Sukie wrote:
>In research into age of onset a difference in a few months does not
>change the rate or timing of onset.  A difference of a year can matter,
>but given that about half of females die of aplastic anemia if they are
>not sterilized and go into heat, and that there is the risk to males in
>heat of being dumped, sterilizing the ferrets is actually much safer.
>There is at this point no reason to consider a difference of a few
>weeks or even a few months to matter in regard to adrenal disease.
>The research just doesn't back up differences with timeframes that are
>within 6 months of each other.
 
Did this study look into rates of adrenal disease occurrence in ferrets
of different ages of sterilization or simply the date of onset of the
disease?  I seem to remember this particular study looking at age of
onset in ferrets who actually had the disease and not dealing with
ferrets who did not have adrenal issues.  Unless it looked at rates of
occurrence, it doesn't seem entirely relevant to the discussion that has
been going on.  Can you provide the reference for us so that we can read
about this study?
 
Thanks!
[Posted in FML issue 4666]