Lisette mentioned a study on ferrets and adrenal disease, done in Europe.
My vet gave me a copy of the article today. It was done at the Division
of Avian and Exotic Animal Medicine, Department of Clinical Sciences of
Companion Animals, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Utrecht University. It
was just published in the Journal of the American Veterinary Medical
Association, Vol. 216, No. 2, January 15, 2000.
The article is titled "Correlation between age at neutering and age at
onset of hyperadrenocorticism in ferrets", by Nico J. Shoemaker, DVM,
DAVBP, Marielle Schuurmans, DVM, Hanneke Moorman, DVM, and J. (Sjeng) T.
Lumeij, DVM, PhD, DABVP.
The stated objective was to determine prevalence of hyperadrenocorticism in
ferrets in The Netherlands and evaluate age, sex, and age at neutering in
affected ferrets. They did a prevalence survey and a retrospective study.
The retrospective study was done by examining the records of 50 ferrets
that had been diagnosed with disease. The prevalence survey was done by
sending out a questionnaire to 1400 members of a Dutch ferret foundation
asking information on age, sex, age at neutering and whether members owned
or had ever owned a ferret with hyperadrenocorticism. They received
responses from 35% of the members, providing usable data on 1274 ferrets,
of which 7 developed disease (confirmed by histologic examination after
surgery) during the survey period (April, May and June 1997), hence the
prevalence figure of 0.55% (7 additional ferrets developed symptoms of
disease, but owners would not allow further studies to confirm).
Results showed (besides the prevalence already mentioned) that gender was
not associated with prevalence of disease and that the median time interval
between neutering and age at diagnosis was 3.5 years (mean 3.5 +/- 1.8
years, range 0.5 to 8 years). They saw a linear correlation between age at
neutering and age at time of diagnosis that was statistically significant.
Their conclusion is that earlier neutering correlates with earlier disease
onset, while neutering later in life correlates with later disease onset.
Other notes: Of the ferrets in the survey study, 1187 had been neutered.
Median age of the population was 3 years. Median age of neutered ferrets
was 3 years. Median age of intact ferrets was 1 year. Most of the
neutered ferrets had been neutered between 0.5 and 1.5 years; median age at
time of neutering was 1 year (range 0.5 to 6 years).
For the 50 ferrets in the retrospective study (all of which were neutered),
median age at time of neutering was 1 year (range 0.5 to 6 years). Median
age at time of diagnosis was 5 years (mean, 5.1+/- 1.9 years; range 1 to 10
years).
Karen
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"The snake is an animal. It has a backbone and heart. It has red blood and
drinks water and eats food. It breathes air and feels fear, just like every
other animal in the world. And it's in a body that is the hardest thing for
the average person to understand."
-- Dave Barker, herpetologist
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If you love ferrets, check out:
http://www.dartmouth.edu/~crassi/index.html
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[Posted in FML issue 2942]
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