Average Lifespan of a Ferret Poll

[Deleted]

Hi everyone! I know this is a sensitive subject but I wanted to get real answers from owners about the lifespan of ferrets since I've never had any of mine cross the rainbow bridge yet. Marshalls quotes the average lifespan as 5-8 years but it seems common to hear about ferrets dying much younger than that unfortunately.

So, if you don't mind answering:
What is the oldest you've heard of a ferret getting?
What is the oldest and youngest age any of your ferrets have lived to? Were they Marshal or breeder ferrets? Were they eating kibble or raw?

Thanks a ton for helping me out!

[Deleted]

Oldest I've heard of: 14yrs with exceptional care
Oldest/youngest as I've only had one pass so far: 3 years as youngest to pass and currently 4 others who turned 4 this year (still living!)
All were/are Marshall. Eating kibble with regular raw soupies to attempt switching

I would say it isn't uncommon for ferrets to pass away at 3 or 4, though they can definitely live up to 8 years. And in ideal conditions, much longer!

[Deleted]

I've heard of nine. I hope my Noah can live to be ten!
My first girl, Houdini, lived until 1.5 years. Marshall's ferret. She didn't eat raw but did eat Wysong Epigen 90. She passed away due to juvenile lymphoma.

I now have Noah, also a Marshall's ferret. He was abandoned, so were guessing he's about three. He could be older. He eats raw. He looks phenomenal.

[Heather]

When I first got into ferrets the so-called midrange was 6 to 8 yrs. Now, I believe the midrange is 4 to 7. The youngest ferret that has passed under my care....my Porthos, 16 months old....juvenile lymphoma. He was an RC ferret. My oldest Mad Max who was about 12, he was a PV. Most of my guys appear to go around 6 to 8, with getting ill at around 6 or 7 and passing away about 2 yrs later. I've had a few make 9, 10 and 11....Meeteef (Marshals), Mad Max (Path Valley), Mayhem (Path Valley), Loki (RC), Lady Babuska (Marshals), Lady Pooka (Marshals), Lady Zena (Marshals). I've presently got a late alter who's 10 going on 11. Most of my Marshals have hit the mid range. I had little Lady Babushka who was actually turned in at 9 yrs of age. She passed on just short of 2 years later from old age.
Farm ferrets on average have been becoming sicker with adrenal at a much younger age. We never saw ferrets with adrenal before 4 yrs of age.....now we're seeing ferrets as young as 9 months.

ciao

[darlene]

To me 5-7 sounds about right. It's so sad to see those numbers though

[Sherry]

The oldest ones I know of are in Europe and all weaned to raw. I'm pretty sure Bev here had one live to 15, and Marie in the Netherlands the same.
Personally, our oldest lived to 8, and passed from adrenal related lymphoma. Our youngest(Vincent) passed at Just turned 4 from lymphoma.

[miamiferret2]

for me, the oldest I have seen was over 10 (marshall farms silver mitt that was actually owned by my former secretary. and we KNOW how old he was because he was a baby when she got him). he had insulinoma and that is what did him in. the meds strained his liver and kidneys.

youngest was 1.5 years old. renal failure.

i would say if they are well taken care of, well fed, etc. they can still live 6-8 years. I have had them live over 8 years. I also know a few people who have had MF ferrets live 10 to 13 years. it is not unheard of. not so common though, what with all the adrenal and insulinoma going around.

I know of one MF sable boy who is 9 years old right now. he has borderline insulinoma but he is doing pretty good for his age. no adrenal either.

the fancy/dilute colors and the waardies ARE alot more prone to checking out early. don't let anyone tell you any different.

adrenal (#1) and insulinoma (#2) seem to be the main things that i have seen with the MF ferrets.

it seems to me that they just go into a gradual decline after they are diagnosed with the adrenal. to me it seems as though it triggers a bunch of other things. probably from the stress of the adrenal disease. those increased hormones can do alot of damage to their little bodies. ferrets and stress don't mix!
keep them stress free, let them get as much exercise out of the cage as possible.

