[Parts A and B combined since it was all like one post anyhow.  BIG]
 
Q: "When I first saw your series [on enrichment] I thought oh no not
another long winded series that no one would ever read completely
through...then I heard you at the symposium and you talk just like you
write!  You made me stop and listen...and duck flying objects.  I went
home and reread the posts and I am now looking at ferrets in a whole
new way.  Could you give some more enrichments?"
 
A: My best shot recoiled off the ceiling, hit the chandelier, and bounced
off a very sweet person's head.  I can't play pool worth a darn, but I'm
deadly "accurate" when tossing those whiffle golf balls.
 
I had already planned to follow this series with a smorgasbord of
enrichment ideas, but thanks for asking and giving me the excuse (I will
do so in a couple of days).  I've answered dozens and dozens of questions
off the FML, at the symposium and Buckeye Bash, and can't recall some of
the ones asked prior to the loss of my hard drive.  Some I never had a
chance to read; if they had the word "enrichment" in the subject line, I
just saved them to my hard drive to read later during the question period
and are now lost.  Also, due to a death in my family, I might have missed
or forgotten a question.  In short, if you think I missed your email or
question, PLEASE let me know.  I encourage anyone to write directly to me
and I'll either answer off-list, or put it in a Q&A of its own.
 
The concept of enrichment is really a modern one.  While environmental
enrichment--as a concept and practice--can be traced back centuries, such
occurrences were infrequent, not generally accepted, and had little or no
impact on animal care as a whole.  The modern concept of environmental
enrichment can be traced to several major influences including animal
welfare proponents (mostly in response to laboratory experimentation and
animal display at zoological gardens), endangered species breeding
programs, a paradigm change in zoological gardens, and modern psychology
(generally the pursuit of animal models to explain human problems).  The
last decade in particular has seen an explosion in scientific reports on
environmental enrichment, with zoos leading the way in an effort to
minimize stereotypic behaviors, maximize behavioral diversity, increase
breeding success, prolong life, and create a better experience for the
public in viewing and understanding the animals on display.  Neck and
neck in advances in environmental enrichment with zoos are medical
scientists intent on learning more about the brain, who have discovered
a wide range of effects, including enrichment influences on mental
abilities, immunity, longevity, and even brain structure.  These
discoveries have a WIDE range of implications; for example, environmental
enrichment has been shown to influence the immune system, so should the
studies done on animals kept in spartan, boring cages be considered
valid?  In another example, it has long been thought domestication
decreases the intelligence of animals, however, in light of enrichment
studies, the question is begged, "Does the process of domestication
actually reduce animal intelligence, or is the apparent reduced
intelligence simply a result of a lack of environmental enrichment?"
As I said, the implications are challenging.
 
Not all environmental enrichment issues are theoretical; some have a
direct bearing on important ferret issues.  For example, one of the
greatest unanswered questions in modern ferret practices is the impact
of early separation of kits from their maternal jills.  A recent paper
not only suggests early separation HAS a marked negative influence,
BUT it also suggests an enriched environment can reverse many of the
negative aspects.  Here is a short clipping from the paper:
 
"Postnatal maternal separation increases hypothalamic
corticotropin-releasing factor (CRF) gene expression and
hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) and behavioral responses to stress.
We report here that environmental enrichment during the peripubertal
period completely reverses the effects of maternal separation on both
HPA and behavioral responses to stress, with no effect on CRF mRNA
expression.  We conclude that environmental enrichment leads to a
functional reversal of the effects of maternal separation through
compensation for, rather than reversal of, the neural effects of early
life adversity."
 
Also: "...Prolonged periods of maternal separation (MS) in early life
increase the magnitude of neuroendocrine and fear responses to stress
and thus vulnerability for stress-related illness.  Under stable living
conditions, these effects endure over the lifespan, suggesting a certain
degree of permanence." (Francis et al 2002).
 
There are at least four important implications here.  First, EARLY
maternal separation can result in profound changes in the hormone system
responsible for stress and fear; the same one, incidentally, impacted so
negatively by adrenal disease.  Second, the idea that stress and fear can
cause profound physical disease is supported by the study.  Third, the
changes caused by early maternal separation can last the lifetime of the
ferret, so even if a ferret is placed in a good home, they are "damaged
goods" so to speak, and already prone to disease.  Finally, even if the
ferret has been traumatized by early maternal separation, many--or
all--of the problems can be "neutralized" by an aggressive program of
environmental enrichment during the period of juvenile development.
 
