Fred,
I found the phrase "Australia had been doing early altering for decades and
had just recently found a few adrenal cases" to be a little intriguing.
 
Depends on what is meant by early altering, I suppose.  Because there are
no "ferret mills" in Oz, ferrets are mainly neutered when they are about 6
months old.  i.e. For the male, when the testicles have descended, and for
the female, before her first season, but if she surprises you, no big deal.
She can be brought out of season by a vasectomised hob and have her op
later.  Here in Western Australia, until last year, we preferred that
females not undergo altering at all, unless there was a medical or
geographical (e.g. rural ferret owners with no access to vas. hob) reason
for doing so.  When it was found that quite a few of the older females were
developing ovarian tumours, we changed our tune somewhat, and recommend
neutering at 6 months if not to be bred from.
 
So I guess that you can't really say that we do very early alters.
 
Love & Dooks (and a big G'day to Sam)
Shirley
WAFFS
[Posted in FML issue 3103]