Susan wrote:
>About 2.5 months ago, I went into a Petco here to get some supples for my
>pets.  While I was there, I was talking to the manager, who is also a
>ferret mom, and the new ferrets were delivered.  These babies came from
>Marshall Farms.  I waited while they got things ready and then put the
>little ones out.  I was shocked!  These babies each fit in the palm of my
>hand.  There were 2 of them, one male and one female.  They were crying
>and confused and looked so lots.  The manager guess them to be at best, 4
>weeks old, which my vet later confirmed.  I bought the chocolate sable
>male because her was so much smaller.  I let him stay with the female he
>came in with until she was placed a few days later.  When I got him home,
>he screamed to be fed,screamed to be held, just screamed in general.
 
Susan, I would like to ask - how was it determined that the kits were four
weeks of age?  By size?  Weight?  Teeth?  I ask mainly because, even though
it *has* been known for very underage kits (such as four weeks) to have
been sent out, these occasions are thankfully few and far between.
 
At six weeks of age my kits from last year averaged 10 ounces.  Those kits
all grew to be over 2 lbs when they left me at 15 weeks of age - one has
reached over 7 lbs, so these were *not* small kits, in fact were likely far
larger than the average MF kit at six weeks of age.  At six weeks, those
kits, if taken to a vet, would have been seen as four to five weeks.
They're tiny at that age.  Their teeth are still baby teeth, ferrets don't
*start* teething until seven weeks of age.  Weight of kits varies so much
that it isn't an accurate way of telling without having experience with
developing kits - a big meal (or not eating in some hours) can change the
weight of one of these guys!!
 
The two kits that you saw... were their eyes open?  Ferrets are slow
developers up until six to eight weeks of age, and then they make up for
that slow development by shooting up suddenly.  At four weeks of age,
ferret kits still have closed eyes.  The youngest I've had a kit open their
eyes is four and a half weeks, up to five and a half weeks.  I have had one
kit open his eyes just a couple days shy of six weeks (although this isn't
'normal').  If a kit has any signs of teeth coming through, they'll be a
minimum of seven weeks of age, if their eyes are open, they are almost
certainly five weeks or older.
 
Vets are not gods.  I know that they have training and that they do hold
the lives of our babies in their hands, but they don't know everything.
They learn more from experience than from the classroom, and a vast
majority of vets have never seen ferret kits before.  Even less have seen
enough young kits at varying ages to be able to accurately age them.
Unless the vet has had extensive experience with ferret kits they can only
make a "guesstimate" of age, and they will base that guess on development
and they'll compare to animals they have knowledge of - e.g.  cats and
dogs.  Both cats and dogs develop faster (relatively) than ferrets, and so
ferrets will look less developed, therefore younger, as a result.
 
Just because they look younger than six weeks doesn't necessarily mean
they are.
 
Sam
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[Posted in FML issue 2716]