>Hi everyone.  I just got my first ferret for Christmas and I have been in
>love with ferrets for a long time now.  I think I know a lot about them
>but something still puzzles me.  I read everybodies posts on FML and I
>get scared.  It seems everybodies ferrets are getting sick all the time.
 
Ferret lifetimes are compressed into about 1/10 the time of human
lifetimes, so the disease amounts and types are compressed into only a
few years.  It's the same with anything that has a shorter life.  Yes,
they do get sick, and yes, you DO need to save for that or get insurance.
There is info in the FML archives and the FHL archives about this.
 
Mostly, the number seems large here because it's likely that at least
15,000 ferrets are represented on the FML; check under the word
"resources" and "insurance".
 
>Do all ferrets die of some disease?  Or can they die of natural causes or
>old age?
 
No one dies of just "old age", and disease is natural.  In humans as in
anything else age brings more diseases with it.  There is an increased
tendency among humans to die of things like pneumonia and influenza, or
to be the group which is most likely to get some illnesses such as West
Nile virus, which is why over a certain age older people have to be more
careful about getting needed vaccines, and testing.  Older folks usually
have more accumulated circulatory problems, thinner bones, and more
chances for cellular alterations that led to malignancies -- or if luckier
to benign growths.  There's a saying that "Old age ain't for sissies." and
it's valid.  Ferrets just get to old age faster and therefore to old age
testing and diseases faster, and -- as with humans and just about any
other animal -- they are more likely to have an increased number of health
problems with age.
 
>Are they really that prone to disease?  Maybe I'm just being paranoid,
>but it scares me.  I wouldn't know what to do with myself if my little
>Corona (fuzzbutt) got Alutians
 
For infectious diseases you can use logical precautions to improve safety;
they will prevent such diseases, or will prevent them for a time depending
on the 'luck' factor that also exists.
 
>or any of the many cancers and
 
Many of the tumors that people call cancers are usually NOT cancers.  Most
adrenal growths are not malignant, and insulinoma is not.  This is also
something for which the archives can offer help and hope.  It's been a
while, so perhaps it's time to run that again as a golden oldie; not
sure -- have lost track of time.  Will try to get to it on the other
machine, but if I don't then use the archives.
 
The resources info which gives helpful websites last appeared on 12/18,
12/19, or 12/20.  It really has appeared too often unless the list has a
lot of new folks, which apparently it does not, so the archives will help.
See archive instructions right in the FML header.
 
>diseases that ferrets can get.  I would help her of course, but I still
>want to know.  Is my Corona going to have a healthy life, or do all
>ferrets get some kind of life-threatening disease?
 
EVERYTHING does, and almost all individuals do have such things to get
through at some point in life, and the probability increases with age;
that is why humans have health insurance and life insurance, and why we
all have to save up for veterinary care or have health insurance for them,
too.  Everybody dies of something.  When the cause isn't known or there
isn't warning then there just was a very hard-to-spot medical problem
(which can happen with any species), or too little was known or noticed;
that's all.  That's just life, and it's worth it; can't have death without
life or life without death, so just have accept that the road to death
begins at birth and dance and smile some along the way...
 
>Kelly and her new baby Corona
[Posted in FML issue 3644]