period]
[Article in Russian]

[No authors listed]
To develop a reliable approach to pregnancy diagnosis in sables
based on noninvasive methods of hormonal status assessment, the
concentrations of immunoreactive compounds (IRC) binding with
antibodies to progesterone have been measured in the feces of females
at different stages of the reproductive cycle. The results show that
this concentration is higher in truly pregnant than in mated but
nonreproducing females. An increase in the IRC concentration relative
to its individual baseline level may be regarded as a reliable
indication of true pregnancy.

PMID: 19198077

END ABSTRACT

Sukie (not a vet)

Recommended ferret health links:
http://pets.groups.yahoo.com/group/ferrethealth/
http://ferrethealth.org/archive/
http://www.afip.org/ferrets/index.html
http://www.miamiferret.org/fhc/
http://www.ferretcongress.org/
http://www.trifl.org/index.shtml
http://homepage.mac.com/sukie/sukiesferretlinks.html

[Posted in FML 6245]