>My next question is after reading up on adrenal in Ferrets for Dummies,
>I am interested in getting a full spectrum light for my ferrets.  What
>recommendations do people have for full spectrum lights as far as
>brands, types of lights, spectrum requirements, and where to get the
>ones you recommend?  Then once I have the light what are the lighting
>recommendations - hours of light and darkness per day?
 
There is NO proof that these lights are useful; in fact there is an
alternative hypothesis that what may be more useful is more true
darkness, and the second hypothesis has more data behind it (much, much
more but nothing ferret-specific).  Both still are only hypotheses,
though, so one may pan out, another may not, some combination may pan
out, or they may both fail.  We are not personally seeing a difference in
single adrenal growths with more true darkness but we have stopped having
adrenal malignancies, and double adrenal growths after being careful
about this.  Those are anecdotal observations, though, so they may be
indicators worth real inquiry by careful study or they may be
meaningless.  It is always tempting to think that a correlation may mean
something and sometimes they do, but sometimes they certainly don't.
 
BTW, the body produces melatonin on it's own in true darkness.
 
Adrenal neoplasia is common enough that periodically other things that
aren't rare happen about the same time.
 
>My final question is: I know that adrenal disease is very common in
>ferrets however it is heart breaking to hear the news and I am wondering
>if there are any recommendations for possibly preventing it showing up
>in my other two ferrets?
 
Go to the FHL Archives and look for posts from vet, Dr. Jerry Murray, on
the research he is involved in on this topic with researchers at TX A&M.
http://fhl.sonic-weasel.org/
is the FHL Archives address.
[Posted in FML issue 3946]