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]