Ferret Health

[AgileGSD]

I'm starting this thread to talk about ferrets, ferret health and why there has been a difference in health and longevity of US ferrets vs. European ferrets. It's gonna be a long one but I think a few people here might be interested in this topic. And I promise to include pictures

Originally Posted by RoseRegn

A part of me would like to have another ferret one day, but I'm still torn on the issue. If I did, I would adopt, but it really bothers me how unhealthy the pet ferrets in the US are (as most of them come from ferret farms/mills). They are prone to lots of health problems - including cancer. I'm sure it's gotten worse since we had our girl, and the thought of going through another medical heartache that would practically be guaranteed isn't exactly appealing. Though I did read at one point that the ferrets in England that are still being bred to hunt rabbits can live up to 20.

20 years is an exaggeration without a doubt. For the past 20 or 30 years, it has been noticed that European ferrets tend to have longer lifespans than American ferrets, sometimes up to double the average life expectancy (although that is somewhat changing now but I'll get to that). That is to say, European ferrets often lives to be 9-12 years old and American ferrets were generally considered "seniors" at 5 or 6.

To understand ferret health and why European ferrets seem healthier, I guess the best place to start is with the ferret popularity boom in the the US in the 90s. Prior to that, ferrets were pretty uncommon pets here and their health and longevity varied greatly depending on their owner's knowledge and level of care. However, there was not a clear history of the two most common ferret diseases at that time either.

There was an explosion of ferret popularity in the 90s and while the commercial ferret breeders were supplying ferrets to pet stores, there were a lot more private ferret breeders as well. The two most common illnesses with ferrets in the US, Adrenal Disease and Insulinoma were becoming more widespread and more talked about. The private breeders felt there was a problem with American line ferrets, so they began importing ferrets from Europe. These ferrets looked different than most pet store ferrets in that they were larger, more muscular and the males had very masculine heads. It was suspected that early altering was affecting the pet store ferrets physical development, so private breeders urged their buyers to wait until the ferrets were 6 months to have them altered. Commercially bred ferrets are spayed/neutered around 3-4 weeks old and are also descented, which is totally unnecessary but done because people think it will make the ferret smell less...ferrety. But that's another story Breeders all wanted German, English, Australian, etc lines and those ferrets became widely available from private breeders. Sadly enough, once these imported ferrets came to the US they tended to die of the same things our's did (Adrenal Disease and Insulinoma topping the list and other cancers following closely behind) and have the general same life expectancy. So much for European ferrets having "better genes".

Around the same time, due to the increased popularity of ferrets, private breeders and ferrets shows a demand developed for "fancy" colored ferrets. Historically the most common ferret colors have always been the sable usually dark but not black with a dark nose, the albino with an occasional "sandy" (probably a champagne or cinnamon color). For working animals, some people had a preference of albino over sable or sable over albino for whatever reason but ferrets were not selectively bred for "fancy" colors or markings because those things were not of great importance for hunting rabbits. In the 90s, ferrets with usual markings were extremely popular with ferret buyers, breeders and show judges. These markings included pandas (colored ferrets with white heads/necks), blazes (colored ferrets with a white blaze from their nose to neck), mitts (colored ferrets with white feet and bib), dark eyed whites and marked whites (white with splotches of color). These were even more sought after if they were combined with the more "unusual" colors instead of the standard sable - chocolate sable, black sable, cinnamon or champagne. Such colors were widely bred for by both private and commercial breeders. There were a couple noteworthy things about these colors though. One was that they tended to "roan" as they got older and many ended up solid white or close to it. Prior to this, I'm told that there were "real mitt" ferrets who did not roan. Well so much for having an unusual looking ferret! The other was that it became obvious that a large number of white marked ferrets were deaf.

Ophelia shows off a blaze from behind...


Private breeders continued their honest attempt to breed healthier ferrets and they still do. But they were looking in the wrong places and IMO, most still are. They imported more and more ferrets, avoided all inbreeding but still made no vast improvements in health. Breeders attempted to create lines of white marked ferrets with normal hearing, although this brought to light more serious problems associated with the markings. Many white marked ferrets had reproductive issues - lots of breedings that didn't result in pregnancies and when they did the litter size was small, had a high mortality rate and often, the white marked ferrets were poor mothers and required another female to nurse their litters. By this time, some breeders were thinking it wasn't a good idea to continue breeding for those markings. Unfortunately by this time, most breeders already white marked ferrets in their lines. It was and still is uncommon to find lines which have no fancy markings or unusual colors in them.


