>When I was speaking to the receptionist about the life of a ferret she said
>that ferrets live about 5 years!!  Can you beleive that?!?!  5 years?  I
>though for my whole life that they lived for at least 12 years.  She told me
>that all her ferrets and the ferrets of the doctors have only lived to be
>around 5 and that they were all MF ferrets.  I am scared for my little
>Sosha.  I want him to live a long and happy life.
 
Kathy,
 
When I was young I had the unfortunate experience of having a cousin who
passed away.  Needless to say, the experience shook me up on several
levels -- one of them concerning the mortality of myself and others I loved.
Sleepless nights and nights filled with nightmares when I could sleep
followed.  Eventually I admitted my terrors to my grandmother.  She gave me
the best advice about longevity.  Some people live for a very long time, and
some don't.  The length of life really doesn't matter.  What matters is that
life is lived to the fullest and that love is shared.  When I got my first
ferret, I came to really understand what she meant.  Ferrets do everything
to the max.  They investigate their world more thoroughly than any other
creature, they play harder, dance more frenetically, and even sleep deeper
than anything else.  Talk to ferret care givers and you will hear story
after story of ferrets sleeping so deeply that they appear to be dead.
Sometimes, I think that ferrets innately know that their lives are short and
so they rush to live every moment, waking and asleep, to its fullest.
 
Some ferrets do die young and some do live to 8, 10, or even 12 years.  No
one can tell you just how long you two will have together.  Don't worry
about it.  Just enjoy as much as you can while you and your fuzzy are
together.  Ferrets have the right idea -- no matter how long you live, life
is short and we can't change that.  So, have a ball while you can and enjoy
the ride.
 
F. Scott Giarrocco
Jopal Ferret Haven
[Posted in FML issue 2158]