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Post by whiteboy on Mar 12, 2011 23:25:48 GMT -5
my oldest is pandora who is about 5 months lol then axel who is about 3 months.
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Post by Deleted on Mar 13, 2011 3:31:40 GMT -5
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Post by Deleted on Mar 13, 2011 6:09:21 GMT -5
My oldest is Blanket, the vet said he was over 6 about 1/2 a year ago, so I'm going to go with 7. He's adrenal but doing GREAT on oral melatonin. I can't be absolutely sure how old he is because when he first got sick his owners ABANDONED him. They suck-my luck.
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Post by trippyferret on Mar 13, 2011 8:30:07 GMT -5
Marie, 14 years is AMAZING for a ferret! What's your secret? Couldn't believe how good she looked at age 11, wow!
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Post by Deleted on Mar 13, 2011 8:40:39 GMT -5
Svarta, 14 years old, that's great. All sable line?
Misty May will be 7 in July. Jesse James and Bode Miller will be 6 in May Doc Holiday and Radar O'Reilly will be 5 Boo -4 Skylar - 3
May they have many more birthdays....
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Post by Deleted on Mar 13, 2011 9:22:48 GMT -5
Thanks, trippyferret I think the main key to Svarta's long life was that she got lucky in the gene pool The wildlife park keeps only sable ferrets (usually lighter sables) and occasionally pure polecats. Svarta was a 50% hybrid, but I believe she had some type of light sable and possibly mitts/bibs/roaning in her ferret background.
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Post by Deleted on Mar 13, 2011 9:52:20 GMT -5
My oldest second to Svarta were Benjamin (11 years and 5 months) and Tina (10 years and 3 months): trickytrixie.tripod.com/theoldsters/theoldsters.htm (scroll down) Benjamin was my own breeding and Tina was one of Svarta's daughters (from another breeder). I have a whole list of all the others : trickytrixie.tripod.com/longevityrecord.htmMy oldest now living are Mim (will be 10 in June), Saijin (will be 9 in May), Saga and Norna (Svarta daughters, will be 9 in August). I also have a group that will be 7 this year and the rest are youngsters
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Post by joan on Mar 13, 2011 11:31:16 GMT -5
The oldest one I have living here is Minx, who was 7 last month...she's slowed down a bit in the past few months and has a cataract in one eye, but otherwise appears to be in excellent health. So far, the only deaths in those I've owned or bred which occurred before age 7 were due to accidents or escapes. The oldest one of my breeding to date was 9 years, 2 months, and the necropsy was inconclusive so the vet attributed her death to general organ failure from old age. All these, btw, were bred from UI ferrets. My first hybrid litters will turn 6 this year, and so far have never had any health issues.
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Post by Sherry on Mar 13, 2011 11:35:19 GMT -5
A lot of what helped as well I think, is how they live, their diet, the fact they are not spayed/neutered til much older, so adrenal has a less likely chance of showing up.
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Post by Deleted on Mar 13, 2011 12:15:59 GMT -5
Something that I find interesting is that none of the kits that I sold showed any adrenal symptoms during their lives, even though almost all of them were fixed at around the time of their first season. Almost all of them lived indoors with artifical lighting and long days and were fed kibble diets. Even so, they had about the same life span as those fed a natural diet.
That's why I think genetics is a major factor.
The main thing that stands out is that the kibble fed ferrets look old and age much sooner, while the ones on a natural diet retain the young look much longer.
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Post by Sherry on Mar 13, 2011 13:33:03 GMT -5
Now that IS interesting, Marie! I knew genetics could play a part, but that's remarkable
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Post by Deleted on Mar 13, 2011 14:15:51 GMT -5
That is a very interesting observation. I did a quick search on this and came up with this article. Very interesting read. It discusses different possibilities for adrenal disease - one of them being aberrant tumor suppressor genes, which would mean a strong genetic link to the disease. Attachments:
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Post by Deleted on Mar 13, 2011 18:30:27 GMT -5
Marie your ferrets are beautiful. Benjamin is a handsome boy, love that head and neck on him.
Longevity record, I am very impressed.
What average weight on your adults? Hob and jill
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Post by Deleted on Mar 14, 2011 12:43:11 GMT -5
Thanks, wenmister! What average weight on your adults? Hob and jill The ones I currently have range from about jills 1-1.5 kg hobs 1.6-2.8 kg
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Post by Sherry on Mar 14, 2011 22:42:43 GMT -5
That's interesting! Not a lot different from some of my mill kids!
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