>                                 the facts.
>In the media, garnered from this very Ferret Digest, accept the following:
>Greater than 140,000 ferrets are sold by retail pet stores in the USA
>annually, as cited by Alicia Drakiotes.
>                                     and . . .
>Pamela Troutman Grant, [log in to unmask], reports these interesting numbers:
>Since nobody has evidence to the contrary it is a mathematical certainty
>that the total number of pet store (read Marshall Farms) ferrets in the USA
>to have cancer is more than 126,000 (90 percent of >140,000 ferrets).
 
Hey wait:  "Since nobody has evidence to the contrary it is a mathematical
certainty..."  Whoa nelly!  I sense a "slight of the mind"... :)
 
>Locally, a very sincere and dedicated young woman at the University of
>Washington has started a compilation of reported adrenal disease in ferrets.
>Her name is Lynn McIntosh, [log in to unmask], and she has reported,
>as of Nov 27, '97, her list #58.
 
Dear Ed. I think you for your kind words.  It was a little unclear to me,
however, how this paragraph fit into your message.  Related to your post,
someone has written me for my "report", so I thought I'd best clarify.  I
run a small informational and supportive adrenal group list (working name is
Ferret Adrenal/Insulinoma Mailing List, FAIML).  We are on list #60.  In
#58, I suggested I drop from the welcoming list "Intro" I initially send ou
any mention of the "Biofile" list, because it had not been updated (not even
by me).  It is composed a sampling of short, informal histories (incomplete)
of some of the adrenal fuzzies who are or have been part of our group list.
In my initial rush of excitement when the list started I'd hoped the Biofile
would end up comprised of case studies, but not even I have updated my own
fuzzy's biofiles, so the Biofile is mainly short introductions about adrenal
fuzzies... anyway, from list to list, one could follow particular cases with
some legwork as I'm careful to try and put the names of fuzzies in list
posts.  Clear as mud?
 
In any case, there is no data collection and, at this point, no evaluation
of content.  Personally, while I'm glad people are pursuing the cause of
adrenal disease, I'm more directly interested in therapies to cure it, or
give a fuzzy long, good quality of life.  But, hey, for the record, I've got
a strong ear cocked toward one of my very favorite vets, Cathy
Johnson-Delaney, who has been listening with interest to vet Judith Bell's
ideas about the possible relationships of photoperiods in seasonal breeders
(fuzzies to be exact, and, in general, we've screwed around with their
seasons and their hormones pretty drastically) and adrenal disease - which
I'm not about to try and describe.  I sure would like to see something in
writing from Dr. Bell, but have heard there isn't as of yet.
 
Anyway, this got pretty long for a little clarification post...
 
Fuzzy Hugs to all,
 
Lynn Mc.
[Posted in FML issue 2142]