Hi, everyone,
 
I already posted about the medical ailments in our business.  Someone
today made a comment about the ones with most medical problems coming
from Marshall Farms.  Just as their evidence is anecdotal, ours is too.
(The sample is way too small).  However, our experience belies that
completely.  Until someone does a controlled, scientific study of ferret
health from different breeders, we'll never know.
 
The three perfectly healthy ones:
 
Kodo (age 7.5) - born in a lab
Tenchi (age 4) - MF
Adric (age 4) - MF
 
The ones who have had problems:
 
The late Ryo-Ohki (deceased at 3.5 after metastasis of adrenal
carcinomas) - MF
 
Pertwee - bilateral adrenal, unilateral polysystic disease, now probably
lymphosarcoma - Triple F
 
Nyssa - adrenal at age 3 - Animals Exotique
 
Ker Avon - aderenal at age 1.5 - MF
 
Podo - adrenal at age 7.5 - born in a lab
 
Romana - adrenal at age 3, now probable second adrenal tumor at age 3.5 -
Triple F
 
Lady Ayeka - mast cell tumor at age 2.5, insulinoma onset at age 3.5 - MF
 
To me, it looks like it doesn't matter where they are from.  Pertwee may
or may not live longer than Ryo-Ohki did depending on the progress of his
present problems.  Pertwee, though, certainly has had more medical
problems than any of my other ferts, and he's not a Marshall's.
 
Oh, and on the "bad ferret owner" thread: I discuss most ferret health
issues with my vet, who is very experienced and knowledgeable.  He has,
in his words, "a problem", with the idea that natural light cycles are a
major contributing factor to adrenal disease or any other ferret illness.
He believes it could be a minor factor, but his opinion is that the big
problems are a small gene pool at most breeders and early
spaying/neutering.  He looks at how big and (mostly) healthy Podo and Kodo
are at their age and attributes it, in part, to the fact that they were
not neutered until sexually mature.
 
Remember, these are domesticated animals, and they are companion animals,
like dogs and cats.  Their closest wild cousins (European polecats) have
a life expectancy of a whole year, mainly due to predation and the other
hazards of being in the wild.  When our ferrets live to be, on average, 7
to 9 years old, and those are mainly healthy years, they are doing much,
much better than they would be doing in truly "natural" conditions.
 
All the best,
Caity and the notorious nine
[Posted in FML issue 3747]