At last I found the time to read the ferret FAQ from end to end.  It was
encouraging to see that many of the same ethics are applied by our Ferret
Society here in Western Australia; with only a few real differences.
 
Longevity...10 to 14 years is more the norm here.
 
Breeding... When ferrets as companion pets became popular again, there was
only a small gene pool in our comparitively isolated state to meet the
upsurge in demand, so breeding had to be done very carefully!  A jill is
never bred until she is at least 3 years old.  This helps lessen the number
of possibly inherited faults, such as cancers or cataracts, as she is not
used for breeding at all if anything like that is apparent.  It also appears
that later-bred jills have less birth-related illnesses and mortality of
mother and kits is decreased.
 
Speying...Our jills are not routinely speyed, as we like to avoid
unneccesary surgery wherever possible, but depend on vasectomised males to
bring them out of season.  The jill is taken to the hobble 2 weeks after the
vulva shows signs of swelling and has a "sleepover" with him.  I've observed
them often and, provided the jill is not taken to him too early, and is
therefore promptly receptive to his advances, the mating procedure is quite
gentle.  (Actually, last breeding season, none of my four jills needed to
visit Spook or Sebastian because the rough play of my four castrated males
was enough to do the job.)
 
Diet...Because ferrets are carnivores, the diets here are generally based on
raw meat.  Mine, for instance have a mixture of kangaroo meat, beef and
mutton(for the high fat content) mixed with a "total ferret food".  The raw
meat is given in relatively large chunks (NOT minced) to encourage chewing
which massages the gums (dry food cannot do this) and exercises the jaws.
Teeth problems are rare on this diet.  Once a month they have a whole
day-old-chick which come ready frozen from a hatchery.  I must admit to
being hesitant about trying this at first because it seemed too macabre, but
gritted my teeth, defrosted the chicks to room temperature, and didn't look
too close.  My sweet little angels stashed them all over the place to begin
with until the penny seemed to drop and they demolished the lot.  When you
think of it, what a fine little food package it is, protein, fibre, calcium
et al.  They also have access to dried food, such as Iams etc, lo-lactose
milk with egg yoke and other treats.
 
Descenting...Absolutely frowned on here as being totally unneccesary surgery
which may cause anal prolapse.  In fact you'd be battling to find a vet here
who would perform the op.
 
This posting is not meant to say that my way is right and you're wrong.
There are no scientific records to back up these theories because they are
general observations noted over the years by our Ferret Society.  Instead
consider it food for thought.
 
Love to you all
from Shirley, Flavia, Cru, Samantha, Jack, Cherry-pie, Rogue, Lucas, Bobby
and, temporarilly, Morley.
[Posted in FML issue 1587]