Outcomes of adoption of adult laboratory ferrets after gonadectomy during a veterinary student teaching exercise.

We surveyed 27 people who had adopted a total of 43 adult domestic ferrets after their use in a series of veterinary student surgery teaching laboratories to assess the success of those adoptions and to determine the rate of occurrence of common maladies of domestic ferrets after adult gonadectomy as compared with the usual practice of early-age gonadectomy. The adoptions took place 1-7 y prior to the survey. The response rate was 48% of adopters, covering 53% of the ferrets. Overall the success of former breeding and instructional ferrets as pets were rated as 91% good or excellent and 4.5% poor. Behavioral issues (for example, nipping, failure to litter train) were noted as the most common problems (36% of ferrets). Adrenal gland disease, insulinoma, or lymphosarcoma occurred in 23% of all ferrets and accounted for 57% of those ferrets that had died prior to the time of the survey.