From:
Bruce Williams, DVM
Date: 2001-03-18 22:38:00 UTC
Subject: Re: Age differences
--- In Ferret-Health-list@y..., demilia1@h... wrote:
>I found one in a classified ad that
> was under a year old and got so excited, but now the woman says
that
> she was mistaken on the age; that the ferret is 1 yr. 3 mos. I
have
> two ferrets at 1 yr. 7 mos. and one at 1 yr. 8 mos. Am I correct
in
> my concern about simultaneous medical problems or do ferrets age
> differently enough from each other that I won't have to worry so
> much? Now that I got excited about this ferret it's so hard to say
no!
Don't say no. While we can look at broad trends in ages at which
ferrets get tumors (let's just say that the "Golden Age" for all
tumors is 4-6 years) and we can be more specific for certain tumors,
there is no evidence to say that this new ferret will develop a
tumor, much less when they will develop it.
Let's look at the 4-6 year "Golen Age". If you understand that a
month to a ferret is a year to a human - that would make the
approximate age in humanyears of ferrets who develop the balance of
tumros at 48-72 - very much the same as in humans.
I can't tell you that all three of your ferrets will develop
neoplasms or other illness at the same time, as they will be very
close in age. I can't tell you either, that they will all pass this
age in good shape. I can only tell you, that as ferret owners, we
all face the same decision, and I, for one, have never considered
what the future MIGHT hold when I saw a young ferret who needed a
home.
With kindest regards,
Bruce H. Williams, DVM, DACVP
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