This has been my experience so far with Waardenburg ferrets:
These ferrets lived together in a group with 4 other non-Waardenburg
ferrets.  One had died in 1998.  There were 7 left in the group.  In early
March 2000 the oldest passed away.  It seemed to start a chain reaction.
 
Trent,male, deaf,black roan (silver) panda, turned DEW with ringed tail.
neutered at 7 mos.  private breeder, No health problems, did not get ece
despite being exposed.  Sudden onset of lethargy, difficulty breathing.
Diagnosed with cardiomyopathy.  died age 5yrs. March 2000.
 
Elf,male, early neuter, pet store.  Blue eyed white, deaf.  Origin CDC,
Manitoba Canada.  Had blue M tattooed in ear.
 
As a kit he had kennel cough.  Had ece at the age of 2 yrs.  Was diagnosed
with adrenal disease at age 4yrs had the right adrenal debulked and a
lesion taken off the pancreas.  As per Dr. Williams:typical of leison found
with helicobacter.  no insulinoma.  He also had a recurrent growth on one
toe that would split and bleed.  Despite rt adrenal debulking, never regrew
coat 1 yr post op.  Went on Lupron injections for 1 yr. and did well.After
the death of two cage mates, became very depressed.  An abdominal mass was
discovered.  The right adrenal had grown back, it was huge and had spread
to the vena cava and liver.  I took him to Dr. Weiss this time.  Dr. Weiss
did cryosurgery.  All went well.  He recovered, got up walked around, went
to the litter box and died a few hours later.  Biopsy showed tumor was one
that is rare in ferrets.  A pheochromocytoma, an adrenal tumor that
secretes epinephrine.  He could have gone at any time from heart failure
with or without the surgery.  He was 6yrs. old when he died in April 2000.
 
Jillie, female, early neuter,deaf, pet store, origin unknown (the pet store
would not disclose the information.) Started out as black roan (silver)
panda, turned DEW with ringed tail.  Perfectly healthy.  Did not get ece
despite being exposed.  After the death of three cage mates, she started
to lose weight.  An abdominal mass was discovered.  Dr. Weiss removed her
spleen, and told me that he believed she had lympho.  The biopsy came back
negative.  However, he was 100% correct.  She did well for two weeks and
then declined severely.  An exlploratory was done at our hospital and I
opted not to let her wake up.  There was nothing inside of her that did
not have a spot on it.  She was 6 yrs old when she died May 2000.
 
Unfortunately, I have both friends and clients at the hospital that have
had similar experiences.  Lympho seems to be the most common diagnosis.
 
Pat Stauffer
Weasels
http://pages.prodigy.net/staufferp/
 
[P.S.] OOPS I forgot something:
Jillie also had degenerative retinopathy.  She started to lose her vision
at age 4 and was completely blind by age 5.5yrs.
 
Pat Stauffer
Weasels
http://pages.prodigy.net/staufferp/
[Posted in FML issue 3121]