Yesterday, Kymberlie wrote on the FML: >No, you can't get your ferret spayed while she's in heat, but don't breed On the recommendation of one of the breeders of my jills, and with the advice of a couple of vets and breeders on this list, I waited *until* my jills started going into heat before having them spayed. They were 4.5 months and 6 months old, respectively--a little precocious. Now, they weren't in heat very long. I brought them to the vet's within two weeks of first noticing the "blossoming" of their vulvas, and neither of them had reached full bloom at the time of surgery. Is there a point at which the surgery is NOT indicated for a jill in heat, because bleeding or other surgery complications would present greater risk than chancing success for a hormonal injection or dud-stud? If so, what would the vet use as an indicator? CBC for anemia? What would be the vet's criteria for choosing one method (spay, shot, vasectomized hob) over another in a case of prolonged heat? While I'm at this, it seems to me that those of us who subscribe to the late-alter theory should be looking at biological cues for spay/neuter rather than arbitrary chronological markers. The 6-, 7-, and 8-month deadlines I've heard seem to be based on breeder's averages for when jills and hobs in their own lines start to ripen--these probably shouldn't be applied across the board. It seems to me that if we're trying to get the hypothetical benefit of letting a ferret reach its sexual maturity before spay/neuter, we should be looking at whether the individual ferret has reached that point, rather than relying on the calendar. For jills, I think, this means that they start going into heat--and so, you are spaying them while they are in heat. Mind you, as this was my first experience with ferrets, the wait for the swollen vulvas and for the surgery was very stressful on me. The jills/sprites, however, took it all in stride, even the daily peeking at their privates. Knowing my breeders' averages, though, was very helpful, especially with the jill that freshened at 4.5 months. Six months would have been too late for her. Back to thread, that the breeder didn't tell the person who bought the jill what to do really does bother me. I think that most breeders, and certainly the ones on this list, are responsible. It's hard to reach the ones that aren't, and hard to reach all owners that might find themselves in this situation. We, as ferret owners, clubs, and breeders, really need to try to get this information out--in books, as part of the pamphlets we distribute, at educational talks ... is there anything else we can do? Another thing: pictures would really help. If you, as a breeder or a club, distribute literature on this, a line drawing or "crotch-shot" of a ripe jill and hob would be useful. -- Lee [log in to unmask] [Posted in FML issue 1905]