Ovulation Question

[AlbertaGirl]

I read in another thread that Nancy said it's not healthy for a female to be around a male all the time without being bred as this keeps them in a constant state of ovulation. I'm wondering if there is going to be a problem with Phoebe and Alexander. They are housed on separate levels of the same Ferret Nation cage, and while they will most certainly never come into contact, is it possible that she can somehow sense him?

 

[Nancy]

That's fine Sandi. It's only physical contact such as being out to play together.

When I first was thinking of breeding there was a big discussion going on at the time as to whether boys and girls being housed in the same room was a problem. It was generally felt that if this were the case, we'ed be seeing an increased amount of reproductive cancers and problems in the girls of people owning multiples. This was not the case and being caged beside, above, or below males doesn't seem to make a difference.

One of my own observations has been with the girls and boys being out on the same fleece for playtime. Even though they aren't out together, if the girl is on the fleece first and then the boy, it is just about certain the boy is going to run around sniffing and then pee and get excited and sometimes will start to sing even though the girl is not there. I've always wondered if it's reversed that the boy is out first, does his smell on the fleece put her into ovulation?

I wouldn't worry at all about them being caged above/below/beside one another. Two of my girls that developed uterine tumours were never caged anywhere near the boys yet ones that had boys on all sides were fine.

 

[AlbertaGirl]

Thank you Nancy, I was hoping you would see this! I never use the same blankies or anything for them. Phoebe has her pink girly fleece and Xander has his manly fleece. :laughitup: I do sometimes cuddle them while wearing the same clothes, but from now on I'll make sure Phoebe always comes out first. I have no interest in going through the whole pregnancy/babies thing with these two so they will never, ever so much as see one another, let alone share playtime. :thumbsup:

I also wanted to tell you that my vet recently returned from his annual international exotics conference with some interesting information. He told me that the general consensus among most exotic vets is that it's a good idea to spay female hedgies when they're still young (unless they'll be used for breeding of course!). It looks as though it's moving towards being accepted practice for hedgies just like it is for dogs and cats. I'm considering having Phoebe done this fall before she turns two.

 

[Nancy]

heehee In the beginning, Emma had her lilac coloured bedding, Teasel had blue, Freckles had turquoise and Snow had pink. Well then along came Peaches who should have had peach coloured bedding but I could not find peach fabric anywhere. By that time it was becoming too difficult trying to keep everyone with their own colours. Messy Mr Freckles would dirty his bedding before the others so I gave up on colour co-ordinating. For a while, I at least tried to keep girls with girls and boys with boys and then just said to heck with it. :hilarious: Clean bedding does not seem to make the least bit of difference and the boys never react to something that I know a girl had previously. Don't tell my boys I've told on them but quite often they end up with pink liners and bags and sometimes even a pink wheel. shhhhh!

Of course the girls possibly ovulating from the smell of boys on the fleece is only speculation based on observing the boys reaction to being on fleece after the girls. It may not affect the girls at all but IMO, it's easy to prevent so why not.

Yes, the vets do seem to be leaning towards preventative spays and I think it's a good idea. I've heard 6 months being a good age to do it but I'd consider it for older ones. Often by the time a tumour is discovered it is too late. Our Daisy had no prior signs of a uterine tumour until the morning she started to bleed out. Daisy was a real grump and we had not felt her tummy in years and if we could have, we probably would have felt the tumour but I have heard of others that bled out without the owners knowing anything was wrong. Daisy never had blood in her cage prior to that morning when she started to hemorrhage.