QUESTION:
I have twin female ferrets who are currently pregnant. they were separated from the male on 20/09/09. it has nearly been 8 weeks and they still have not had there babies. I am concerned that they may be having trouble or could be having a phantom pregnancy. they seam "happy" and still enjoy being held and cuddled, though they are very fat and their nipples are swollen. it also looks like their genitals are swollen.

It is the first pregnancy they are going through and I just don't understand why they are so overdue.

Any advice would be highly appreciated. if they have not had them but this weekend i will be taking them to the vet.

ANSWER:

Sounds as if they had phantom pregnancies. If their vulvas are swollen they are now in heat again and will need to bred. How long have their vulvas been swollen? If they have just started you can get them spayed, however if it has been 2 weeks already you need to breed them or have your vet take them out of heat.

QUESTION:
I have two little girl ferrets who will be four months on sept 24th, both aren't spayed as I was waiting until 6months as I've been told to by numerous people and read about. I was also told that males don't mature until 6-8 months. My sister owns my jills brother and dad, the dad has been neutered but the son hasn't although I let them come down and play since I was under the illusion at such young age nothing would happen. Although last night I really noticed {after being away for a few days} Belle - the usually smallest of my jills was fatter shes 103g heavier than her sister. I immediately paniced at the thought of her being pregnant I've looked at her stomach compared to the other one and they have a line down their tummy {polecat colored} her tummy sort of bulges eitherside of it and is quite big compared to the rest of her and Belles nipples are more out than her sisters. I've never noticed her mating as I usually play with them all when the boys are down but of course I have left them all together at somestage.. Can you PLEASE tell me some signs of pregnancy and if you think she maybe {I read you said can get pregnant from 4months} I see that the kits could be deformed.. what would you suggest? I didnt want to breed but I'm 17. Just lost my job so struggling for money for vets.

ANSWER:

I doubt seriously that she is pregnant if not 4 months till SEPT. You would know if they had mated as usually there is a lot of noise and the ferrets stay locked together, so unless you had left them for a long time, I don't think you have to worry.

The way to tell if a female is in heat is her vulva will swell and by now you would have noticed that, plus it would stay swollen until mated and up to a week after mating. If you have never noticed this then you will have nothing to worry about. Yes, ferrets can start their heat cycle at 4 months but it has to be during breeding season.

If you are in England you are at the end of the season, so you have until March to get your ferrets spayed. However if you are extending the light in the house past darkness, you are also extending breeding season, as heat cycles are controlled by the length of day, or extended light, so best get lights out. Make sure you check the females vulvas every day and try not to wait until next breeding season as they need spaying before they come into heat. Your sister can get the male neutered at 6 months.

QUESTION:
I'm unsure if my female ferret Wags is pregnant as my male got to her. They have been separated for a while once her belly started to get big, and I thought that she would have had them by now. In the last few days I noticed that her vagina has swollen heaps and I'm wondering if she is ready to have the babies or should I put the male back into her cage in case he didn't get to her properly the first time. I'm worried that she might die.

ANSWER:
Female ferrets have to be bred if they are not spayed, or they will die of aplastic anemia! If Wags has a swollen vulva and is not spayed, then you MUST breed her. If you were sure they mated earlier then she may have had a false pregnancy, but will need mating as soon as possible or SPAY her. What country are you in? If she does have babies do you have homes lined up for her, there are already too many ferrets in shelters all over the world that are without homes.

QUESTION:
My Jill currently went to the vet with a small infection in her vulva the other day. I was told my Jill wouldn't be pregnant due to the fact the infection would stop any chance of the sperm fertilizing the egg. But now her teats have come through and she's gaining a bit of weight. Its obvious she's pregnant or going through a phantom pregnancy, which is where I was wondering do you know of any way of telling the difference?

ANSWER:
If she mated before the infection she could be pregnant. When you get close to due date you should be able to feel the babies. Count 42 days from mating and about a week before the due date check to see if she has lumps and prepare for birth!

QUESTION:
I came across your ferret webpage when I was searching google for information on signs of a pregnant ferret. I don't know if you are still answering questions, but I couldn't find any information on the web about it, so I thought I'd ask you.

I have had a black eyed white ferret, named McKenzie, for about a month. I found her at a local animal shelter, who found her abandoned under a highway overpass in the middle of winter. She has one blurred dot on her right ear, which I was told by the shelter was a sign of being spayed by Marshall Farms.

When I first got her, I noticed that her stomach was kind of firm, but I've never owned ferrets before so I just assumed it was normal. Lately I've noticed that it's gotten quite big, as in it sticks out on the sides, and it's very hard. She can no longer fit under the couch, and she used to go under there all of the time.

I know that if you don't get a female ferret spayed, and they go into heat, they will most likely get sickle-cell anemia and die. So it baffles me as what could be wrong with her. She eats fine, she's on a diet of Iams cat food, she sleeps a lot but I thought that was normal for ferrets. She plays and jumps around like normal. She drinks a lot too, and goes to the bathroom constantly, but her feces are perfectly normal.

So how can I tell if my girl is pregnant? I do plan on taking her the vet, but my appointment isn't for another week and a half, so I thought I'd ask what you thought first. Does it sound like she is?

ANSWER:
The dot on her ear is a mark from Marshall Farms that she is spayed. It would be highly unlikely these days for a ferret to be pregnant, there are very few people who breed them and even more unlikely that she would be pregnant at this time a year.

Are you seeing a dark blue color showing through the skin as what you are describing sounds very much as if her SPLEEN is swollen? It is quite common and is often caused by an infection and when the ferret is given antibiotics it will go back to normal size, but not always.

Hopefully you will be going to a ferret knowledgeable vet and in doing so they should be able to determine what is going on! Did the shelter give you any idea of the ferret's age? Are you feeling any hard lumps where her other lymph nodes are, on either side of the neck, under the armpits or in the back of the hind legs, if so I would be inclined to get her to a vet much sooner?