We know about a ferret who nearly made it to 10, although this seems to be highly unusual. Our local ferret expert (the mustelid expert at the Animal Medical Center in NYC -- the Sloan Kettering of animal hospitals -- she has worked with the WY blackfooted ferrets and does lots of zoo work) maintains that the digestive system of a ferret is too short for proper nutrition. She supplements her ferrets food with some puppy milk substitute every other day or so. We tried this on ours and noticed an enormous improvement in look and "bounce" of our guys. Fritter (almost 7) and Hjalmar (5.5) have been on the stuff for about a year and act like 3 - 4 year old animals. Fritter in particular was showing signs of aging that seem to have been reversed (loosing muscle mass, cloudy eyes, and inactivity). What we give them is the puppy milk substitute. Its expensive ($20 for 12 oz of powder I believe), but goes a long way. Every other day I cut a heaping tablespoon about 5:1 to 10:1 with water and run it in a blender. This is then split among our 4 guys. They *love* this better than almost anything they eat. Fritter and Hjalmar get excited every time the blender goes on. Giving it to them too often is counterproductive as they get the runs with a lot of it. You may want to give it a try. Steve Crandall and the Crandall ferrets: Meltdown, Ruffle, Hjalmar, and Fritter ps Does anyone know if the ferret mailing list is still active? [I hope so!] [Posted in FML 0125]