>There have been a number of posts recently expressing the opinion that
>American ferrets are genetically inferior to others, and whether our
>feeding of them is inferior, because they have more medical problems,
>and more vet visits.  I can't argue with either statement - American
>ferrets (many of whom come from a few larger breeders) *may* be
>inferior genetically, and natural feeding *may* be healthier for
>ferrets, however...
 
The fact is that there isn't hard data, just suppositions.
 
I recall discussing this with a friend in Britain once who told me that
in some British locations there has never been vet care provided and when
the person took pity on some ferrets from such a location because the
ferrets were typically dying young my friend found with great pain that
even with a lot of vet care that line was very short lived.
 
Remember, too, that some vets in Europe are now saying that they are
seeing the same problems as here and wondering which past ferrets may
have had those but not had the medical problems looked for rather than
called "American problems".  Remember that that when people decided to
look for adrenal disease in the Netherlands they found adrenal disease.
 
That happens here, too.  I think that it seems like vets in Britain and
parts of Scandinavia look for ADV more than vets here to, though the vets
here also should be that careful.  With ADV if a person doesn't test then
the person doesn't know.  It can seem to be other problems.  (Which
reminds me that when we get power back today and are linked again I will
need to ask an FHL member if her ferret was tested for ADV.  They are
still digging up sections and replacing cable so we have been on and off
for weeks but today the power is down, too, so I am off the grid and
typing on battery power.)
 
Also, think of the people who imported ferrets because they were told
that certain medical problems didn't occur.  Then, what do you know?
The same problems happened.
 
Some of the problems certainly relate to husbandry, and I believe that
some will involve genetics (and I feel strongly about that), and some
may even reflect things like light pollution.  For example, it would
be interesting to see if Western European ferrets kept outdoors might
have more adrenal problems than Australian ones kept under the same
conditions.  If you look at satellite measurements the light pollution
even in large parts of Australian cities is much less than that of a
number of suburban or even somewhat-country areas elsewhere.
Scotobiology -- which looks at the botanical and biological damage
caused by light pollution -- is an emerging field in ecology.
 
Basically, there are speculations galore but actual data are really
lacking for many assertions.  There is nothing quite like actual data.
 
BTW, most of our ferrets have been early neutered ones from the large
farms, though not all have had those origins.  Some have been rescued
ferrets found in terrible condition or turned in after abuse.  Some were
given to us because of having serious deformations.  Most of our ferrets
have lived to be late in their 7th years to the middle of their 8th
years, but we have obviously had ones who died earlier or later.  The
three earliest ones we have lost were all kits.  One had Juvenile
Lymphoma, one had DIM, and one is thought (after the fact since this was
some time ago) to possibly have had intestinal avian mycobacteria (TB)
because her health was already compromised (She was probably originally
from fur farm stock -- which 3 of our early ones either were definitely
from or probably from.
 
Okay, for the second time in about a week we had some excitement.  Again
we were lucky.  We are in a small condo and a neighbor's furnace repair
person started a fire in our building.  I collected the ferrets (Hilbert
came immediately and put himself in my hands but I had to pull Whizbang,
Morney, and Hubble from under furniture ferret meds and then Telemna came
out once the others were out, our meds and their meds, our ID, accounts
books and recent statements, ferret food, jewelry, and the two portable
computers we have here.  All loose stuff went into two large pillowcases.
Then the ferrets, the items and I sat on the stoop and waited.  That is
where Steve found us as the fire dept. was finishing up.
 
A week ago we had a problem when our furnace went out but kept trying
to heat our house at the same time that the complex had the landscapers
working on the hill with tillers.  I have asthma and out home filled
with diesel exhaust.  Hilbert is trustworthy and was out.  He woke me.
By the time Steve got back from a walk we were all in the front room
with a big fan going and the sliding glass door open, the exhaust fans
were working, the hepa filters were one, and we were mostly aired out.
 
Arrgghhh!  Thank goodness for Hilbert.  May you and yours also be safe
(and know beforehand how to quickly gather things in an emergency).
 
-- 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 5220]