FROLICKING FERRETS ALL YEAR LONG

Ferrets' bodies change with the alternating seasons, and it may be important to provide natural lighting cycles to keep them healthy.

Agustus wearily raises his furry, snow-white head and peeks from his cozy sack on the third floor of the cage. He fixes his beady, pink eyes on me in an angry stare. One by one, three more ferrets' heads pop up: Cleo from the second floor, Brutus from the fourth-floor hammock, and Ambro out from under Brutus. I can just hear their collective, unspoken thought. "I hate it when you do that!"

I can't blame them. It is one of my own pet peeves to have a light turned on overhead while I am sleeping. Yet, nearly every evening for the last three years, I have trooped into the computer room where my ferrets live and flicked on the lamps: one in the corner and one over the monitor and keyboard. Ah! Brightness, just as darkness falls outside. And I wake up the ferrets. I have discovered that this might not be a good idea.

While our human days are not confined to the natural hours of sunshine anymore, some of the changes in our ferrets' bodies are dictated by fluctuating hours of daylight. Although these changes are natural and do not present immediate concerns for health, some ferret experts and enthusiasts say the long term health of a ferret may depend on the animal's exposure to a natural pattern of lighting, which could decrease the prevalence and relieve the symptoms of adrenal gland disease.

When the temperature cools and days grow shorter, our fuzzies gain weight. At the same time, thick winter fur grows on their bodies, making many ferrets look lighter in color. In spring these changes reverse.

"A ferret's big seasonal change is the loss or gain of about 30 percent body weight," says veterinarian Mark Burgess, who has been working with ferrets for more than 10 years.

This sounds like a lot, and it is. Imagine a 150 pound person losing fifty pounds every spring and gaining it back in the fall. This sort of fluctuation in a ferret's weight will be obvious to the pet owner, but all ferrets do not gain and lose so much, and more subtle changes may go unnoticed.  Veterinarian Arlene Jones, of Portland, Oregon, explains that the seasonal change in weight, however small or large, is a result of fluctuating hormones that regulate a ferret's metabolism. In the fall, ferrets retain fat due to a slowed metabolism. Our fuzzy friends then lose weight in the spring as the days lengthen and the metabolism speeds up. The hormonal changes are triggered by day length.

Veterinarian Tye Wood, also of Oregon, says there is "quite a variation" in what may be considered a healthy weight for a domestic ferret. He has seen healthy ferrets in his practice weighing less than one pound, and others that tipped the scales at nearly seven pounds -- about the weight of a newborn human baby.

My own female ferret, Ambro, won the prestigious title of "heaviest female" at the Oregon Ferret Association's 1996 fun match, weighing in at about two pounds. A larger female grabbed the blue ribbon the following year, however, when Ambro, still healthy, had simply slimmed too much to be competitive. Usually, as with Ambro, seasonal weight change is not a major medical problem, says Wood, and it takes care of itself.

Another common seasonal change in pet ferrets is modification of the coat. According to Dr. James Fox, author of "Biology and Diseases of the Ferret," a winter coat change usually happens in November, at the same time extra weight comes on. Shedding occurs in late spring or early summer.

In the summer, according to Fox, "the coat appears sleeker and lies flatter," while the winter coat is fluffier and softer because a thick undercoat covers the body. The undercoat is light colored, which explains why many ferrets look much darker in the summer and have a more clearly pronounced mask on the face. Ambro, for example, wears a raccoon-like mask in the summer, which almost completely gives way to white fur in the winter. Brutus' rich Siamese color, on the other hand, becomes much lighter all over his body in the winter, and he becomes much softer to the touch.

These coat changes, like weight change, happen because of the fluctuation in day length, which triggers hormones, including estrogen, that regulate the growth or loss of hair, Fox says.

Burgess says neutering and "captive conditions" may result in less consistent coat changes. For example, leaving lights on at night will lengthen the ferret's day and can cause the animal to keep the same coat for more than one season. He says that this is not a medical problem, but some ferret fanciers and experts suggest that manipulating a ferret's exposure to light may be an important aspect of the animal's long-term health.

