From:
Sukie Crandall
Date: 2010-01-13 16:20:04 UTC
Subject: [ferrethealth] finished collecting adrenal onset in U.S. data
To: fhl <ferrethealth@yahoogroups.com>
Many responded.
The final results on that score will later appear in a paper by Dr.
Robert Wagner and others for comparison to something else.
OBVIOUSLY, I can not publicly share those data at this time.
The things below make me think that when I have time I should design a
survey to look at several things.
MOST respondents told me extra things that are not part of the study
so okay to mention:
1. There were just a few reports from outside the U.S. (not included
in figures) and they looked rather similar for most common age of
onset as the U.S. ones do though a tad younger on average, but again,
there were not many so conclusions can NOT be drawn though questions
can be raised. It would be good to look at this carefully because if
the typical ages of onset are similar (and must be sure here to
separate the figures from whole ferrets from those for neutered
ferrets) then vets there need to know that to not miss treating
cases. For those who have read studies by Dr. Nico Schoemaker (or
plan to do so) the ages I have gotten from European and Canadian
respondents were similar to his figures INSTEAD of being similar to
the "common knowledge" rumor of higher onset ages (which tends to not
separate whole from neutered). They were not whole ferrets (and given
the mechanisms involved for hormonal communication whole ferrets
should usually have older age adrenal growths and fewer adrenal
growths, but whole ferrets have their own types of serious health
problems (anemia, testicular tumors, uterine and ovarian diseases,
etc.) to balance that against).
2. Multiple people mentioned when their ferrets were neutered at 6
months and while there were not enough of those to draw firm
conclusions there really were quite a few and they didn't look any
different from early neuters in general. (If I were to be more
specific I'd have to say that a greater proportion of the 6 month
neutered ones mentioned had adrenal disease earlier than the early
neuters but there were NOT enough reports to draw firm conclusions on
that score so I think that is a glitch from low sample size. It may
not be a surprise if 6 months is no different for adrenal disease rate
than younger neutering because it really didn't look different in some
European research by Dr. Schoemaker that I have read.) It would be
GREAT to have more data on this, wouldn't it? What I got is too
sparse to draw conclusions on this score but certainly suggestive
enough to warrant further careful data collection on more ferrets of
known ages about age of diagnosis by the veterinarian.
3. Quite a lot of the people mentioned how they treated their ferrets
and almost no ferrets died of adrenal disease or treatment (exceptions
included a very early carcinoma and a wounded Vena Cava). Usually in
the responses EITHER Lupron depot or surgery, or both wound up giving
enough control that the ferrets later died of completely different
causes, and typically that was years later. I'd like to see any of
these three might be better than the other but the indications are
what we all already know: These can all be good options and the
treating vet will want to decide which is best for which individual
ferret.
The fourth thing came from weeding out which reports could
NOT be used in the data because the ages of the ferrets were
not actually known but just were estimated.
4. Many of the people who are mentioning the ages of their ferrets
and adrenal disease in public discussions are estimating the ages
rather than firmly knowing them, so I wonder if during adrenal or
insulinoma discussions it might be good if people who reply mentioning
their own experiences said when the age of a ferret is not known to
the nearest half year but is instead estimated. It just seems like
that might remove some confusion and maybe even reduce argument rates.
Those are all from extra information that people VOLUNTEERED and for
the most part they raise interesting questions for which more data is
sorely needed. This extra information is NOT part of the study, nor was the
question designed to sample these things so the results may be skewed.
Take these sentences with caution, therefore.
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/
http://www.ferrethealth.msu.edu/
http://www.ferretcongress.org/
http://www.trifl.org/index.shtml
http://homepage.mac.com/sukie/sukiesferretlinks.html
all ferret topics:
http://listserv.ferretmailinglist.org/archives/ferret-search.html
HAPPY: http://www.6footsix.com/my_weblog/2010/01/high-fives-for-happiness.html
"All hail the procrastinators for they shall rule the world tomorrow."
(2010, Steve Crandall)
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