Ferrets who have been altered or spayed almost never need the descenting surgery. An infection calls for it, of course, but those are not very common and when they occur they happen not only in ferrets who have never been descented but also in those who had some scent glands that got missed. If there isn't an infection then put the money you were planning for this toward future health needs or into a ferret charitable cause, Nancy! :-) In terms of age and surgery: three years old for a ferret is only like being thirty-something for people. We have had 8 year old ones who have had major surgery and there are others who have had surgeries on ferrets who were older than that. Whether a ferret is up to surgery depends on the ferret's health far more than on ferret age. As a ferret gets older, though, it becomes more and more important to have presurgical testing so that an unspotted health problem does not make the surgery unnecessarily dangerous. A CBC with Chemistry Panel always makes sense, and often a heart x-ray makes sense. For some older ones we have had ultrasounds before -- especially of the chest to be sure that there isn't a cardiac problem. Age and surgery is a topic that comes up a lot so you will find multiple people's experiences and opinions in the archives of both the FML (Ferret Mailing List) and FHL (Ferret Health List on Smartgroups). (See one of my other posts today for those addresses.) Whizbang is having Whizzie-only time right now -- dashing around keeping the front of our small 2 bedroom condo safe, putting crunchies into a stash under the trunk that is at the head of our bed, rearranging the toys under the top half of Steve's side of the bed and the bottom half of my side of the bed. (Don't expect me to explain why that is...) Every once in a while she comes out to sniff the cool breeze blowing in through the screen door. All things which of course also help her Mommy to degrees only she can understand. Ah, Steve just traded her for Hilbert so I am putting my feet back down for the coming "Hello!" bumps. Hilbert loves edible flowers! I actually have to remove the blooms from non-edibles inside so he won't eat them. Right now his breath is the best in the house: edible annual violet, rose petals, and a J. sambac tea jasmine flower (This NOT the same as the poisonous jasmine types, but is instead the one used for teas and other culinary uses.). Does anyone else have a culinary flower eating ferret? (Now you know one of the reasons plants are placed high here, and I'll bet you can guess others. Tom just arrived to see if an easy fix works on our brand new water heater that isn't heating. He bangs downstairs and Hilbert bangs back at our one low return air vent (The rest are in the ceiling.) Okay, that got boring so Hilly is now dragging a water all over the kitchen. Oh, oh, I just read Alex's post. U! U? Has Lily -- with the help of her ever guilty mom, Alex, installed hovering capabilities in the tractor? "Up"? Have they installed tunneling capabilities? "Under"? Have they installed advertising capabilities? " Until you do/get this"? Have they installed teleportation hopping abilities? "Upon"? Do they have a Star Gate? "Universe"? Is there an energy field holding in useable air? "Underwater"? Time travel in to the past? "Undo"? WHAT HAVE THEY DONE TO THAT TRACTOR? My brain fails me. U? How many "U" words in the dictionary may apply? Maybe the setting finds everyone named "Ursula"? Ferrets on a tractor cause major mischief. Last time the Oracle's original hovercraft and her cauldron were stolen, then Todd was stuffed into the cauldron and kidnapped. I am worried. I am very, very worried... Still, as long as it isn't ferret ukulele... ;-) [Posted in FML issue 4863]