Message Number: YG147 | New FHL Archives Search
From: Alicia
Date: 2001-02-25 07:37:00 UTC
Subject: Re: [Ferret-Health-list] Reason for not moulting?

Hello Ulrike,

I will hope that others have had the same experience I am going to relate
to you.
Ferrets CAN have adrenal conditions without losing coat. In our case we
had a 4 year old female ( early alter) with a gorgeous coat -- and all of a
sudden she developed the largest vulva I have seen to date -- even after
witnessing breed capable ferrets-- well we put her immediately on a
nutritional supplement gruel which supports adrenal glands and the
condition seemed to reverse itself ( the vulva swelling reversed to
normal). The soup was administered twice daily for the next 1 1/2
years. While on the diet again her vulva became enlarged -- so this time
as she was now 5 1/2 years old she went off to the vets office -- (MIND YOU
AGAIN THERE WAS NO HAIR LOSS) she had a show quality coat, soft , thick and
long!
I received a call from the surgical suite and the vet asked when we removed
the left adrenal? Well we had not-- and it was the right which was
severely enlarged. To wrap things up the right adrenal was removed, there
was some hemorraghing but the next day she was bacjk home-- and lived 1 1/2
more years-- passing away form old age, and a tired body-- with every
single hair follicle in place!

It can be present without coat loss. I hope more vets begin to realize this!

Alicia, a shelter mom
www.ferretwise.org
Ferret Wise Shelter

At 02:41 PM 2/25/01 +0000, you wrote:
>Hi everybody
>
>Why would a ferret not moult at all? My ferret Jilly has been on pred for 1
>1/2 years and I don't think she moulted at all while she was on pred. I
>weaned her off it and she moulted a week or two later. That was last
>August. She didn't moult after that and I doubt she'll moult in spring...
>
>I have another ferret, Jack, who didn't moult last winter... Are there any
>illnesses that make the ferret hang onto his coat and not shed it and grow a
>new one? His coat is so thin and coarse and dry, the base of the tail is
>bald and the rest of the tail is sparingly covered with hairs. He is so
>thin on his ribs and back and you can feel the bones through the skin, he
>hasn't got any covering of fat at all, all the fat has accumulated in his
>tummy which is huge. The coat is nice though on his head and neck, it's
>just the rest of his body that looks really scruffy. I also noticed that
>some of the other ferrets in the group don't respect Jack anymore. He was
>always top dog and nobody dared touch him. He's not very interested in
>playing with other ferrets and if the younger ferrets bit him/ invited him
>to play, he would tell them off. This morning I noticed 2 of the boys
>biting Jack, they didn't want to hurt him but play with him but Jack didn't
>do anything, didn't even tell them off... It's like the others know
>something is wrong with Jack and they're pushing him off the top position...
>He'll be 6 years old in June BTW...
>
>I know this sounds like adrenal disease but he's not more aggressive and
>adrenal ferrets moult, don't they? Could it be anything else? Do ferrets
>get thyroid problems at all?
>
>Any help is appreciated...
>
>Best wishes from
>Ulrike
>and Jilly, Jack, Bella, Tom, Mason, Baby, Dana, Fox, Reno, Rose, Jasmine,
>Barney, Spike, Hobo and Gremlin
>
>Missing Angel, Hope and Igor
>
>West Wales Ferret Welfare
>E-mail: ferretlove@n...
>http://www.ferretlove.freeserve.co.uk
>Last update 23/02/01
>
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