There is another, less obvious implication here, and it relates to
the problem of allowing anecdotal evidence to influence not only the
perception of problems, but also the interpretation of data gleaned from
such sources.  For example, the internet is ripe with stories of shelters
full of Marshall Farms ferrets suffering from adrenal disease.  Some
prominent ferret vets have suggested--often in print in popular ferret
publications--that genetic inbreeding is the cause.  I have been unable
to accept such suggestions because while many aspects of Marshall Farms
ferret breeding are abhorrent to me, their breeding practices suggest
they breed for genetic diversity, the numbers of animals bred are
historically large, and ferrets from other breeders (hobby and ranch)
have the disease, and adrenal disease is reported in other countries,
usually noticed once the vets in that region have been educated to the
symptoms.  I have never been sure if the problem was due to early
neutering, messed up photoperiodism, early maternal stress, overcrowding,
cage stress, or some combination of triggering factors, but one thing I
felt pretty comfortable about excluding was genetic inbreeding.
Scientists and vets are people like everyone else and the love of ferrets
coupled with a lack of concrete data backed by serious statistical
analysis can lead ANYONE down the road of conjectural mistakes based on
anecdotal evidence.  The real danger is that while Marshall Farms ferrets
may have a high incidence of adrenal disease (possible, but unproved in
my opinion) that rate MAY be caused by ANY number or combination of
factors, and breeding may NOT be to blame.  However, by assigning blame
to any one practice--such as breeding--we may divert attention to such a
degree that the problem is never accurately addressed and a real solution
is delayed.  And from the point of view of a large ranch breeder who has
taken an introductory course in population genetics, the numbers of
ferrets being breed, especially in the light of most of them being
"culled" (neutered and sold), makes the remark that inbreeding is the
cause of adrenal disease a suggestion easily ignored.  Imagine the same
breeder, shown scientifically collected and statistically supported data
that a combination of early neutering, early maternal separation,
overcrowding, and cage stress is the problem driving adrenal disease;
not so easy to discount.  While anecdotal evidence can be used to bring
attention to a problem, it must always be remembered that it is NOT
really evidence, just stories.
 
I could fill a month of FMLs with snips from papers that have shown
a positive correlation with various environmental enrichments to a
multitude of positive benefits, including decreased stress and
stress-related disease, increased intelligence, augmented longevity,
diminished stereotypic behaviors, and conserved diversity of natural
behaviors.  What is being discovered is the nearly universal need for
enrichment by captive big-brained vertebrates of ALL types, including
the ferret.
 
I CANNOT emphasize enough the need of enrichment for ferrets.  Ferret
husbandry dates back thousands of years, but modern pet husbandry is just
a few decades old.  Nonetheless, in that short period of time we have
shifted from housing small groups (litter-sized and smaller) to large
groups (some private individuals have 60+, and shelters can house as many
as 100 at a single facility), changed from a high protein and fat diet
to one high in carbohydrates, moved ferrets indoors changing their
photoperiod from seasonal to "prolonged summer", substituted hammocks for
nesting boxes, altered from no-neutering to early-neutering, and started
breeding programs for fancy colors and patterns.  THEN we get on the FML
and complain about the high numbers of diseases (and associated costs).
I am more and more convinced the numbers of problems seen in ferrets are
more related to environment (husbandry), and less related to genetics (as
in "inbreeding"; there may be species-wide genetic predispositions to
certain problems).  For example, I suspect the major factor causing
insulinoma is diet, plain and simple.  Likewise, I think adrenal
disease is a husbandry problem, being influenced (or triggered) by
early neutering, cage stress, photoperiod changes, and early maternal
separation.
 
Many of these problems have no real solution within the ferret population
as a whole.  For example, economics drives the way some shelters are
forced to house ferrets (as many as possible in as small an area as
possible).  It is likewise impossible to entertain any expectation that
ferrets will be kept out of cages.  The only real solution is to initiate
an extensive enrichment program to reduce stress as much as possible,
increase mental and physical stimulation, and to increase owner-ferret
bonding.  It is not a perfect solution, it may not even have a direct
influence on rates of specific diseases, but it is better than nothing
and it can't hurt.
 
Bob C
[Posted in FML issue 4300]