Tony wrote:
>In my opinion ferrets that do not get a regular amount of complete
>darkness and ferrets that are altered do get adrenal disease which I
>have not seen in intact ferrets and where ferrets are kept in naturale
>light, I have put this theory forward on several occasions and have
>just been laughed down by so called experts
 
I don't know why anyone would laugh you down for that.  Perhaps people
did not follow and needed more steps explained?  The LH aspect is an
elegant solution with more and more studies supporting it over the years.
 
Yet I do understand that you have been laughed down over it.  When I
first posted to the FML ages ago about the early human epidemiological
studies on reduced rates of multiple hormonal malignancies in those
who have forms of blindness that prevent light exposure from reducing
melatonin output, I had folks here telling me that I was bonkers, both
publicly and privately, for wondering it that might play into adrenal
disease.  One of them stopped when I supplied him with some journal
articles he could look up.  At that point I was not aware of the LH
aspect, nor of the FSH aspect (with the same triggers) which is due
further research, but as time went on I learned, just as we all do.
(Learning from hard data enriches and sometimes alters opinions.  That
is what data are for -- to know rather than guess.  Getting answers with
hard data behind them is always cool, whether those answers agree with
any person's prior stance or not, because hard answers save ferrets.)
Nor were you and I alone.  Dr. Judi Bell wanted to do a study quite some
time ago into melatonin production reduction and early neutering as a
potentially potent combination adrenal growth trigger, but the grant
organization she approached was unable to follow the argument at that
early stage in the knowledge.  Now it looks like she has been vindicated.
 
One important note: this differs from there being pituitary disease as
the cause; that gland is just caught in a situation where nothing can
supply the hormonal feedback to tell it to shut up when the gonads are
gone, or when the gonads fail to function in that regard.
 
People who want to can follow many notes about the series of work over
the years into parts of this in the FML and FHL archives.
 
It has been pointed out that prevention data is still under investigation
by some researchers -- degrees of rigor discussion -- an interesting
topic, and I am honored to be in a private conversation which *MIGHT*
result in further posting, either carried by me or sent by one or two
researchers.  (I don't know how that conversation will evolve because
that is not my choice for obvious reasons since I am learning here, too.)
 
As a cause of adrenal growths the persistent over production of LH is
downright elegant.  It is the sort of thing that makes a person step
back and go, "Woooooooooooooowwwwwww!".
 
 
-- Sukie (not a vet, and not speaking for any of the below in my
private posts)
Recommended health resources to help ferrets and the people who love
them:
Ferret Health List
http://www.smartgroups.com/groups/ferrethealth
FHL Archives
http://ferrethealth.org/archive/
AFIP Ferret Pathology
http://www.afip.org/ferrets/index.html
Miamiferrets
http://www.miamiferret.org/fhc/
International Ferret Congress Critical References
http://www.ferretcongress.org
[Posted in FML issue 5215]