It is now known that many of the white markings in ferrets are a result of "neural crest abnormalities" which are characterized by missing pigment, wide set eyes and unusual eye color. White marked ferrets often have blue eyes, ruby eyes or eyes of two different colors. The abnormalities are associated with a host of health issues including deafness, deformities, developmental delays, limb and jaw deformities, cardiomyopathy, reproductive problems, digestive disorders and immune system issues. I talked to some one who had done quite a bit of research on such ferrets and in compiling info on hundreds, she found that they rarely lived past 5 years old. It is rare to find private breeders still selecting for pandas, marked whites, dark eyed whites and blazes and it is certainly frowned upon in the breeding community. However, one extremely common ferret color in the world of show ferrets is "black roan mitt" (black sable with white feet and bibs). Many breeders feel that this coloration is not related to the others and that they are "safe" to breed. I'm not sure, as reproductive problems seem common with show ferrets and I have seen black roan mitts with different colored eyes. Blazes, mitts and "mutts" (ferrets with odd white markings) are still available from commercial breeders, although the largest of them Marshall Farms has been selecting away from it over the years so they are certainly less common than they were 20 years ago.

Nigel has the coloration most "natural" to ferrets, dark sable with a dark nose...


Marshall Farms in the largest commercial breeder, supplying ferrets for both the pet and the research industry. Path Valley Farms is a "pets only" commercial breeder. Triple F breeds for both pets and research. Those are the three main supplies of ferrets in the US. All three have similar care and breeding practices in that pet ferret kits are sent out to pet stores already altered and descented at 8 weeks old and with their first distemper vaccine. Marshall and Path Valley both have a warranty dependent on feeding their brand of commercial ferret food. These breeders have kits available year round, which means that they expose their breeding ferrets to artificial light cycles, as ferret reproduction depends totally on the length of light in a day. There has been a decline in private ferret breeders since the 90s and an increase in the availability of ferrets in pet stores. Most private breeders are involved in showing ferrets, although there are a few out there who are not. Privately bred ferrets are generally sold intact on S/N contracts, an agreement not to descent and are given at least one distemper vaccine prior to sale. Private breeders generally feed commercial food, often with some raw or homemade added. Private breeders usually only have litters during the normal breeding season (spring and summer) but this is often somewhat extended due to ferrets being exposed to artificial lighting in the home.

I think that sums up the history of ferret breeding and the differences between private and commercial ferret breeders. I think many assume that the health issues we have in the US are caused by commercial breeders but that's not really accurate. Commercially bred ferrets die most commonly of Adrenal Disease, Insulinoma and cancer at what normally would have been considered "middle aged". So do privately bred ferrets. So do European ferrets imported to the US. And increasingly, so do pet ferrets in Europe. The European working ferrets continue to live long lives. I am going to cut this post off here but will be back to explain why our ferrets are so unhealthy compared to working European ferrets.

But for now...meet Morgan a pet store ferret from Path Valley Farms who was 10 years old when she died and extremely healthy until the last few months of her life. She was one of the most devoted and intelligent ferrets I have ever owned. Obviously a roan, as she started off silver and turned white

Baby Morgan...


Morgan at 4-5 years old...


Morgan playing with Ophelia at around 8 years old...

[AgileGSD]

So I was given a nudge through a PM that I had not completed my thoughts on ferret health as promised. Since there has been a lot of discussion about ferrets the past few days, I figured I would complete it now. Better late than never right?

Since it would appear genetics are not the reason for poor health in our ferrets or at least not the main reason, what is the problem? And why are European ferrets now beginning to suffer from the same issues?

I believe the answer is found in the care and management of ferrets in US and Canada. At this point, the vast majority of pet ferrets come from a commercial breeder. As mentioned in the previous post, these ferrets are shipped out at 8 weeks old already altered, descented and vaccinated. This means they were altered/descented at 3-4 weeks, vaccinated before 8 weeks and force weaned to be ready to go at their most adorable, yet still legal to sell age. Ferrets grow up very quickly and by 4 or so months, they barely look like babies at all. Since petstores count on a certain amount of impulse sales with small animals, it's important that the ferrets are available when they are very tiny and very adorable. This results in a lot of stress for the ferrets both mental and physical.

