When asked the question, "How long do ferrets live?", I admit I want to
say 6-10 years, as if were the norm that most ferrets make it to the
upper years of a decade. In our house 3 of our 4 ferrets are in the 5-6
year range and 2 of those 3 have health issues.

Of 164 ferrets surveyed whose ages were able to be provided, The Big
Ferret Fact Finder has the current sliding scale hinting at the
longevity of our group:

Ferrets living...
greater than 1 year, 124, 70%
greater than 2 years, 82, 47%
greater than 3 years, 59, 34%
greater than 4 years, 45, 26%
greater than 5 years, 33, 19%
greater than 6 years, 16,  9%
greater than 7 years,  5,  3%
greater than 8 years,  1,  1%
greater than 9 years   1,  1%

22 of the ferrets included have already crossed over the bridge and of
those 14 (63%) were 5 years or older at the time. Your departed loves
can still leave a valuable memorial by having their lives recorded in
the Big Ferret Fact Finder at http://ferretfactfinder.blogspot.com/.

That's the factoid for the day. Thanks to everyone taking the time to
complete the survey for your fuzzies. The number responses has been
growing unbelievably over the last days particularly reaching as far
as Australia, Alaska and the U.K. When you visit the blog click on the
link for the Google Map plotting responding ferrets so far, it really
is astounding and fun to hear from so many from so far!

Warm fuzzies,
Kenny Mayne
http://ferretfactfinder.blogspot.com/

[Posted in FML 6153]