I'm at least a week behind on the FMLs so bear with me....
 
To the discussion of adrenal disease I would like to add my observations
from 1200 ferrets through my shelter.
 
I see arriving at my shelter about a 10% adrenal rate.  I receive close to
150 ferrets a year, so this means I take in 15 ferrets with active adrenal
disease a year.  Of those, 90% are Marshall Farm ferrets (i.e. 13), 5% are
from back yard breeders (1) and 5% I can not trace their origin.  I also
receive at least one call per month from past adopters or people who got my
name from some place and want to know why their ferret is losing fur ontheir
backs or the vulvas are swollen.  I ask three questions:
 
1. Is your ferret between 3 & 4 years of age?
2. Does your ferret have two dots inthe right ear?
3. Does the skin look like raw chicken where there is no fur?  Or in the
   case of the spayed female, is the vulva swollen (with or without fur
   loss).
 
If they answer yes to these questions (and 90% of the time they do), then I
suggest they see a vet knowledgable about adrenals.
 
Now - all of my ferrets are kept under artificial lighting.  Once a month I
rotate a ferret to the "window" room to get his/her light cycle reset.  But
I do not have adrenal problems in my personal ferrets.  My ferrets are all
home growns without inbreeding or line breeding (with the exception of one
who was a gift from a person whos jill mated with one of her sons and he is
so inbred that he is missing two toes, has no control over his bowel
movements and looks as if he is now going blind - he is just over 4 years of
age.)
 
Light might have a small factor in adrenals, diet too may play a part, but I
truely believe that adrenals are caused by a recessive gene which when line
bred or worse, crops up with the following generations.  I'm now hearing of
MF ferrets who have adrenal problems at 2 years of age, so the problem is
getting worse, not better.
 
I discount early spay/neuter because I have never seen a Path Valley ferret
with adrenal problems, and they alter at 6 weeks of age like MF.
 
I've seen home grown, late alter ferrets with adrenals - but as I stated
before, they have repeating lineage (back yard breeders).
 
This is only my opinion, but I have presented this argument to several vets,
and it is either ignored or the tattoos and backgrounds of the ferrets are
not noted.  I think this is important information, and if enough "evidence"
were presented by the vets to the ferret farms, maybe the owners could get
healthier ferrets in the future.
 
Pam
[Posted in FML issue 1584]