IMO, free roam is ideal because they are more relaxed than caged ferrets and they get alot more exercise. obviously that is not feasible for everyone so at least let them get as much out of cage time as possible.

it is funny that Jennifer mentioned gentle massages for the lymphatic system, i like to massage my ferrets. lol. so give them a massage every night. they love it.

personally, I am happy if they can get to 7 years without any major train wrecks.

[goingpostal]

Precious-4 years Marshalls DEW, kibble fed, insulinoma/lymphoma took her
Hobo-4 years old, Marshalls, silver, kibble fed, unknown illness PTS
Tweek-3 or 4, Marshalls, sable, kibble fed, died in sleep unknown
Pip-4 or 5, Marshalls, sable, kibble except for a last few months, lymphoma
Koda- 4 or 5 years old, Marshalls, sable, kibble unknown PTS
Blackie-5, Marshalls, dark sable, kibble except for a few months, lymphoma

I still have Pandora who is 6, Petersens bred, she is adrenal + insulinoma
Craven who may be 10 or more, Marshalls, he is adrenal + insulinoma as well and Hannibal who is probably 3 or 4, Marshalls. The first two were kibble fed up until 2 years ago and Hannibal just switched to raw a month ago. All but two of the deceased ferrets were adrenal as well and the last four on that list were fed garbage kibbles and never vetted prior to becoming mine.

[katt]

I responded to this twice, but my phone was being stupid. The information that you are asking for is not going to give you the average lifespan of ferrets, but rather the outliers. You need information on ALL ferrets that have passed, not just the very young and very old.
Yes, there are going to be a few who live to outstanding ages with proper care, and there are an unfortunate number of young deaths due to poor breeding and/or improper care. If you are really looking for an average lifespan though, you need to find out the ages of every ferret who has passed.

Katirhi has been very good about setting up the last 2 big polls via survey monkey. Perhaps she could be enticed to set one up for this? I know I would be very interested to see the results... It would be good to include whether the ferret died of natural causes, injury, or illness and whether they were a rescue or owned from a kit...

[Heather]

That's true. Each one of us probably has a very young and/ or very old fuzz...but out of 35+ ferrets there are a lot who ran the 6, 7 and 8 yr range
ciao

[Deleted]

I'd be interested in seeing the results of a poll like this too, would be good info :}

[crazylady]

Hi I have too many to mention my average is around 10 my oldest was 15 but I have lost odd ones who came into my care as rescues ( via vets or dumped ) who only lived to be approx 6-8 not knowing there true ages or what they were fed on prior to coming to me or how they were housed I am a raw /whole prey feeder I think you need to take a lot of other issues into consideration too breeding , lighting conditions ,age when fixed age of parents /siblings when they passed ( if possible ) diet are they indoor out door ferrets there are so many things to look at take care bye for now
Bev

[miamiferret2]

IMO, I really do not think that we should include ferrets outside of north.america in any "survey" . My impression of the question posed was that it was geared towards mill ferrets inNorth America. Marshall farms was mentioned in the initial post.
Too many different variables AND most of ours here in North America are mill ferrets.
early neutering, majority have been kibble fed, we keep ferrets indoors. Far too many important differences in our ferrets.

[Deleted]

If you talk to people who've had ferret quite soem time ago, you'll find that many ferrets lived loonger than they do today. This includes both mill ferrets and privately bred ferrets. Most of these ferrets were kibble raised and living longer than many of our ferrets today.

For example, there was a Mashall's farm ferret that lived to be over 13 years of age. He was caged all the time in bad lighting conditions, and he ate BAD adult cat food.

I have also seen privately bred, raw-fed ferrets die as kits, adolescents, and young adults.

So, according to Bob Church's studies done several years ago, American ferrets live to be 5-7 years old with 6 as an average life expectancy, but it's not uncommon for then to leave us sooner than 5. The European ferrets were reported to live to be 7-8 years old on average. I have known breeder ferrets that had full European lines, and they did not live all that long, and the kits from those litters had short life spans as well (5 years or less).

I think the biggest concern is that we seem to see fewer ferrets making it to 7 - 8 years these days.

-jennifer

[Sherry]

Agreed Jennifer, and Miami! In my personal experience, 4 1/2 -5 years has been average for me.