Once they arrive at pet stores, the stress is greatly multiplied. They are generally placed in plastic, aquarium like display cages. These cages often have litter on the floor, a hammock, a see through tunnel, a litter box, water bottle and food bowl. They are of course, in a main path through the store. The cages offer very little chance for exercise and exploration. They offer no dark places for the ferrets to really escape the light and business outside of the cage to sleep or hide. Their sleep may be disturbed fairly often throughout the day. If the ferrets don't sell right away, overcrowding can become an issue as well. All of this is very stressful and very unnatural for ferrets. Ferrets naturally seek out dark places to hide and sleep. They naturally are awake and active around dusk and dawn. They do tend to sleep a lot but when they are awake they need and want to run, club, tunnel, explore and play (or in a more natural setting, hunt). It is thought that stress is a contributing factor to Adrenal Disease.

The lighting they are exposed to in a store is an issue all on it's own. Lighting is an extremely important aspect to a ferret's life. It controls when they breed and hence when kits are born (who then are of age for breeding the next time the light cycle is right), when they shed, when they gain or lose weight. An ideal environment for them would expose them to only natural light cycles. This has always been the case with ferrets raised for hunting purposes because they are housed outdoors. Ferrets in petstores are the extreme opposite. There, they be exposed to light for 14+ hours a day. In some stores, they are exposed to light constantly as security lights are on all night. It is thought that excessive exposure to prolonged light cycles can be a contributing factor to Adrenal Disease, which by nature is a hormonal disease. It can cause spayed female ferrets to have symptoms of estrus and neutered males to show behavioral signs of being in rut.

It would appear with petstore ferrets, their entire early beginning sets them up to develop Adrenal Disease. While not all do, the majority do. But what about privately bred ferrets?

It seems that alerting in general is also a contributing factor to Adrenal Disease. Unfortunately, most people are not interested or equipped in keeping intact ferrets as pets. The males are stinky, oily and urine mark when in rut. Also they are prone to fighting with other males and having single minded thoughts with females. The females, if not bred or some how brought out of season (using drugs, a vesctomized hob or melatonin) will stay in heat for the entire breeding season (spring through fall) and can develop a life threatening anemia. So most pet ferrets must be altered to be able to be pets for most people. Since ferrets would naturally not sexually mature until around a year old, altering at 6 months is still pretty early. Not as bad as 3-4 weeks but not great. The altering alone may not be a huge issues in itself but there is also the stress issue.

Ferrets can be very destructive and can get into everything, so free roaming ferrets are really not an option for most people often for the ferret's own safety. Ferrets kept as pets are generally kept caged and allowed to roam free when their owners can interact with them. The general recommended time is at least 4 hours a day. Which puts them caged for 20 hours a day, although many owners do a lot more. Sill, even half of their day caged is going to cause some stress due to boredom or lack of ability to explore, sleep where they want to sleep and when they want to sleep. The times when they are able to have time out of their cage is not likely going to be their natural cycle of wakefulness and will involve artificial light. Having a ferret room without exposure to a lot of artificial light alleviates much of this concern.

Then there is the issue of diet. Historically, ferrets are fed a "carcass diet" of rabbit or chicken. This may include whole animals, parts of the animal or animals at various stages of development offered to the ferret raw. Such a diet consists of very little carbs and no processed foods. Pet ferrets are generally fed fancy commercial diets "scientifically designed" to provide what it is believed to be essential for their survival at that time. I do think most owners believe they are doing what is best for their ferrets by feeding these diets. However, kibble can't be made without using carbs of some sort. Grain free is all the rage now but such foods still contain carbs in the form of things like potatoes. And it is eating a diet with too high of a percentage of carbs that seems to be the problem for ferrets. Such diets are very unnatural, very far removed from a ferret's intended diet. While ferrets are domesticated, they aren't all that changed from their wild cousins because the purpose they were domesticated for didn't require them to be. Insulinoma is caused by tumors on an overworked pancreas. I have never heard of a ferret who was fed an entirely raw diet developing insulinoma. There is no historical mentioned of the disease or even anything which sounds like the disease in early books about ferrets. Yet it is alarmingly common in pet ferrets. My early ferrets all had insulinoma, including a ferret imported from Germany from a person who bred for hunting. I have not had one ferret develop it since switching to raw food. There is also a question of stress with such an unnatural and uninteresting diet.

