Dear Amanda Dillenger, (And to others who may be having similar problem)
 
This is Edward Lipinski coming to you from Seattle Washington, the lowly
org called Ferrets NorthWest FNW of some 17 years of mistakes involving
ferrets.
 
Before you consider breeding your female ferret, supposedly in estrus
(heat), you must be certain that she was indeed spayed, as you write,
was told to you at the time of purchase.
 
If you have a cerificate of spay or other paperwork to that effect (as
one gets with the Marshall Farms ferret) you may be reasonable assured
that she was spayed.  Does she have two blue dots on her right ear?  Did
you get an elongate green card, part of which was a tear-off postal card
which should've been filled out and sent back to Marshall Farms?
 
Now hear this!  (That's US Navy lingo.)
 
Out here in the far upper left coast we get only a smidgen of the problem
ferrets that are sold throughout the Clinton/Lewinsky land of fellatiators.
To that degree our experience is very limited; HOWEVER, the five
experiences we've had have all involved MF ferrets that were in heat, some
of them for an unknown length of time and others their duration of apparent
estrus was known.
 
Three of these ferrets died of obvious aplastic anemia.  Two others
were mated to vasectomized males, but only one was "successful."  The
unsuccessful female just screamed to the high heavens when the male
ferret attempted penetration.
 
Both of these MF ferrets were operated on by a local vet with these
results: The successful vasectomized mated female was found to have been
butchered by the MF vet (?) to the extent that some 75% of ovarian tissue
mass was still intact in this female.
 
The little screamer was found to contain 1/3 of an ovary, no" fallopian
tubes" and no uterus.  So far so good, yes.  The problem was that over half
of her vagina was cut away also.
 
Although some of the folk dislike my terminology, I refer to these type
ferrets, Marshall Farm ferrets, as butchered ferrets.
 
So fair lady, please be certain that you are not going to make the same
mistakes I've made concerning breeding of a supposedly spayed ferret
displaying a puckered vulva.
 
May I suggest that you obtain competent vet-medical advice as soon as
possible.  In the future steer clear of pet stores that sell MF ferrets.
Get yours from a competent breeder or a well-known ferret shelter.
 
Edward Lipinski.
[Posted in FML issue 2534]