From:
Sukie Crandall
Date: 2003-05-10 20:20:38 UTC
Subject: steroids
To: karinkonecny@ig.com.br, ferrethealth@smartgroups.com
Message-id: <a06001209bae30a682f3c@[10.0.1.38]>
>
>Ok, Sukie, but why your ferrets have a high level of adrenal tumors?
>Here, we don't have such level.....
>Karin
But that assumes that steroid use precedes development of the tumors.
Most of the ferrets I've run into who are on steroids are on them
late in life when dealing with lymphoma or with insulinoma which has
escaped surgical control. (Though I do know of ones with earlier use
due to things like injuries which seem to be rare or IBD which
luckily is not terribly common either, I suspect, and we have had two
on steroids in young to middle adulthood for IBD ourselves.) Most
ferrets I've personally run into with adrenal neoplasia have not had
steroids beforehand for anything. Of course, that may not mean
anything. (BTW, our home levels of adrenal neoplasia have been
around 30% the last time I ran the numbers, with most in old age. We
avoid some of the fancy strains which are prone to assorted health
problems, provide a lot of darkness, etc. We have had only one early
adrenal case (a 3 year old) in 21 years but we may have a second one
now though it is still unclear enough that the vet prefers testing it
which is what we are doing.)
What sorts of rates are you seeing in Brazil and how large is the sample?
Might early steroid use increase the incidence of adrenal neoplasia
or change the timing? I don't know, no idea. I actually can't
recall having heard the question before but it intrigues me. I think
that this is one for those who are heavily into veterinary
endocrinology. It might be interesting to run enough numbers to see
if there could be any correlation as a possible contributing factor,
but I just don't have the background to access it. I just don't know.
I hope that this comes through without revisions; Hilbert decided to
type while i was kissing Sherman's back. If anything is missing that
i don't notice on rereading you know why.