From:
Christopher
Date: 2001-05-18 03:13:00 UTC
Subject: Ferret coats and adrenal (was repeated passing of blood)
--- In Ferret-Health-list@y..., Steve Austin <kazpat1@j...> wrote:
> My male that had adrenal actually had a very coarse coat, and he
> was like that since I got him, so I figured it was his coat.
> About a month after the adrenal surgery he has a
> nice soft coat, like the other ferrets I have. So, I always
> thought the rougher coats were more likely adrenal, not the soft
> ones, but there may be no correlations- because I have heard both
> reported by owners.
>
> Patty
Hugs Patty,
I'd like to explore this a little. I've never had a personal ferret
with adrenal (knock on wood) but have seen several at the shelter.
The little boy that JAFFA is raising funds for surgery on, Gizmo, is
quite coarse of coat, and almost feels like there is some sort of
coating on the hair. You can see the thinning hair pattern quite clearly on Gizmo's back at http://www.geocities.com/kourifanclub/SOS.html Of course the texture is less obvious in a photo, but I think adrenal ferrets feel dirty.
Gizmo has a smell that I have come to associate
as, "the adrenal smell." In fact all four of the shelter ferrets that
currently need surgery are coarse of coat and smell like that. It's
almost a medicinal/urine type smell and I've never smelled it on a
ferret that wasn't adrenal. Our shelter Mom pointed it out to me one day
also, handing me a ferret and saying.. see he's starting to smell
adrenal.. so I'm not completely off my rocker.. at least one other
person smells it. Anyone else experienced or noticed this? I'm a
ferret sniffer though LOL. The first thing I do with a new ferret is
smell them as I find the odor carries clues about health, diet, over-
all care. I should point out that I've always been sensitive to scent. So, the question, anyone else noticed there is a definite adrenal smell? Anyone else find the coat in adrenals coarser, more oiler with a coated texture?
Hugs,
Christopher
http://www.geocities.com/kourifanclub/SOS.html