Re: MF or not: with no tat she will be either a Path Valley or from
some unknown source.  Chances are the place of purchase buys from a
distributor who mixed the ferret kits then handed out warrantees without
any matching up.  That actually is a bad health practice.  If one group
comes with an illness it can infect other groups.  It's also a technique
which has been used in the past by some stores and some distributors to
sell ferrets from sources which are worse than the farms are.  There may
be no way easy for you to know if she has been spayed so watch for signs
of heat such as a swollen vulva.  You can find info on spaying by looking
in the archives of both the FML and FHL and the critical references of
the IFC
http://listserv.cuny.edu/archives/ferret-search.html
http://fhl.sonic-weasel.org http://www.ferretcongress.org
 
The farms ALL neuter at around 4 to 6 weeks of age usually unless a kit
is very small or ill.  Which week depends on health and size.
---
 
Ashling had a sudden onset of bilateral adrenal hyperplasia when she
had just turned three.  (She literally had her entire sacral area go bald
in about one week and then the bald area in the next.) In her case she
thrived on Florinef and a low dose of Prednisone, but the dosing did have
to be adjusted for considerations like weight, activity level, and the
stress of later illness.  When she passed away of carcinoma about 6
weeks shy of 7 years of age her replacement therapy was still working
beautifully for her.  It's something where the right combo for a given
ferret needs to be discovered and then adjustments are needed at times
so monitoring is important.  Ashling was still carrying a remote control
which weighed 1/4 of her weight up 8 feet to the top of our bedroom
closet (by climbing clothing and shelving) until she was around 6 and
still having to lean into her truns when she ran becasue she moved so
fast, then almost until she had her first collapse with her carcinoma she
was still stashing it 4' up in the closet regularly.  (If memory serves
she stashed it there few times after her illness, too, but not many.)
---
 
There are no cure-alls and anything which claims to be one or claims heal
for widely different conditions deserves to be looked at with suspicion.
 
There also is not even a consistent nutritional approach to malignancies
in general.  With some the people need a lot of nutrition, with some a
form of starvation works best to slow the disease, with some certain
nutrients need to be increased or decreased.  For instance, with
radiation for some forms of breast cancer it is important to take the
intake of Vitamin C down to very low levels because some of those tumors
use that vitamin and the upshot is that it shields them from the
radiation.
 
--Sukie (not a vet)
[Posted in FML issue 4391]