>ferret age   <Michele>
>I'm sure everyone is familiar with dog years as opposed to human years,
>i.e. Dog: 1 year = 7 human years.  Is it similar with ferrets?
 
Mish
Ferret 1 Year = 10 human Years.
 
At 1 Yr the ferret is more or less fully devellopped in mind, body and soul.
At 10 Yr's the human is of app- at the same level.
[Moderator's note: Folks must mature at a young age down there.  In the
Northern hemisphere is takes decades even to approach that level!  BIG]
At 5 Yr's in the ferret, still bouncing and fit, problems are starting to
show up.
At 50Yr's in the human the first weaknesses starting to show however small.
At 8 Yr's in the ferret, well............?
At 80Yr's in the human, well..........?
 
"Felicity" my oldest female at 8 years is still on her feet but a walking
stick would be quiet helpful:-).  For the rest of my colony, 26 at the
moment, they vary from 8 months to 6 years, and all free from any health
problems.  This bring me to a other puzzling question, why is it that I have
never been troubled with "Adrenal" mishaps and only 1 enlarged spleen in the
12 years of keeping ferrets, in New Zealand, (app: 25 official autopsy's).
Perhaps some body, Dr Weiss or Dr Williams incl, will give me some answers
in this part of my research concerning the health and wellbeing of this most
interesting and precious animal in existence.
 
Any answers welcome list or private either positive or negative-- thank you
in advance.  Could it be dietary?
 
BILL.
[Posted in FML issue 1329]