Fred,

Sorry, I have to agree with Kevin on this.

With the LARGE ferret farms/mills one does expect their ferret to not
live long (maybe 4-5 years) and have health issues.

BUT, where small private REPUTABLE ferret breeders are concerned,
people "DO expect these ferrets to be healthier and live longer.
This is suposed to be the main goal of the small private breeder.

As for ferrets being prone to cancer beause of their body structure,
that's a bunch of bull. It all starts with Genetics an no matter what
type of animals it is, wether 2 legged or 4 legged. Private breeders
should be breeding for:

1) Health

2) Longevity

3) Temperment

4) Personality

Colors, Patterns and money shoudn't be above ANY of these first four
reasons But unfortunatly "SOME" breeders are more concerned with colors
and patterns.

The girl I kept out of my very first litter was born in 1998 and she
will be 9 years old this December. Why? The first thing is because of
genetics, then care, food and enviroment.

No one as far as I can see will ever breed the perfect ferret, but some
of us are going to do our dambdest to get as close as possible to this
as we can. Although I do know a couple of breeders that have lines that
DO live up into their teens and they DO have a waiting list for their
ferrets.

I'm also happy to hear that you do not breed. Thank you.

Debi

[Posted in FML 5708]