What a treat having Tom Willard, whose doctorate is in veterinary
nutrition, give that info!  I learned a lot!
 
BTW, he mentioned genetics.  I have heard of two proposals to study the
possibility of a lack of MEN genetic component in ferrets.  The person
who mentioned the studies is hoping that at least one gets the funding.
In mammals this genetic suppressor genetics suppresses tumors of the
adrenals, pancreas, mast cells, and the onset of lymphoma/lymphosarcoma.
Sound like a familiar set?
 
We've all always known that these are complex questions.  For example, if
the experiences in multiple households are to be believed it is possible
to delay the age of onset of adrenal tumors by providing enough complete
darkness, especially of ferrets who have been spayed or altered, but they
still DO get them at a decent rate, just later and possibly by fewer.
 
20 and more years ago when we were in our early years with ferrets there
seemed to be very few reports of insulinoma or of adrenal growths.  They
still seemed to happen, and at times on reading old letters it is
possible to spot missed ones, with people often thinking age might cause
baldness or that some families may be prone to baldness as in humans, or
confusing insulinoma symptoms with a neurological incident as still
happens today.
 
Still, even given those cases, before there was so much representation
of "fancy" genetics spread around in the ferrets population, before
ferrets were bred year 'round, before so many night lights and equipment
lights there seemed to be fewer of these problems, even with the crummy
foods fed then.
 
For some of the fancy genetics this is no surprise.  The KIT oncogene
(KIT is the name of the gene, not the age of the animal.) does increase
the probability of malignancies, as do oncogenes as a group.
 
If there is also a more commonly missing suppressor gene, perhaps MEN,
that could be a part of the problem.
 
There could even be a double genetic whammy which would not have been
common in the past.
 
Never underestimate the impact of selective breeding for superficial
features like pelage or past championship.  That can really change
the proportion of representation ( the %) of a genetic allele in the
population, and the end result can be bad.
 
Of course, there might be things like diet and enough darkness which
become even more important in home care if we are more commonly dealing
with more vulnerable ferrets these days due to changes in the
population's genetics such as increasing the representation of any
oncogenes and decreasing the representation of any suppressor alleles.
[Posted in FML issue 4657]