>I know that in humans, cancer is linked to genetics, smoking, alcohol, and >even some foods. I was wondering what makes ferrets so prone to this awful >disease. I am also wondering if any one is looking for measures to prevent >cancer from happening in addition to searching for a cure once it occurs. Well, I'm not a vet, but I think my specialized education more than qualifies me to take a stab at answering this question. I don't do cancer research myself. I work with protein, not DNA. However, I've had all the classes, so here goes. First, it's not only ferrets that are susceptible to cancer. People, cats, rats, dogs, probably even platypuses get cancers when they get old. Although there are many factors, both environmental and genetic, that contribute to cancer which we do not understand, ultimately all cancers are caused by damage to DNA. All of us accumulate DNA damage every day that we live. If you're exposed to extreme radiation, you take a LOT of DNA damage. Even if you are not exposed to any extra radiation in your life, DNA damage still occurs from exposure to things like cosmic rays and toxins. Fear not! Your body has little things called enzymes that *repair* your DNA. Hooray! (RNA is not repaired which is why HIV mutates at such a horrific rate) Sometimes the repair mechanisms fail, or some damage just slips through the system. Often this does no ultimate damage to the organism. A lot of DNA is just not that crucial. Sometimes, however, DNA damage causes cells to proliferate out of control. This is cancer. As for environmental and genetic factors, a lot of our evidence comes from epidemiology, and almost all of it is specific to human beings. Someone thinks of something they think might cause cancer, and they do a study. They survey, talk to, follow, and annoy large groups of people, and look for correlations. For example, out of 1000 men with prostate cancer, 998 of them owned ferrets. Compared with 1000 men of the same age without prostate cancer, only 50 owned ferrets. This is a correlation, and a pretty strong one, but it does not account for mechanism. Many people hearing this sort of thing would immediately drop their ferrets at the nearest shelter. However, we are still lacking a mechanism for this correlation. It could be that ferrets have nothing to do with prostate cancer, and the men who own them are getting it from the ferretone they secretly snort when no one is looking. Most of these epidemiological studies are conducted in an attempt to help people prevent cancer, not to cure it. When the epidemiologists have done their dirty work, geneticists, molecular biologists, and biochemists step in to try to learn more about the mechanism. As a side note, I would like to add that every once in a while, someone posts here that their Marshall Farms ferret has cancer, insulinoma, or some other typical ferret illness. They are making their own correlation, but with a really small sample size. Even if your five Marshal Farms ferrets keel over at the age of three, and your other five non-MF ferrets live until they are fifteen, this is only a correlation, and not a valid one. It doesn't prove anything because the "study" is not large enough and it is not controlled. Until someone does such a study with enough ferrets to constitute a valid sample size, I will not believe the bad PR about Marshall Farms. I love my Marshall ferret, and I think they raise good animals. In conclusion, I think it is very natural to wonder what caused the death of a loved one. We often think that they could have had a much longer life if only.... However, it is difficult to second guess Mother Nature. I haven't actually every heard of a correlation between alcohol and cancer. I'm very sorry for the loss of the ferret mentioned above, and I can sympathize. But she may not have lived a minute longer no matter what anyone does. Life isn't fair. It could as easily been an unavoidable cosmic ray as any environmental factor. I'm sure she was as happy as a ferret could be. I know I envy my own ferrets their persistant weasel bliss. Hope I haven't bored anyone. -Catherine Shaffer [Posted in FML issue 1475]