I've always said that I would NOT get involved in the MF debate.  Let me
post the following quote from Dr. Susan A Brown, noted ferret DVM, published
in the May/June 1997 issue of The F.A.I.R Report.  She had just returned
form the UK where she was lecturing to vets and vet techs.
 
"The situation of working and pet ferrets ... is similar in other European
countries, and in Australia and New Zealand.  Only in the U.S. are ferrets
kept strictly as pets.  When people have an emotional attachment to an animal
and when they pay a fairly high price for the pet ($75 to $150 in the U.S.
as opposed to $5 to $10 elsewhere) they are more inclined to seek veterinary
attention when it is needed."
 
Dr. Brown later continues: "American ferrets have been much maligned by some
ferret owners and veterinarians in foreign countries as being 'inferior
because they have so many medical problems.  It has always been my
contention that the problems that we see in our ferrets DO exist in all the
domestic ferrets of the world (although the problems may exist in different
degrees), but that few people outside the U.S.  were looking as aggressively
for the diseases nor were they seeing the great numbers of ferrets in
practice as we do over here."
 
Brown continues: "Interestingly enough, I met some veterinarians in the
courses I was teaching who really enjoy ferrets and had developed a rather
large ferret owning cliental.  They reported to me that they see ALL the
same problems we have over here, including adrenal disease, insulinoma, skin
tumors, lymphoma and heart disease, to name a few."
 
And later she says; "At the same time I have been hearing with more
frequency from my veterinary colleagues in the Netherlands, New Zealand and
Australia that they are seeing the same problems as we do (cancers in
particular) now that they are actively looking for the disease."
 
It's been debated here that the majority of adrenal diseases have been due to
the early neutering and spaying done by Marshall Farms, and that ferrets
elsewhere are much healthier.
 
I think we need to consider ALL of the variabilities in the "samples" we
talk about before we jump to any conclusions.  This is a VERY complex
subject, with a great many factors both known and unknown.  Blaming one
source is not going to correct the situation until we really know just WHAT
the problem is.
 
 
Is it genetics, nutritional , climate, stress, lighting, early spay/neuter,
something inherent in the ferret make up, or something we just haven't
found?  I don't know, and don't pretend to know.
 
Dick B.
[Posted in FML issue 2105]