Honey & Polo

This is what can happen when you breed closely related ferrets, so don't.

Polo and Honey came to ferret friends late in 2006 with there mum when they were just three weeks old. They were picked up in a group of eight ferrets, when a family became bored with their pets; it was a pity they had two litters just before they got bored, the man that called said the mother of two babies had started to eat the babies, our first thought was the mother was not being fed enough and so she had started to eat the babies in hunger, someone was sent out to get the ferrets at once, when we got there it was obvious the ferrets were well fed, we decided to look at the three week old babies with bits missing first, we found one boy and one girl baby, three weeks old, both with no tail whatsoever and both front right feet deformed we found no injury, so it was a genetic fault.

The owner said he would have killed the deformed babies when they were younger if he had known of there problems, but now it was the rescue centers decision, all the ferrets were put into 5 carry box's and taken back to Ferret Friends, one or two people did say it may be better to have the two kits put to sleep because of there problems but that was never going to be an option, four different members offered them a home when they were older, It was decided to let them get older and then assess their mental capabilities, at three weeks there eyes weren't open yet so time would tell.

Polo is the 12 week old Albino boy in the picture above, called Polo because when he walks around he looks like a polar bear with his fluffy white coat and no tail, he loves to play in water, can run faster then most of the ferrets he lives with, even with a deformed foot, he is a total nutter as all babies should be, but so gentle, he came to the last three shows of 2006 and everyone fell in love with him, lots of people asked if they could re-home him but Honey & Polo have been re-homed together to one of our members.

Honey is the 12 week old sandy mitt girl in the picture above, she is just as fast as Polo but more excitable and she loves to nip feet just like her mother, lots of ferrets do nip feet, on the right is a picture of Honey's deformed right foot which is the same on Polo, there leg is shorter too, because of the deformity, they may need veterinary treatment on there feet if they have problems with there claw, but we will have to see.

The picture on the left shows Polo's
perfectly formed bum its just missing a 
tail, Honey's bum is exactly the same, 
although it does make them seem shorter
then they are bodily, I did read that when 
ferrets are born with no tail at all, they 
can get into a mess when they go to the 
toilet, but as you can see Polo has no such 
problems and that goes for Honey too.

Mum and dad have been neutered and have now been re-homed, Honey & Polo will be done when they are old enough so the genetic fault will not be passed on, not having Honey &Polo with us now seems unthinkable, they will be at all the shows next year in 2007 helping us raise money to keep the rescue center going.

Honey update 25-02-07

Honey had been very quite of late and I did say I was worried about her but she had no other signs, and was running around, but had quite moments, Oscar has been quite for 6 years, but last Monday her breathing became fast and shallow I took her to the vet and she was put on antibiotics just in case and booked in on Thursdays to see the usual vet who was on holiday and have tests if there was no improvement, Thursday came, her breathing was the same, so she had an x-ray, it showed a large mass in her chest cavity leaving little room for her heart or lungs and it was inoperable, this news was devastating at any age let alone 8 months old, I made the decision to put her to sleep.

We spent some time with Honey and she licked my daughters lips something of an obsession of hers I held her and the vet gave her a large injection of anesthetic into her liver which would take longer for her to go to sleep but the mass made injecting her in the heart difficult, I handed her back to my daughter and she went back to licking her lips until she went to sleep for the last time, she was an angel to the very end.

We know when we take on a ferret with a genetic fault they may have health problems that's why we don't re-home them to the general public but this would not stop me taking on another, not so perfect ferret, our big worry now is Polo he had the same genetic faults on the outside as Honey does this mean he has the same on the inside, at the moment is is still very playful, all we can do is watch and hope, but to lose Polo as well as Honey would be unthinkable, and although we would never forget Honey, Polo being her brother is a close link to her, he has become great friends with Wiley with the overshot jaw, they have found that working together they can beat the bigger Hobs when playing.

If you give life a chance it just might surprise you.