From:
Caitlyn Martin
Date: 2009-04-28 23:44:04 UTC
Subject: Re: [ferrethealth] Re: What should I do?
To: ferrethealth@yahoogroups.com
Once again Sukie makes some fantastic points. We had two that weren't
early neuters. They lived longer than any other ferrets we've had.
Our original vet felt they were stronger and healthier, in part,
because they weren't neutered until sexual maturity. When they did
have health problems at age 7.5 to 8 they were able to handle surgery
despite their ages and returned to a great quality of life afterwards.
Our rates of adrenal disease and pancreatic disease are about double
what Sukie has experienced. Our current ferrets and some of the
previous ones were rescues which means we had no control over their
early care. Our first ferrets probably did not get enough darkness
and had some inappropriate treats simply because we didn't know what
we were doing was harmful early on. I'm honestly afraid those ferrets
may have paid for that later in their lives. One of the great things
this list does is educate people so that mistakes like we made are
avoided.
Nowadays our ferrets have sleep sacks, nesting boxes with lots of
bedding, heavy blankets (which Ella loves to sleep in), and a room of
their own where we can draw the blinds and give them a truly dark
environment after we turn in. They do get some man made light in the
evening because that's when we have time to play with them. It's not
perfect but it's far better than we did back in the '90s.
A quality diet and available darkness almost certain help reduce
disease rates and I expect that's why Sukie's ferrets do so well.
All the best,
Caity and the terrific trio
Ella, Zephyr, and Chin Soon
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