>I wrote yesterday in relation to the historical data Bob provided:
>Okay, so in most cases the ferrets were passing away at ages lower than
>the most common ages for adrenal neoplasia or insulinoma, or around the
>ages when they usually begin to be most commonly seen.  (This is because
>you report the average age of death as being 5 to 6, so the older ones
>were very rare to have had almost no effect on the average figure.)
 
Important question: were there a mode longevity numbers given in case
deaths during infancy had a strong effect?  If so was the graph bi-modal?
 
i just noticed that and did a forehead slap "Duh!" to myself; and I know
I can say that here because we all do that on and off.
 
Oh, what I wrote wasn't clear on an aspect.  I think that it is possible
for symptoms like baldness to have been missed due to people thinking
that they may be age related (as still very sadly happens today), but my
inclination is to think that some mention would have been made unless it
was taken for granted.  If other things that were taken for granted --
like fleas -- were mentioned I think it's more likely that baldness
would have been.  (Were fleas mentioned?) So, my personal inclination is
still to think that high numbers of adrenal neoplasias and insulinoma are
recent, but on the other hand I certainly can imagine problems that would
have interfered with possible reports of such symptoms, especially
baldness.  If they reported things they took for granted like fleas I
think that would increase the reporting probability for baldness, even
with the cause of the baldness not known or misunderstood.
 
Of course if the ferrets in the records from the 19th century and early
then were dying younger than the typical ages of on-set and if they were
whole then they might have simply died before they could get these things
usually, and even today when random reports of whole ferrets with adrenal
neoplasia come in they tend to be at older ages than for neutered ones --
including among the old ones.
 
I really suspect (note the qualifier, please.) that there are multiple
separate situations with adrenal neoplasia.  Obviously, the several
malignancies differ from the typical benign growths (which still
typically need to come out when surgery is possible) though there can be
relationships between some of these growths perhaps.  One thing that has
interested me is that when adrenal neoplasia first began to be discussed
so much there just plain weren't early-age cases.  Early-age cases are a
more recent phenomenon that arose separately from adrenal neoplasia in
general.  While the cause may still be the same, this leads me to think
that perhaps there is something (or some things) more going on with the
early cases: an genetic input, too much light, etc.  Causes unknown, of
course, but having originated later I have to wonder if something more
is at play in the early-age cases.
 
The two largest differences we have here compared to some friends is that
we avoid fancies, especially ones with blazes or panda heads, having had
worse health experiences with them (though there is a line of marked
whites which may in the future interest me for which the breeder has
begun keeping health and longevity records), and we provide a lot of
true darkness.  We have had only one early-age case in 20 years (a fancy
during a hiatus between the times when we provided and now provide a lot
of true darkness -- but those could be coincidences or luck so treat as
anecdotal).
 
I wish that we could have a major hummocked play area for the ferrets
with much to climb on and dig, and an outer area they could access but
where we live that simply isn't do-able economically.  It's a future
dream which I can't see being anything but good for them, perhaps very,
very good for them.  The person I know who has the best longevity record
no matter what the source of the ferrets does this, and so far that and
that difference and the person changing water more often than once a day
seem to be the difference between us in terms of care.  I don't know if
I'm allowed to say names... May I?
 
>I am curious as to whether the same is true for ferrets as cats, that
>once a cat has gone into heat for the first time, she is TEN THOUSAND
>TIMES more like to develop mammary tumors and mammary cancer than if
>she is spayed before her first heat cycle.
 
I have read any stats but I have heard multiple vets say that there
are several types of hormonally related malignancies that are common
in breeders or in some lines of breeders but never or rarely seen in
neutered ferrets.  If memory serves, I think that mammary ones are in
that grouping.  It would pay to check.
 
One reality of life is that after certain ages multiple health problems
simply do become more common, and which types of problems a given
individual gets above ages largely reflects the lifestyle of the
individual though it can reflect other causes like genetic
predispositions.
 
Sukie (who is looking forward to seeing the up-coming new version of
Douglas Adam's Dr. Who "Shada"
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/tv_and_radio/2477373.stm
even though Sherman here has a Way-back machine instead of a Tardis,
and partly because Douglas Adams enjoyed pet ferret stories in his
last decade even though he rescued dogs instead of ferrets.)
[Posted in FML issue 3969]