>...  These anecdotal results leave me
>unsatisfied.  What can a ferret of a given age be expected to live and how
>many do live to a given age?  Is 9 the exception or is 3?  There seems to be
>a great of variability that could be quantified.  Both vets and owners would
>benefit from knowing.
 
Well, our first fuzzy, Spunky, lived to the ripe old age of 9, before she
developed cancer of the pancreas, and not more than a day after that. :(  We
had to have her put to sleep - she never showed the least bit of response to
anything the vet could do.  I have read that 9 (and our vet - a ferret owner
confirmed) is positively geriatric (and rare) for a ferret.  Our other girl,
Brandy, however, has never read these books.  She's a silvermitt, (Spunky
was Sable) and she's just hit the 9 1/2 mark.  She shows absolutely no signs
of slowing down, and loves nothing more than a romp with our 2 1/2 year old
son...  There was a period of about one week recently where we were afraid
that she too had developed cancer of the pancreas.  She stopped eating, lost
weight from just under 2 pounds to just under 1 (she was  just bones) even
began to lose the use of her hind legs.  Just as we were about to give up
and have her put down, she did something she's never done in all the time
we've had her.  Both our fuzzies were raised on a diet of (usually) Purina
Kitten chow.  We'd experimented once with canned cat food, and neither of
them would touch it.  When Brandy started to slide we tried ever thing,
including more canned food.  She ate it.  3 days later she was back to her
old self.  That was six months ago, and she's still going strong.
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* C. Hanlon   [log in to unmask]
*
* The opinions expressed above don't have to make sense, they're mine        *
*
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[Posted in FML issue 1148]