In issue 1439 Sheena Staples <[log in to unmask]> writes: >Milo is a great big fatso. He weighs just over 6lbs although he is neutered >and descented at a teeny weeny size (hard to believe he was ever teeny >weeny). He's HUGE, and he's only 7 months old. Is this just baby fat? Sammy was also a chubster for a while (although he peaked at only 4.25 pounds; still about as big as Bud and Cassie put together at the time. I can't imagine a ferret being even bigger!). Sammy reached his peak weight at about 6 months age. After this I didn't keep track of his weight for some time (my scale broke, and I had trouble finding a replacement). But Sammy was bred at a breeder I know at 10 months (*PLEASE* don't do this yourself, you don't know what you're getting yourself into! Neuter your males at 6 to 8 months age, BEFORE IT'S TOO LATE! Ask me about it when you have a free hour sometime :). He was neutered at about 1 year, and at age 13 months he weighed 3.25 pounds. He's 20 months old now, and has been holding steady at about 2.75 to 3 pounds for several months (he's not skinny though; he really was pretty plump before). Of course this is just one example, and Sammy's history is different than Milo's, but it seems a plump young ferret can slim out later in life. -- John Rosloot, Caregiver to Cassidy and Sammy With loving memories of my dear departed Buddy Technical analyst, Dept. of Computer Science, University of Regina Regina, Saskatchewan, Canada http://www.cs.uregina.ca/~john/ferrets.html [log in to unmask] [Posted in FML issue 1440]