Heart of England Ferret Association

Neutering and Breeding

As we work closely with several ferret rescues, which often end up with litters of unwanted kits, we recommend neutering your ferrets unless you want to breed.

Ferrets reach sexual maturity in the first spring after their birth and the breeding season is from March to September. The jills have a gestation period of about 42 days and will produce between 6 and 8 kits on average.

The kits must not be removed from their mother until they are weaned at between 6 and 8 weeks old.

There are several benefits of neutering your ferrets, especially the jills as they are induced ovulators. This means they need the stimulation of mating to ovulate, if they are not mated then they will remain in heat.

This leads to high levels of oestrogen which can lead to aplastic anaemia and eventual death.

There are methods of bringing a jill out of season without producing kits. One is the jill jab, which is a hormone injection that must be administered by a vet. There is a chance that your jill may come back into season in the same year and require a second jab.

The other is mating with a vasectomised hob, this can allow the transfer of sexually transmitted diseases and sometimes lead to phantom pregnancies. There have been some reports of kits being born to vasectomised fathers as certain ferrets seem to be able to “heal” the process. Neutering your jills solves all of these problems.

Other benefits for both hobs and jills are a reduction in odour and dominant behaviour and a lower risk of infections and tumours in the reproductive organs. Intact ferrets also have a yellow tint to their fur (can be orange in some cases) this fades in the first 3 months after neutering.

You should be aware that neutering is a surgical procedure and as such holds a small risk as the ferret must be anaesthetised. Your ferret will require a pre op check with your veterinary surgeon to confirm it is healthy. If you have any questions about the procedure please speak to your vet.

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