In This Chapter
- Considering the emotional, financial, and time commitments of breeding
- Understanding the ramifications of careless breeding
Being able to breed ferrets responsibly and successfully
requires years of ferret ownership and a great deal of research, among other
things. Unless you meet the ownership requirement and can do the research, I strongly
urge you to have your ferret altered and leave breeding to the people who know
exactly what they’re doing and why they’re doing it.
However, kits are simply adorable. What’s more satisfying
than raising a beautiful, healthy fuzzy? (Maybe giving a good home to an old
fuzzy that was abandoned in a shelter.) Responsible private breeders offer an
alternative for fuzzy people who want kits but don’t want to go to pet shops.
Responsible breeders are more interested in a kit’s well-being than money, thus
are more concerned about weeding out the less-than-desirable fuzzy homes. And
private breeders get to spend oodles of time sharing their wealth of
information with people who seek them out.
This chapter discusses breeder requirements that many
beginner breeders haven’t thought about. Before you begin breeding ferrets,
find out whether you have what it takes. And, even if you decide that you do,
ask yourself whether you should. Also, I discuss ferret shelters and why they
exist, because every ferret in a shelter was once somebody’s little baby.
What It Takes to Be a Responsible Breeder
Remember
Breeding ferrets requires way more than just throwing two amorous fuzzies in a cage and hanging up the “Do Not Disturb” sign. Responsible breeders carefully choose their breeding pairs, and they breed for good temperament, good looks, and conformation. They’re prepared for emergency medical situations and spend most of their free time caring for moms and kits (baby ferrets).
And responsible breeders don’t just sell their kits to
anyone. Money should be the last thing on a responsible breeder’s mind. The
honest truth is that unless you mass-produce hundreds of kits a year and sell
them wholesale to pet shops, you probably won’t make much money. If you’re lucky,
you’ll break even. A responsible breeder does the work because he or she simply
loves the ferret and wants to put the best ferrets in the best homes.
Alas, I can discuss much more that responsible breeders need
to have and do, and I do so in the following sections.
Deep pockets
A ferret breeder must fork over money for the cost of caring
for pregnant jills (unspayed females) and vulnerable kits (babies). In addition
to normal care, breeders will always have unexpected expenses; have you thought
about emergencies or unplanned situations? Responsible breeders must take the following
costs into consideration:
- Purchasing excellent breeding stock to get started
Technical Stuff
About 85 to 90 percent of the ferrets sold into the pet trade in the United States are altered and descented at weaning and are therefore unbreedable.
- Proper cages and setups for jills and kits (see Chapter Home Sweet Home: Preparing Your Ferret’s Quarters for more on ferret cages)
- Routine vet care for moms and kits, including supplements and any medication needed
- A first vaccination for kits before they go to their new homes
- Vet care for complications such as uterine infections and mastitis (infected and hardened mammary glands)
- Emergency C-sections for jills in trouble
- Humane euthanizing of kits that have severe deformities or the cost of providing lifelong care for these babies
- Spaying bad moms (see the following section) or retirees — and providing lifelong care for them if you can’t find good homes
- Providing lifelong care for any kits that you can’t sell
The emotional stake
Breeding isn’t always smooth sailing, with happy births and
successful adoptions; heartache is involved, and so are many decisions that
you’d probably rather not have to face. Ferret moms, for example, may not be
good moms at all. Kits can die from being cannibalized (eaten by mom) or
neglected. It can be heartbreaking. Hand-rearing a newborn kit is next to
impossible, so all you can do is watch.
Tip
Many breeders arrange to have two ferrets give birth within a few days of each other so that they can serve as foster moms if necessary. This plan doesn’t always work, though — especially if the litters are large.
Before you decide to breed, ask yourself how you would feel
about the following, because breeders face these situations at one time or
another:
- Having kits die suddenly
- Moms cannibalizing or killing the kits
- Losing kits because a mom fails to nurse or is incapable of nursing
- Losing a mom during a difficult pregnancy or labor
- Getting your hopes dashed when you find out it was a false pregnancy (which is common in ferrets)
- Worrying about all the kits you help into the world and stressing over how they’re doing in someone else’s care
- Having kits with severe birth defects euthanized
- Having fuzzies returned to you for one reason or another
Retiring a breeding myth |
|
|
Breeding animals isn’t a way to teach a child about the
miracle of life (and death, in many cases). If you feel your child is missing
out in this area of knowledge, rent a video, buy some books, or tune in to
the Discovery Channel or Animal Planet. These are great ways to spend |
quality time with kids and still teach them the value and
beauty of life. Of course, also explain to your kids the devastating effects
of overpopulation so that they’ll understand why a video may be far more
responsible than the real thing (see the final section of this chapter for
more). |
Time to care
Breeding ferrets, providing support during and after
pregnancies for moms and kits, and finding perfect homes for your precious
babies can be extremely time-consuming. You’ll probably have to forgo your
karate classes to do the following:
- Search for (and research) a source of quality breeder ferrets, which are your initial financial and emotional investments.
