From:
sukieferret
Date: 2002-03-17 14:44:00 UTC
Subject: Re: Zevron on ferret longevity and disease
I have not seen any actual stats that indicate that the health or
longevity actually do differ from area to area over-all (though
some specifics may very well differ).
Yes, in some areas there may be different disease distributions,
but they may cancel each other out.
Hypotheses abound for why some areas may have more of
certain problems, or seem like they have more of certain
problems since vets can miss what they don't look for, and
without hard records it is easy to forget ages.
You mentioned some hypotheses; others include a range of
things from distributions of precursor viruses and go on from there.
One thing that is important to remember is that until there are
some hard numbers and well sampled data then grains of salt
must be employed with any hypotheses, including my own personal favorites.
Remember that until just about a couple of years ago there were arguments whether there was adrenal disease in the Netherlands. Then some vets put together a study. Their study was designed in a reasonable fashion to show what they were seeking: an idea of whether there was a signifciant amount of adrenal disease in their nation. There is.
(Some folks have trouble separating that part of the article from
the hint the authors found that there might (note: "might") be a relationship between age of neutering and onset of adrenal disease. The design of the study, the sampling procedures, and the large +/- error margin require that firm conclusions in that direction can't be made at
this time though they give a rough hint of a possible interesting
future study which may or may not pan out but is certainly
worth checking into. I had some research mathematicians and
a research physicist look at the numbers and charts and they are
very inclusive as they exist , so the hint found therein might pan out on further study or may not. The margin of error is actually so
large that the 6 month age that is called a "late neuter" in the U.S.
appears to be lost in the noise. Some readers' over-weighing of
this mention in the study while underweighing the part which showed that adrenal disease certain is not rare in the Netherlands is not the
fault of the authors since they were clear about the distinction
between their goal and the hint for possible future study, at least in my reading of the paper.)
One thing that I have personally wondered about is the impact of
some of the more common "fancies" on factors such as
longevity, and if the increasing proportion of those alleles in the general breeding population has had or will have an effect on health and longevity -- just as show horses, show cats, and show dogs have suffered due to public demand for certain "looks" and certain "breeds". Over the years I have heard from a small handful of people who had pandas or blazes
live to normal lifespans, but have heard ffrommore folks whose pandas and blazed did not . The sampling was ANYTHING BUT scientific, though, so could be compltely misleading and just plain wrong once studied. Personally, I hope to one day see a number of vets put together their longevity records of treated pandas and blazes which had known ages (rather than estimated ages) so that we could know if there really is any reason to be concerned, but that is a lot of ask of busy people.
It may be that folks can improve some aspects of the health of
their ferrets by changing certain habits; it may be that other
factors will be uncontrollable until vaccines are developed; it may
be that the demand for certain fancies is acting against the best
interest of ferrets; it may be that some nations' genetic pools are
too small; it may be that some vets aren't looking for problems
that really exist. There are a lot of hypotheses out there but little proof.
What I really would like to see is the keeping of good records on
such questions. Many vets are excellent about this but lack time. Sadly too many breeders do not follow their lines to the extent that they
should. It would also be great if shows could somehow find ways to weigh-in longevity and health for their selections. I'd like to see everyone
put health and longevity first -- at least that is my dream.
Guess what it all boils down to is that we can each have favorite
hypotheses (for example, we provide a real darkness for our
ferrets) but we all do need to remember that hypotheses are not at
all proven facts. Anyway, that is my personal take on it, for whatever it is worth or not worth.