Is it true that if a ferret is not bred it will become ill/die?

I know that this sounds like a rather stupid question, but a friend of mine that is in a veterinary program told me that if you do not breed a ferret (even after it has been fixed) that it will die. Has she been severely misinformed or is there any truth to this?Is it true that if a ferret is not bred it will become ill/die?
Um its been proven and most vets I know that breed ferrets will NOT sell an unaltered female w/o a spay neuter contract for her if she will not be bred. They need hormone therapy if they are not going to be used in mating. They will become ill and die. Any vet that states other wise is probably not ferret savy.





';Male ferrets can start their breeding cycle in January-July, the females usually begin in March-Sept. However, you must remember that the female once in heat MUST be bred or she will most likely die from prolonged heat, of aplastic anemia. She will not cycle in and out of heat as a cat and dog but remain in heat until bred';





This is from a ferret website, and its on most others. Anyone that keeps an unaltered female with out breeding purposes, does not deserve to well own one. its totally irresponsible in my opinion. And if you won't be breeding them there is no reason to have them unaltered.





Not yelling at you in any way just saying thats what my opinion is.Is it true that if a ferret is not bred it will become ill/die?
if the ferret has been fixed there is no way that it can be bred. nothing in that department of the body works any more. if the female ferret is not altered then when she comes into breeding age and time and is not bred then she can become anemic and die from that.There is an injection called a jill jab that will bring her out of season but am not sure how long it will last. As all of my females and males were altered when i got them.here in the US when you purchase one from a pet store they are already descented and fixed.





hope this helps
Female ferrets will come into heat and not come out of it until they are bred. This can be prevented by a regular injection, or being neutered, but if this heat is not stopped they get anemia and can die!


That's why it's important to have females neutered! Males can be neutered to decrease their odour and lower their testosterone levels making them less aggressive.





Hope that helps! ^.^
It is true for females. If they are not bred when they come into heat,they can develop a deadly anemia and die. That is why most of the female ferrets that you find in pet stores have usually already been spayed.If they are not spayed,then it must be done before they are 6 months old.Also,males should be neutered to reduce odor and aggression.





http://www.healthypet.com/library_view.a鈥?/a>
A FEMALE ferret will die if it is not bred before the age of 6 months or so. She will go into heat, and stay in heat until she's bred (either to an intact male or neutered male) or spayed. She can develop aplastic anemia. Since most ferrets in the US seem to be Marshall's ferrets, they will be fixed by the time you buy them, but there are other breeders that may not spay/neuter their ferrets before sending them to pet shops, or adopting them out themselves.





http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aplastic_an鈥?/a>


There's a link to a Wikipedia article. It revolves mainly around humans, but it has a small 'blurb' about ferrets.





Here's a few other links that may help:


http://www.2ndchance.info/ferretanemia.h鈥?/a>


http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/34243鈥?/a>


http://uk.answers.yahoo.com/question/ind鈥?/a>
That sounds like a very odd myth to me. I've never owned a ferret, but I don't believe that. Perhaps he meant they had to be bred by a certain age, or they couldn't give birth, etc...Hopefully someone with ferret experience can answer this lol
Absolutely not. I've known several ferrets that have thrived for several years without even being bred.
Just females if they are not fixed.
of corse not thats stupid