Dear Ferret Lovers:
 
I am trying to find a average lifespan for ferrets.  I am a recent ferret
owner.  And after waiting 11 years to get a ferret and after four months
of so much fun, I can't understand that Taz's life will be so short.  In
the books that I can find in pet stores say that ferrets live 5-6 years,
when I asked my vet, she said that was true...she even said that they
consider them elderly at three years old.  I planned my summer vacation
around acquiring my rambunctious bundle of joy....ferrets are not legal in
my state.  When I brought him home I immediately took him to a vet over
forty miles from my home....not that there aren't any vets in my
neighborhood, it's just that I wanted a vet who had experience working
with ferrets.  When I bought him, he was only four months old, yet he had
gingivitis and tartar build-up, also he had a upper fang that was broken.
I had his teeth scaled and polished and the vet put a pulp cap on the
broken fang.  He also had a severe case of ear mites, which he was treated
for twice, finally his ears seem clean.  And of course he had his series
of vaccinations for distemper and rabies.  After all that Taz and I have
been through, I don't ever want to lose him.  He brighten's even my
saddest moments, just looking into that innocent face, those big brown
eyes melts my heart.  I like to take this plastic pipe that I pick-up at
the hardware store and tease him with his tickle (this is a cat toy that
looks like a wand with colorful mylar strips at the tip).  He can scoot
his body into the pipe and bite or grab his tickle.  He also likes to
chase empty soda cans through the pipe.  We play for hours in the evening.
Does anyone else out there house their ferret(s) outside?  I have my
ferret in a large wooden rabbit hutch.  It stands four and a half feet
high, the legs are two and half feet with hutch being two feet high, three
and half feet wide and three and half feet deep.  Three walls are wood
with the top and bottom are wood, with cage material across the front with
a door.  I have a cockatiel nesting box inside the cage that has a hole
big enough for his long body to scoot into and I also fill the box with
sawdust and a hand towel that he likes to burrow under.  When I bring him
in for his early morning romp before I leave for work, he feels nice and
warm, but I still worry if he's warm enough.  It never snows in my
neighborhood, but during the winter the temperatures can drop at night to
about 40 degrees.  Any information on prolonging my ferret's lifespan, any
diet tips. etc. I would sure appreciate.
 
Debbie and Tasmanian Devil
[Posted in FML issue 0979]