Adrenal gland disease affects the majority of ferrets over age 3 in North America. This epidemic welfare crisis is largely attributable to early spay/neuter practices and can be managed with improved breeding and veterinary care.
Ferret adrenal disease represents a nearly unique situation in companion animal welfare: a preventable epidemic caused by industry practice (early pediatric neuter) that persists despite the evidence linking it to disease. The welfare cost is enormous — the majority of North American ferrets will develop a painful, debilitating disease that requires expensive treatment or causes suffering from untreated progression. The ferret welfare community has advocated for changing breeding practices for decades, but commercial breeders continue early neuter to prevent intact ferrets from being bred by purchasers and to create uniform body size. Regulatory intervention or consumer-driven industry change could eliminate most ferret adrenal disease, but neither has yet occurred.