Hi Eleanor, Donald and the 11 ferts Am sure many others will weigh in on your question, but having lived with both scented and descented ferrets, and having seen the effects of the surgery upfront, feel I have some experience to relate. The short answer: PLEASE don't do it! Over 20 years ago we got our first ferret a male. About the only book available (by Wendy Winsted) said neuter and descent. The neutering was at appx. 8 months of age, as usual with males, basically a walk in the park. But it took poor Taz several very painful days and a couple of weeks of discomfort to recuperate. Then and there we SWORE we would deal with WHATEVER "horrible" odor issues there where and we would NEVER put a ferret through that again. Within 6 months we got our second ferret, Izzy. She was neutered but not descented. She only ever "sprayed" twice in all those years - and it was during fights with another ferret she did not get along with. It was no worse than a dog passing gas and dissipated quickly. We then realized it was unnecessary surgery and the book was wrong. IMHO, descenting was a marketing tool. "Ferrets" were considered stinky, and yes, they can be if not neutered. And if you think of ferrets who were kept on farms for hunting and vermin control, they most likely were, as they were all probably unneutered. I love ferrets and actually enjoy their normal scent but can attest to driving to PA from CT in the dead of winter with the car windows open with a whole hob. Yes he STUNK! But it was his "come hither" scent, not his defensive scent glands that were offensive. Neutering neutralizes the former very quickly following the spay/neuter. There is no need to descent other than to pay a vet some serious additional $$'s, put your pet through pain along with an increased possibility of issues down the road. BTW, many vets refuse to do it and consider it mutilation, akin to unnecessary ear docking, tail bobing, or defanging. The anal scent glands are very close to the animal's rectum. It is very easy during surgery to cause damage in that critical area. There is another important reason not to descent. Anal scent glands are a ferret's only defense mechanism. 99& of the time they will only "spray" when hurt or frightened. Ferrets do not usually make noise. We had one older male ferret (a former breeding ferret who, of course, was neutered, but not descented) get caught behind a cabinet. The only reason we knew where he was and that he was in trouble was that he sprayed, and when I walked into the kitchen and smelled it, knew something was wrong and quickly investigated. Would he have died there? That I don't know for sure - but I've had 2 different descented ferrets get locked into a closet for 24 hours and one for 2 days and we never knew it. They do not cry out, and never scratched. I should note, that it sometimes takes a bit of time before a young ferret learns to control his or her little poofs. They almost all do fairly quickly. It helps if the ferret is not being grabbed or annoyed all the time, of course! One caveat: Occasionally, similar to those of a dog or cat, the glands may become seriously impacted and may need to be manually expressed; or even removed. But that is a medical necessity and is very infrequent. IMHO any breeder who sells a ferret should require in their contract that the ferret NOT be descented unless medically necessary. Do hope that helps. Ann Gruden President, Ferret Association of CT (FACT) [Posted in FML 5665]