Our ferret descended from the polecat. These critters live solitary lives, except when mating or raising a litter. The polecats build their dens in rabbit burrows, wood trees and other cozy, protected locations. Wild polecats typically live five years but they can live as long as eight years.
While ferrets are descended from the European polecat, they live a much safer and protected existence. Protected from the dangers of the wild, they can live longer, sometimes much longer. Pet Ferrets tend to live seven to ten years, and it is not uncommon to hear someone of a beloved ten-year-old ferret disclosure. The ferret shelters are filled with fuzzies of indeterminate age, but appear to be about five to seven years old. (After a ferret is a year old, it is always difficult to measure its age.)
Many ferrets develop diseases around the age of four or five. Some people consider this age-related diseases and other people blame the fact that we made the ferret from its natural environment and placed it in our light-filled human homes. Either way, by the time a ferret about five years old hits (the upper end of the life of the wild polecat), ferrets tend to start sick.
Common diseases are:
"Would adrenal"
This is a cancer in the adrenal gland, the gland grows out of control. The most obvious sign of adrenal disease is hair loss. Other symptoms include increased aggression, obsessive grooming, men have difficulty urinating, and women may get swollen vulva. The symptoms can be minimized recordings with melatonin implants and Lupron, but the disease can not be cured. During surgery can remove the rice-sized adrenal gland, surgery can not guarantee that all the cancer is removed.
Insuloma
Insuloma int he is a cancer of pancreas. The ferret pancreas causes too much insulin, blood sugar levels that the ferrets to reduce drastically. Ferrets with this condition may include seizures, and they eventually die from the disease. Insuloma can be controlled with a bit of a strict high protein and high fat diet and a veterinarian may also prescribe prednisone to regulate blood sugar levels. This is also a cancer and there is no cure.
Lymphoma
Lymphoma is a different type of cancer susceptible to ferrets. The ferret organs are infiltrated by small lymphocytes.
Age related problems
Ferrets are also susceptible to kidney problems and heart problems as they age. In addition, they are more bothered by colds, green slime disease and other diseases that are not so much a big deal when they were younger....