Mike Janke, ferret owner and secretary of the South Florida Ferret Club and Rescue, has been gathering information on the topic for more than a year. His article in the newsletter "Ferret Footnotes" explains that the light cycle to which a ferret is exposed directs seasonal changes by stimulating glands, including the adrenal gland, which produces hormones. If the gland is over-stimulated and begins to function abnormally, then the ferret develops adrenal gland disease, common in ferrets four years old or older.

Symptoms are grossly exaggerated seasonal changes, such as extreme hair loss. For example, Janke says one afflicted ferret at the South Florida shelter, Flower, was left only with "a few tufts of hair on her head and on her legs," being otherwise completely naked.

The possible root of this problem is simple, Wood says. "The biological clock of Earth is the sun, but people don't live by the sun anymore."

Ferrets live by whatever schedule their owners adopt. This can include many consecutive hours of exposure to light that would not normally occur. I do this myself when I work at the computer in the evenings and light a room that would otherwise be dark. If such unnatural cycles of light contribute to the prevalence of adrenal gland disease, some say, then a natural pattern of lighting may prevent the disease and help to relieve its symptoms.

Still, these assertions remain speculation. Veterinary researchers have studied the question, but many maintain that investigators have not uncovered a conclusive answer.

"No one is quite sure of the role light plays in ferret health," says Maryland veterinarian Karen Purcell, who owns four ferrets herself. Janke concedes that it's a pretty sure bet that light regulation is not a cure for adrenal disease, but he maintains that it may be a preventative measure, and it cannot possibly be harmful.

Dayna Frazier of Virginia, a ferret shelter operator for more than eighteen years, agrees. "Ferrets require natural sunlight to be healthy and happy," she says.

Both of these ferret owners, and some veterinarians, recommend that pet owners regulate ferret's light cycles. But how?

Frazier's method is neither complex nor expensive. She recommends that ferret owners install four-foot, full spectrum lights over their ferret cages or in ferret rooms, above human head height, and connect them to an appliance timer to regulate the hours of light for their pets. The approximate cost of two bulbs, a fixture and timer is $30.00.

Wood agrees that full-spectrum lighting will best emulate natural light. "It's hard to beat Mr. Sun," he says.

Wood suggests setting the timer for the lights to come on at sunrise and go off at sunset. A newspaper or tidal guide will give the times to set the lights. Check these sources weekly to adjust the timer, says Wood. Depending on geographical location, this method will result in about 10 total hours of light per day in the winter, changing gradually to 14 in the summer.

Burgess recommends the same total number of lighted hours, but he says the use of full-spectrum lighting "is not critical." Regular incandescent lights will work OK, he says. A good rule of thumb for determining brightness, says Frazier, is to make sure the bulbs provide sufficient light to grow healthy African Violets.

One problem with this schedule is that many pet owners like to spend time with their ferrets during a period of the day that is normally dark. A possible solution is to use red lights to simulate nighttime, says Christine Mathis, owner and operator of the Oregon Ferret Shelter. The idea is to provide light for the humans that will not interfere with the ferrets' natural light cycle. Mathis says the idea was suggested by a consulting veterinarian for the shelter.

Yet, no one knows if red light is really harmless, says Wood, in terms of affecting a ferret's normal light cycle.

Frazier is certain her technique is successful. Even ferrets with advanced cases of adrenal disease experience reversal of symptoms when introduced to her shelter's lighting program, she says. Without it, they live shorter lives. Ferrets bodies do change with the seasons, and in some cases quite drastically. Helping our pets by accommodating natural seasonal change, and encouraging healthy cycles that may keep the adrenal gland in check, could result in happier, longer relationships.

According to Fox, the life span of a pet ferret is between eight and eleven years. My own Agustus will be three next year, and Ambro will soon turn four. Brutus and Cleo are about two years old. None of them has yet shown symptoms of adrenal gland disease, and I'm keeping my fingers crossed as they grow older. Yet, I'm not going to rely entirely on crossed fingers. When Ambro turns four this spring, I will give them all red lights for her birthday.