- Keep diligent records (financial and pedigree).
- Talk to and learn from other responsible breeders.
Remember
Responsible breeding isn’t a competition; it’s a shared interest.
- Check your kits’ weights regularly to make sure that they’re gaining weight, and take the necessary steps to correct problems upon discovery.
- Chauffeur your ferrets to and from the vet.
- Spend time socializing kits and begin training before they go to their new homes.
Remember
Good breeders hang onto kits until they’re at least 8 weeks old.
- Spend an enormous amount of time on the phone talking to potential buyers and new fuzzy parents. Good breeders should be choosy about whom they sell their babies to, and they should provide ongoing before-and after-sales support.
- Take care of kits that owners have brought back to you. A responsible breeder takes back kits that don’t work out in their homes, which can be a burden over time.
Tip
If you think you have what it takes to be a responsible fuzzy breeder, research the subject a little more. Call your local ferret shelter and put in a few hours of volunteer work each week. If you don’t have time to do that now, you certainly won’t have the time to breed ferrets responsibly.
Willingness to find out what you don’t know
Responsible breeding means knowing a lot about ferret
biology and genetics. For example, did you know that ferrets are similar to
chinchillas in that breeding certain color variations may cause lethal genes?
Additionally, new, exotic ferret colors being produced may be the result of
mutant or recessive genes. No one knows for sure whether funky-colored ferrets
will have more health problems down the road. How can you know whether you’re
creating one of these tragic situations?
In addition to biology and genetics, you need to know the
rules governing the sale of ferrets. For example, when it comes to selling your
kits, did you know that breeders who wholesale their ferrets (sell to pet
shops, for example) are required to be USDA licensed? (Some breeders also have
to be licensed by their state’s Department of Agriculture; USDA is a separate
federal licensing.)
Remember
This places even more emphasis on the need to keep good records and maintain good husbandry practices. Inspectors can pop in at any reasonable time — unannounced — to inspect your facility, animals, and records. Also, ferret breeders may be required to have additional permits or licenses, depending on where they live.
Avoiding a Need for More Shelters
If you love ferrets (and presumably you do if you want to
breed them), you don’t want to bolster the need for shelters. Most people have
heard at one time or another the statistics on how many dogs and cats are
killed each year in shelters. The senseless deaths of these once-loved pets
number in the millions. As ferrets gain popularity as companion pets in
households, the number of furballs that wind up in shelters also increases, as
does the number of deaths of these homeless fuzzies.
Careless breeding by humans is the cause for overpopulation.
The population of fuzzbutts at ferret shelters such as the Greater Chicago
Ferret Association can fluctuate between 60 and 100 ferrets at a time. That’s a
lot of displaced furkids. Many are geriatric fuzzies that no longer fit into
the perfect pet mold their humans have illogically created. These unfortunate
souls get dumped for younger or different pets.
No ferret breeder can guarantee that every one of his or her
kits will remain in permanent, loving homes. Too many people treat animals as
property; they put little thought into getting pets and end up abusing them,
neglecting them, selling them to the highest bidders, or giving them away to
whoever shows up first. Some people even dump fuzzies into the wild to futilely
fend for themselves, or they abandon them at shelters where their futures are unknown.
This revolving-door syndrome gets passed on by example to children. It’s
morally and ethically wrong to treat any life with such disregard; this cycle
needs to be stopped.
You can help stop this cycle by thinking long and hard about
whether you should breed ferrets at all. If you can’t meet the points listed
previously in “What It Takes to Be a Responsible Breeder,” you’ll for sure be
adding to the vicious cycle. But even responsible breeders can’t guarantee they
won’t be a part of the cycle, because there are no guarantees on where the
ferrets end up. Although it’s true that overpopulation is a problem and
breeding needs to be curtailed, the true problem lies with a human mentality
that pets are disposable and the job of the shelter is to take in the
unwanteds. The cycle stops with education and a change in mentality.
by Kim Schilling
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