Advice on ferrets How long do they live

My 20 yr old daughter has a female ferret named Cupcake. She has had Cupcake for about 3 yrs. We are unsure how old she was when we got her and have no way to find out now, but we don't believe she was more than a year, or if so not by much. My daughter loves this ferret more than life itself and I fear for her when her beloved pet dies. I have never seen her give so much care and love to any pet before and she constantly comments about the ferrets death, not knowing if she can handle it when the time comes. Secretely I have been looking into buying her a new ferret so she will still have a pet when Cupcake dies, but the devils at the petstore are nothing like the sweet baby I have at home. The little beasts bit me and refused to let go of my finger. The shop keeper said these were young males and that the females were MORE aggressive! Any advice on ferrets would be greatly appreciated.

In the United States a ferrets lifespan is around 6 to 10 years, with 7 to 8 years being about average. Very rarely you may hear of a ferret living as long as 10-13 years.

Unfortunately, with the early altering practices of the major breeding farms in this country the majority of ferrets bred here eventually suffer from related illnesses (such as adrenal disease) which shortens the lifespan.

I've had 20 ferrets to date. 9 are still with me. Of the 11 that have passed on the youngest was 3 years of age, the oldest have been 7-8 years of age, and I've lost a few at ages in between (4-6 years of age). All that have passed had various forms of cancer. Cancers are very commonly seen in ferrets in this country. Early altering and possibly genetics being the most probable causes. Ferrets in countries that do not have breeding farms and/or practice early altering tend to live longer, healthier, lives.