And then there is the issue of modern vet care and pet ferrets. Owners are pushed to vaccinate their ferrets several times when they are young and every year after that for both distemper and rabies. Ferrets on the whole do notseem to deal well with repeated vaccines. Anaphylaxis is a pretty widespread issue with adult ferrets after vaccines. Yet, it is almost always advised to continue vaccinations for ferrets who have such reactions and to just pre-treat them for the reaction prior to the vaccine. It's so common, that some people pre-treat all ferrets prior to vaccines. Both myself and a friend of mine had ferrets develop vaccine sight tumors, although I'm not sure how common those are overall. Either way, something about the ferret's make up makes them prone towards vaccine reactions and as such, it isn't unreasonable to think repeated vaccines may not be safe for them and certainly were not given historically. Many ferrets owners are also urged to give their ferret heartworm prevention year round, despite heartworm being extremely rare in ferrets. And to be wormed on a regular basis, even though intestinal worms don't seem to be a major issue with pet ferrets. All of this adds up to more stress on the body.

Properly care for ferrets are not the delicate creatures that many make them out to be. It's just that what most feel is proper care, isn't really in the animal's best interest. I think ideally, an outdoor enclosure may be best for ferrets except in places with very extreme weather. Beyond that, a dedicated ferret room with plenty of boxes, tubes, tunnels and stuff to do and little exposure to artificial light. And of course, a raw meat based diet of some sort.

This breeder has what I think is a perfect set up for her ferrets. I believe she is a raw feeder and she's had ferret lives very long lives (11+ years, I know one was 14). She also breeds only dark sables with full pigment. They live a great life, although I suspect most pet owners in America couldn't imagine keeping their ferrets outdoors like this because to most people, pets belong inside.

Marie's Ferrets

In short, it seems the ferrets who have the best chance at long healthy lives are ones who aren't bred for color, who are kept intact at least until mature, who are not exposed to unneeded medications/vaccines, who are not exposed to a lot of artificial light, who are fed a raw diet, who are not selectively bred for color and who have environmental enrichment. This sort of care worked for hundreds of years with ferrets and ferrets were thought of as easy to care for, hardy animals. Now with what many feel is "improved care" and breeding for the pet market, they are suffering more health problems than they ever had.

[rdaniels]

AGSD - Thanks for these links. I'm amazed at Marie's ferrets.

We recently lost our heart ferret way too young. He was from a private breeder, under careful lighting conditions and always fed non-kibble food (ground whole chicken supplemented with eggshell and vitamins). Neutered late (8 months), but sadly and tragically still developed adrenal disease and had a rare serious reaction to deslorelin implants. He was pretty much fully free-roam and generally opted to sleep in bed with us, even to the very end.

It's frustrating and heartbreaking. I can't imagine us not having ferrets in our lives but I want to try to figure out how to avoid the early heartbreak of losing them before their times.

[Holmeshx2]

Thank you SOOOOOO much for this. I'm not sure why I never saw it before (or anyone on here mention ferrets) but I'm just sitting here in awe reading this. I had ferrets awhile ago and while I love them to death told my husband no more ferrets ever because they all basically come down with adrenal disease and I just didn't want to have to deal with all the heart ache after a few short years with them. When I had them they were fed ferret food (after we lost our last ferret I learned a few years after about them eating raw) we never did anymore vaccines on them other the the initial ones, they did have fake lighting of course and were allowed free run of the house MOST of them time.. put them up while we were sleeping and if we left the house.

I have lived many years seriously misinformed as I always thought there were no private breeders. I thought all ferrets in the US came from Marshalls and of course all are descented and fixed before going to the stores. Forget where I read it before (probably a marshalls pamphlet lol) that Marshalls was the only place allowed to breed ferrets in the US. I will definitely be doing more research on this now after reading everything you had to say.... anything else you have for ferret information I would LOVE to have. I will research this but by any chance do you know if the "natural" lights would work for indoors.. they have some that are meant to mimic the sun and produce the same light rays.. used commonly to medically treat people that have things like seasonal depression etc..

[rdaniels]

Holmes -

I think that even with 'natural' light, it still doesn't explain all of the factors that could lead to early death from things like adrenal disease. Stout as a late alter didn't show signs until he was 5.5 years old, which is later than Marshall and other pet-store ferrets, but still devastating. He was generally nesting ~18 hours a day out of light (in the closet, under the dresser, etc.). The latest research (still unpublished it appears, but my vet has been talking to the researchers) is that keeping ferrets whole and chemically neutering them along with a raw-based diet seems the next best option.

I'm curious if there really is a genetic component to adrenal and other tumor-diseases in the States that may have come from the emphasis on line breeding for fancy colors and markings.