>From:    Pamela Greene <[log in to unmask]>
>5.  Conclusion, if we accept or somehow prove all these assumptions:
>Shelters will see a higher rate of adrenal disease (and probably every
>other externally obvious disease as well) among ferrets from MF and
>low-quality breeders than they see in their other ferrets, even though
>(according to assumption 1) the rate in the general population is the
>same for both groups.
 
Her assumptions and conclusions make perfect sense.  If you seriously want
to determine whether MF ferrets are more likey to suffer from adrenal tumors
than ferrets from other sources you must have an unbiased sample -- and the
shelters cannot provide that.
 
I tutored psych stats for a semester in college -- but for some reason I
tend to panic before I think when it comes to my ferrets.
 
Melissa A. Durfee
[Posted in FML issue 1735]