From:
mjanke@miamiferret.org
Date: 2005-03-12 16:23:23 UTC
Subject: I wonder...
To: ferrethealth@smartgroups.com
Message-ID: <5927467.1110644603135.JavaMail.root@thallium.smartgroups.com>
There are new products on the market for testing for menopause in women. On the one I heard the ad for on the radio, Menocheck, it does this by checking levels of the hormone FSH in urine. I don't know if they all work in this manner. When I heard this ad, my ears perked up and I couldn't wait to get home to check out their website, www.menocheck.com, to find out more about these tests.
We know that in ferrets, LH and FSH are factors in adrenal disease and in fact, Lupron and Melatonin both work by reducing the levels of these hormones that stimulate the adrenals.
So this begs the question, would using one of these menopause test on your ferret be in any way revealing as to the levels of FSH in your ferret, and more importantly, would it mean anything? Perhaps the amount of FSH that is in an adrenal ferret's urine wouldn't even register on one of these test strips since they're meant for humans, but it would be real interesting to find out.
I think what would be needed first is a ferret known to have adrenal disease but one that has not yet been treated with Lupron or Melatonin. If the test even registers at all, it would be interesing to see what results would be after administering Lupron or Melatonin.
This test may give no meaningful results whatsoever, but it is something to think about.
mike
End of ferrethealth Digest
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