>From:    Shirley Hewett <[log in to unmask]>
 
Hi Shirley!  <waves>
 
>In Western Australia, it's not unusual for ferrets to come into season at
>5 months.
 
Must be from all the sunshine we get!  <g>
 
>However, I consider some of them to be babies at that age still and prefer
>to have them undergo, what is quite major surgery, at a later stage.
 
I agree.  A ferret, even tho it may look big and "full grown", is really
not done developing until it is around 10 months or after.  I recall Bob
Church stating that the skeleton is not completed growing until this time
and that muscle continues (with the boys at least) well into the 1 year
mark.  I personaly have found this to be true.
 
>If you have a couple of big buxom girls, I would go ahead with surgery.
>If they are still a bit "babyish", I would defer the spey until a later
>date.
 
Even if they are big, I would opt for another means of taking them out of
estrus.  It is possible that they may come back into estrus again, however,
the next time they do, they will only be that much older.  Being 5 months
old, a hormone shot should take them to at the very least (that is if they
come back into estrus 6 weeks after the injection - which happens) to
alomost 7 months of age - a much better age to be desexed if you opt for
that at that time.
 
>I don't consider the mating and ensuing phantom pregnancy after using a V.
>hob or hormone injection to be traumatic to the girls.
 
The act of mating can be stressful.  Not all of the boys are gentle (if
they are not, IMO, then they should be desexed, but not everybody considers
this) and sometimes the girls get hurt.  When breeding happens, jills get
their heads bashed on walls, etc - but this is normal breeding.  But the
most stressful of all of it is the actual pregnancy.  I call it pregnancy
because, even if it is false, the jill still goes tho all the actions.
That includes hormonal changes, physical changes, etc.  They gain weight,
shed their coat, become sweet or cranky, like their cagemates a bit too
much, hate their cage mates a bit too much, like you a bit too much, hate
you a bit too much, etc.  In my breeding experiences, I have seen some
very stressed out jills due to breeding.
 
>The greatest trauma may be to the other ferrets who have to suffer a
>hormonal "mother" treating them as kits and making them stay in bed all
>day!
 
LOL!  Yes!  This part, too, can be stressful for all around (including you
when you hear complaining ferrets).  It is funny to see, tho.
 
>From my experience, waiting for two weeks before giving the hormone
>injection is more effective.  If given too soon, sometimes the injection
>has no effect.
 
I agree - however, it should be noted that time span is two weeks from
full estrus - not the beginning of signs.
 
All in all, if you are not breeding ferrets, you should have them desexed.
But the longer you can wait to desex them the better it will be on the
ferrets in the long run.
 
Amy Flemming
Flemming Farms
Perth, Western Australia
http://www.flemmingfarms.com
[Posted in FML issue 3460]