Hi Kayla . . . (And all)
My sympathies to you and the loss of your fuzzy boy.
 
I think the list has given you more negative thoughts about ferret health
than what is actually reality, though, and if you love having ferrets in
your life don't let fear of losing them stop you.
 
What you see here is . . . and unusual mix of people and ferrets that have
discovered the fml as the quickest ferret information source they can find.
Therefore ...you see many, many vet questions, many descriptions of signs
and symptoms of illnesses . . .etc.  We see lots of negatives here because
often this list seems to be the best place to ask.
 
In reality, ferrets tend to be very hearty, healthy little animals as long
as they receive proper care and don't have accidents!  I think there's
something like 1800 subscribers (maybe even more--BIG?) to this list--so
think of how many people there must be out there who "read only" and never
write in with health problems because their ferrets never experience any!
I've had 4 ferrets, and a friend of mine has 2, and in those 6 there hasn't
been a single weird illness whatsoever over a space of about 6 years.
 
This is a "medically" biased group because some of that type of information
is hard to find elsewhere . . . it's not that ferrets traditionally have a
lot of health problems.  The reverse might be more true, which is why
ferrets are popular for medical research (sad but true, and helpful to
humanity) --they are surviviors!
 
Also keep in mind that some large factions of this list are shelters and
breeders--and the shelters (those in ferret rescue especially) see a
relatively high number of mistreated, mishandled, abused, etc.  ferrets than
the rest of us ever do.  Simply the sheer numbers of ferrets they care for
migh lead to what seems like higher instances of health problems.
 
What do others out there think?  Agree/disagree?  I've often been amazed at
the number of medical crisis and saddnesses I've seen here, tho' my own
fuzzies have all been pretty darn healthy.
 
--Sheri
[Posted in FML issue 1877]