Q: "I have had great success with [homeopathic] remidies in adrenal
disease. Why did you ignore such a large body of evidence?"
A: I didn't. I use homeopathic treatments quite often; when I was on high
doses of chemicals, I used several teas and even aroma therapy to get past
the nausea. But very little is known about homeopathic treatments and how
they work in humans; next to nothing has been done on animals of any sort.
That isn't to mean they don't have value; they are useful if nothing more
than as a touch therapy, and I think I said that. What I said was there is
no proof of their ability to extend life or make any changes in the quality
of life in a sick ferret. If such proof exists, and is published in a
referred scientific journal, please let me know and I will pass it on with
my heartfelt apologies.
Q: "I am very interested in the role of diet in ferrets. Can you tell me
more?"
A: I've had so many requests to discuss this in the last weeks that I'm
compliling the references for a nice post on the subject, and will defer
until then.
Q: "OK, Bob. If you don't think it is genetics, then kindly explain why only
[MF] ferrets get adrenal disease. I think they accidentally bred it
into them."
A: I'm sorry if my explaination wasn't clear. My little survey, as well as
others, seem to indicate more actual numbers of MF ferrets get adrenal
disease, but when factored to the proportion of MF ferrets, the normalized
number drops. I don't know if my numbers are accurate because I don't know
how many MF ferrets are sold compared to other breeder's ferrets, and I
doubt if such information is possible to obtain. My best guess is the rates
are roughly equal. That would make the assumption that MF ferrets have a
special flaw rather difficult to support. Besides, if such a "flaw"
existed, and adrenal disease was purely a matter of genetics, then the
number of adrenal cases could be predictable in large populations, and thus
far they are not. While I do believe genetics is a very important factor in
the onset of adrenal disease, it simply cannot be the part of what is going
on because of the unpredictable nature of the disease.
Now, assuming adrenal disease is only a genetic problem, then it should
follow some pattern of heritability, which it does not except in the most
broad sense. You can say something like 5-10% of ferrets will get adrenal
disease in their lifetime, but you can't say who will get the disease. This
"random" selection is not actually random; those with the disease must have
some sort of shared characteristic(s) which promote the onset, like smoking
and lung cancer, and since it is beyond the genetic level, it must be at the
environmental level. Because there are so many possible causes, until each
one is ruled out, you cannot define a cause-effect relationship. That is
why it is so complex an issue, and also why so few treatments seem to work.
For example, assume diet is the trigger. You have a ferret with diseased
adrenal glands and you start what promises to be a good therapy. However,
during the "cure," the ferret continues with the same diet that caused the
disease. What are the chances the cure will work? See the complexity now?
Infinate causes and finite effect.
Q: "Do you really think ferrets in Britain are kept differently than in
the USA?"
A: Borrow a copy of James McKay's video "Keeping Ferrets." You will not
only see some of the fluffiest, largest, most well-behaved ferrets you have
ever seen, but you will discover they are housed, fed and treated quite
differntly make the typical ferret in the Americas. Of course, his ferrets
seem to be complete with anal sacs and gonads, so some of what you are
seeing is due to hormones. However, nothing McKay has to say is any
different than can be found in W. Carnegie's books from the 1910-20s or
Ernest's book from the 1890s. They are virtually the same, with a few
differences due to technology changes.
There are more questions which I will answer in the next day's post.
Bob C and 20 MO Rasslin' Weasels
[Posted in FML issue 2235]
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