From:
Bruce Williams, DVM
Date: 2001-03-25 00:12:00 UTC
Subject: Re: Adrenal?
--- In Ferret-Health-list@y..., Petersen <petersen@i...> wrote:
> The shelter just took in a small female ferret, guesstimated at 5-6
years
> of age. She has been fed cat food her entire life, but seems to be
fairly
> healthy. She has a LITTLE bit of hair loss at the base of her tail
(and I
> mean right at the base of her tail) and also the calves of her hind
legs
> are almost bare (from the "knee" down). Should I just wait and see
and not
> adopt her until she either grows more hair or loses some more?
Adopt her
> out to someone who knows about ferrets and offer to pay for the
surgery if
> she develops adrenal within 6 months? Any suggestions are welcome.
While I can't tell you how to handle the adoption, I would caution
that this may very well be an adrenal case. There can be some very
odd patterns of hair loss in adrenal ferrets, and I have learned that
if a ferret is "bald" anywhere (without evidence of scratching or
tearing the hair out), that adrenal disease is probably at or near
the top of the ruleout list.
With kindest regards,
Bruce H. Williams, DVM, DACVP
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