It's still early in the game to ask about adrenal disease regarding DMK
rescues, but I'm nicely surprised by the private and public responses
to different forums to my question. And as you've seen here...
comparatively, the rates are very low from those reporting in as I
guessed they would be. This supports previous theories about adrenal
onset being about 3 years after neutering regardless of the age of a
ferret.

There are four (possibly five) main factors that made those ferrets
different than pet store ferrets and well privately bred ferrets:
Food
Outdoor exposure to excessive uv lighting
Genetics (supposedly not good by the time the rescue occurred)
Only the fittest surviving
Late altering

The food wasn't the best. Unless the UV lighting is beneficial, the
constant light they received was not good. .Although those who give
their ferrets outdoor access as much as they want will dispute that,
being that they seem to have low rates of adrenal). Breeding practices
had supposedly went down the drain. So I figure the most likely factors
to have made a difference here regarding adrenal disease would be late
altering, the survival of the fittest factor, and heck "maybe" even
outdoor living (exposure to uv lighting and fresh air).

It seems that yes, teeth have been a main issue we've all had to
contend with. Another seems to be poor genetics in that odd serious
health issues have sprung up leading to early death (such as kidney
issues). I've noticed that the bigger, shorter legged, black sables
have been dying young. Funny ... he had a population of runty ill
looking albino females and so far, I personally hadn't heard of a big
influx of problems with them. Well other than they are smart and lively
as the dickens! I don't know what is going on with insulinoma or other
issues. I didnt' ask because usually insulinoma arises because of diet,
supposedly. Cancer can arise because of poor genetics. So, I was
thinking the most obvious thing to look at was adrenal disease.

Just Wolfy kicking around some ideas

[Posted in FML 7131]