Hmmmmmm.  with this issue of the FML if it had been coming out once a
week from the start, and pretending that a year is exactly 52 weeks, the
FML would be 100 years old.  Instead of what?  18 years, 3 months, and
some days?  Is that guess right?  Have you been moderating for about
15 years now since Chris left, Bill?  When is your 15th anniversary?
Hmmm, if my calculations are right then the silver anniversary is in
fewer than 7 years.  I wonder if some pieces of 8 can be found by
anyone for Bill by then.  :-)  [Anniversary?  All depends how you
count... lots of ways to look at it.  BIG]
 
Well, I can't recall reading of the acquisition of a malignancy from
ingestion, though a few malignancy types appear to have trigger
infections (including indications for a clumping form of lympho in
ferrets which usually shows up 2 or 3 years after exposure as per an
old MIT study).
 
Malignancies are actually hundreds of types of individual diseases, not
one "cancer", nor is there one predisposing gene which increases the
rate of vulnerability, though there probably as a range of such genes
for a range of malignancy types.  There are some such as MEN (Multiple
Endocrinological Neoplasia) genetics which can affect the rate of several
types of malignancies.
 
Hope that helps.  The following will REALLY help the people who want this
topic clarified, so, here is something anyone here who wants to learn
what is and what is NOT cancer will want to read:
<http://listserv.cuny.edu/Scripts/wa.exe?A2=ind0401&L=FERRET-SEARCH&P=R12970>
(Jan 13, 2004, Posted in FML issue 4392)
 
Anyone can learn what tumor means and why the word by itself is not a
major scare, what is malignant, etc.
 
There are some serious infections the eaten mice can give ferrets at
times, and ones humans can get sometimes from handled rodents or from
rodent wastes.  Just as with infections and possible secondary diseases
from raw foods information on that can be found in FML and FHL archives,
and information on zoonotic diseases/zoonoses can be found with internet
searches, too.  (No reason to waste anyone's time including mine, with a
detailed repeat what has been recently discussed.)
 
BTW, some new info has come out on colon malignancies (mouse study)
related to meats cooked until they are charred.  There is also a genetic
vulnerability involved in such cases, a non-functional situation in this
case.
http://www.sciencenews.org/articles/20060401/food.asp
 
>The good news: A test exists that could identify individuals with
>such nonfunctioning genes, observes Stephanie Smith-Roe, who reported
>her team's findings at the Society of Toxicology meeting in San Diego
>earlier this month.  Moreover, the Oregon State University geneticist
>notes, there are several ways to cook meat that limit formation of
>these carcinogens=97something that would be especially wise for people
>lacking either of the two genes' activity.
 
(Also, genetic approaches to disease appear to have perhaps made great
headway with an injection to reduce cholesterol overproduction IF a
verbal report I heard yesterday pans out; I have to seek it out.  If what
I heard is accurate then techniques to tackle genetic vulnerabilities
made a big leap, but I do NOT know how accurate the report was and have
not yet sought confirmation, mostly due to lack of time.)
 
-- Sukie (not a vet, and not speaking for any of the below in my
private posts)
Recommended health resources to help ferrets and the people who love
them:
Ferret Health List
http://www.smartgroups.com/groups/ferrethealth
FHL Archives
http://ferrethealth.org/archive/
AFIP Ferret Pathology
http://www.afip.org/ferrets/index.html
Miamiferrets
http://www.miamiferret.org/fhc/
International Ferret Congress Critical References
http://www.ferretcongress.org
[Posted in FML issue 5200]