You ask if ferrets who are neutered at 6 months of age are less likely to
develop adrenal disease.  That is the hypothesis a number of people have
been going by but there is no hard evidence that it is a valid hypothesis
as far as I've been able to find out: six months simply may not make any
difference.  There are stories from both sides of the aisle about it but
that is it.  The one study that hinted that there MIGHT be connections
between age of adrenal onset and age at neutering was designed to study
something else (so the sampling and design were far from optimal for
answering the age question, and the deviation was huge -- far greater
than 6 months -- I haven't read it in a while so you'd have to read it
and run the math or find old discussions but I think the deviation going
from the charts may have been around or even more than a year) so it is
nothing more than a tantalizing hint that it might make an interesting
study but if the hypothesis will hold water after study is not known.
Basically, then the answer to your question is that as far as I know no
one knows if waiting for 6 months of age actually makes any difference;
it might but it might not.
 
We provide a lot of true darkness (not just dimness) because part of the
hormonal changes hypotheses out there involves melatonin production and
the body naturally produces melatonin on its own if it has enough
uninterrupted hours of true darkness.  In the day that have truly dark
places they can go to sleep: like in bedding in a closet at the far side
away from the open door, in bedding under our platform bed, etc.  At
night they go in the cage with bedding and we cover it because there are
electrical strips with little lights on them.  I've made black curtains
for the room.  If the cage had a different structure then sleep boxes in
the cage with bedding it them would be an alternative to the cage cover
and black drapes.
 
One alternative hormonal hypothesis that we are curious about is the
"hormonal reset" idea which is currently under study, I think by Dr.
Delaney-Johnson if my memory serves (I'm not very good with names or
spellings and wish I were.).  It involves having a very low level
injection of Lupron in the Spring as a possible preventative.
 
I think that Dr. Murray is studying the use of melatonin and of Lupron as
preventatives when one adrenal tumor has already existed to see if either
one or the combination may help in reducing the risk of a second one.
 
*IF* memory serves it is thought that about 1/3 of ferrets in the U.S.
wind up with adrenal growths -- most after the age of 5 years -- and that
about 15% of those ferrets who get adrenal tumors wind up with second
ones; which places us below average for each in our household but that
could be nothing more than coincidence, ditto possible coincidence for
our here having had only two adrenal growths which were malignant in 21
years with ferrets -- most adrenal growths aren't malignant, of course,
though they still need surgery due to their terrible results, but we have
had a very low rate of adrenal based malignancies and one of the two was
completely cured by surgery.  (Most but not all of the ferrets in our
family have been early neuters.)
 
For more info I suggest both the FML and FHL Archives:
FML:  http://listserv.cuny.edu/archives/ferret-search.html
FHL:  [log in to unmask]" target="_blank">http:[log in to unmask]
 
BTW, Steve and I agree that Hanan Caine is incredible.  He was our vet
till he moved to NYC.  People in Massachusetts are lucky enough to have
the Caine family now.  We have never encountered a better surgeon and
he is just plain a really nice guy.
[Posted in FML issue 4227]