I'm sorry about the length of this post, but I feel obligated to provide this info as a service to potentially save the life of Matan's jill. I have to beg to differ about the most recent post about a jill's life not being in danger if she is not brought out of heat. According to many sources I have read, including books published by veterinarians, a jill that remains in heat too long WILL be exposed to the certainty of dying from aplastic anemia, i.e. bleeding to death. Perhaps a vet here can comment on this before this poor jill dies? I am not an expert, but everything I have read has told me that a jill WILL die if she is left in heat too long without being successfully mated or spayed. No, she does not have to be come pregnant to get out of heat, but she DOES need to come out of heat b/c it WILL kill her. Below is an excerpt from Ferret Central's FAQ about spaying, with an important note about how one should be prepared BEFORE breeding, which I think is the major problem in this case: "Spaying saves a female's life, since once she goes into heat she will need to be bred or she will almost certainly die of anemia...A female can be spayed even after she goes into heat, but if she's been in heat for a month or more, your vet should do a blood test before the surgery. Females can be brought out of heat without becoming pregnant with a hormone injection or by breeding with a vasectomized male, either of which will lead to a false pregnancy which will last long enough to let her be spayed. Neither one is a good long-term solution, though. ***Breeding ferrets is difficult and time-consuming. Before even thinking about breeding, you should have owned ferrets for some years, be a member of a ferret organization, and find out as much about it as you can. The actual mating is rather violent, and jills tend to have problems giving birth, producing milk, and so forth. If you're serious about breeding, talk to someone who has first. You'll need to have more than one whole male available (in case your female goes into heat when your male isn't) and more than one breeding female available (in case you need a foster mom because your jill has milk problems) -- and be prepared to lose some or all of the kits and perhaps the mom too. Grim, but true. To learn more about breeding or where to find a good breeder, get a sample copy of the Breeder's Digest by sending $2.75 to P.O. Box 2371, Leesburg, VA 22075" Another source regarding a jill being in heat too long and the life-threatening nature of this problem is, "Coping with Emergencies: When to Call the Vet; Vaccination and Health Information" by Ann Davis of the ACME Ferret Company and Jean Wardell, DVM (this source is listed on a site with advice from none other than Dr. Bruce Williams): "Female ferrets ('jills') must mate or die. If they are not taken out of heat by a male ('hob') or spayed, they will eventually develop aplastic anemia, which is fatal. Females are susceptible to a life threatening condition where they are unable to produce red blood cells subsequent to a prolonged estrus cycle of greater than one month... If a female in heat is not mated or spayed and her estrus cycle continues for more than 4 weeks she will develop the metabolic condition previously described." This is probably long enough for now, but anyone can research aplastic anemia or spaying female ferrets and find out that she WILL DIE IF NOT BROUGHT OUT OF HEAT somehow soon. She WILL BLEED TO DEATH. This is not paranoia-it is a fact. -April [Posted in FML issue 3350]