From:
"Sukie Crandall"
Date: 2008-03-22 22:04:33 UTC
Subject: [ferrethealth] Re: insulinoma
To: ferrethealth@yahoogroups.com
--- In ferrethealth@yahoogroups.com, sprite@... wrote:
>
> I believe that genetics plays a very big part in insulinoma. My first
> ferret passed it on to 6 of his 7 offspring. I didn't know he had
> insulinoma till he was 4 years old, 3 years after he mated with Prissy.
Certainly, the p53 and MEN genetics found in U.S. lines
indicate that must be strongly considered and could
play a large role.
>
> I'm not saying other things don't fit into the equation just that from
> my experience it appeared to be genetic.
>
...
> Are Marshalls, Path Valley, Triple F, and other farms originated from
> the same ferret lines in the US?
Probably earlier to some extent, but later, too.
Wendy Winstead who was
largely responsible for the popularization of ferrets in the U.S. had MF whole
ferrets. We had one of hers back then, BTW. (Cool lady, as well as being
a breeder she was a physician, did some research (but I don't know to what
level), and was an excellent song writer.) There are private lines here in the
states which have some of her lines' genetics in them.
We knew Fox and Chuck Morton when they owned Path Valley and when they
lost so very many of their own ferrets. The manufacturer of their original food
transposed the numbers for two of the minerals. One was calcium but i can
not offhand recall the other. Many died and many kits were handicapped. One
of them told me back then that they had arranged to buy whole MFs. A later
owner told me that wasn't so, but he came in years later, so who knows...
That is not to invite comments on farms (which would violate the rules,
anyway) but to simply answer part of the question on shared genetics. Those
two farms are responsible for the vast majority of pet ferrets in the U.S.
according to something i have read, but i have not found actual numbers, so
grain of salt time...
Anyway, the point is that the genetic pool here could have started out
narrow, become more narrow with principal farms having overlaps, and
then certainly breeding for fancies for a number of years by breeders
of any size could have since worsened that in some ways.
>
> There is more to this than just diet, in my humble opinion.
The genetics work so far done certainly sends up a flag saying,
"Don't forget my potential here." Heck, perhaps it isn't just a
flag. There might wind up being alarms and whistles...
...
> Squeal at me if you need to, but I give my ferrets a wide variety of
> packaged foods, some human, some cat, some ferret, some dog, and my
> record of insulinoma isn't any higher than the average as far as I can
> tell, in fact it may be lower for my group size.
We predominantly use kibble, have 27 years of experience behind us
(TLE also has many years) instead of just a couple or a few years and we, too,
seem to have much lower rates than many others mention in their homes,
so maybe we are doing something right, and I don't think it has to do
with diet in direction, personally, because even when the foods were
WORSE in our early years with ferrets (back before all the fancy markings
predominated) the rates of insulinoma and adrenal disease were lower. That
isn't just my observation; i have heard it, too, from vets who were treating
ferrets back almost 3 decades ago. That is something which those who came
along (or were born) later may not have any way to know about.
So, no squealing at TLE from me! LOL!
>
> This is my personal thoughts, yours may be different and I respect that.
>
> tle
> www.ferretfamilyservices.org
Have to agree. The lack of data is so enormous that no one should be trying
to make anyone else feel guilty or be pushing one dietary approach. People should
be sure to know and weigh the options, make their own choices, and then be aware
enough of the downsides of the choice made that needed care can be provided in
a timely fashion if something goes wrong. Examples, higher chance of dental
tarter for kibble, higher chance of infection for raw, higher chance of some other
things for any type of diet that is not properly balanced...
There simply are a one heck of a lot of factors which might have involvement, and
a person definitely can't forget genetics is among them. Wearing blinders doesn't
help see possible factors involved. Narrowing down to one thing prematurely with
no hard evidence doesn't help anyone.
Sukie (not a vet)
Recommended ferret health links:
http://pets.groups.yahoo.com/group/ferrethealth/
http://ferrethealth.org/archive/
http://www.afip.org/ferrets/index.html
http://www.miamiferret.org/fhc/
http://www.ferretcongress.org/
http://www.trifl.org/index.shtml
http://homepage.mac.com/sukie/sukiesferretlinks.html
------------------------------------
Yahoo! Groups Links
<*> To visit your group on the web, go to:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ferrethealth/
<*> Your email settings:
Individual Email | Traditional
<*> To change settings online go to:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ferrethealth/join
(Yahoo! ID required)
<*> To change settings via email:
mailto:ferrethealth-digest@yahoogroups.com
mailto:ferrethealth-fullfeatured@yahoogroups.com
<*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to:
ferrethealth-unsubscribe@yahoogroups.com
<*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to:
http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/