Remember that there are others who have encountered such growths on all sorts of diets, Shel. Of course, that doesn't say what the rates are, and that is essential to know, but is not known for any of the populations, whether they are divided by different aspects of husbandry, by types of markings (genetics), location, or whatever. No one has ever worked out rates of insulinoma. They do seem to vary widely among households, though, as do rates of adrenal growths. Also, remember that there are many variables. Your ferrets are in more of a natural light setting with plenty of darkness available, as i recall, and you are also fortunate enough to be able to provide them with a large and exciting setting which allows a huge amount of exercise. High levels of exercise have been associated with lowered tumor rates of a wide range of types in many mammals. If there were one thing I could have the luxury of changing about how we keep ours it would be to have a large set-up for them to get tons of exercise in, but housing costs through the nose where we are, so that isn't an option we have. When discussing life spans with some friends who normally get long lives of 10 years or more, but who have otherwise tried a range of diets and so on, the biggest difference in husbandry has been that they were in locations where it was possible to provide large and challenging environments (instead of small with as much challenge introduced as space allows). On a different topic: I recall several years ago that a pocket in Australia was reported with adrenal growths suddenly appearing. Wasn't a vet in the area approached to see if the viral trigger hypothesis might have any foundation? What happened with that? Was it ever looked at? Matt, it really sounds like that ferret was allowed to be too active after surgery. That can cause internal injury sometimes, even deaths have happened. It pays to keep the ferrets quiet for at least a week, preferably 10 days to 2 weeks. In the case of one of ours the behavioral controls to prevent heavy exercise or climbing didn't work and we actually had to provide Torb for a while after he injured himself internally to give him time to heal. It would also pay to look at the electrolytes. If both adrenals came out, or if one remaining was atrophied the ferret may be Addisonian. In that case the vet needs to IMMEDIATELY provide Fludrocort/Florinef and a steroid (usually Prednisolone), or a Percorten injection and the steroid. You will find detailed information on Addisons in the Archives of the FML and FHL. Another consideration is that the ferret's blood sugar should be tested; redness of the feet has been seen with insulinoma sometimes. (If it looks to be dermal to the vet then a scraping should be sent for pathology.) What were the results of the pathology done on the adrenal? -- Sukie (not a vet) Ferret Health List co-moderator http://www.smartgroups.com/groups/ferrethealth FHL Archives fan http://ferrethealth.org/archive/ replacing http://fhl.sonic-weasel.org International Ferret Congress advisor http://www.ferretcongress.org [Posted in FML issue 5188]