From:
Lisa Shortley
Date: 2001-08-23 00:07:00 UTC
Subject: Re: Hair loss/Red Orange Marks
--- In Ferret-Health-list@y..., "jamie" <sid491@y...> wrote:
Hi Jamie!
> Now he has these orange/red marks on his abdomen and he is loosing
> his hair on his arms and legs. I took him to the vet and he didn't
> know what it was but thought what I thought that it was an allergic
> reaction to new bedding. Bedding was removed and he got a shot of
> prednisone 20mg and sent home with tribrissen liquid 2 times a day.
> The hair is still gone and the orange/red marks are spreading.
I'm not sure about this but my crew went through a nasty bout of ring
worm. It looked different on all of them but mostly presented itself
to be orangy marks - the fur fell out in the areas where it was, and
on most of their lesions, there were small reddish dots. Diagnosis
was based on a skin scaping where fur was plucked from the sites and
then sent out for a culture. It is quite contagious and can be
rather difficult to get rid of.
There are many treatments for ringworm (which I believe was
technically called Microsporum Canis) including Conafite, a topical
cream that is like a liquid and applied to the effected areas, and if
this doesn't work, Ketoconozole, an oral medication. Both of these
treatments were done with weekly baths in antifungal shampoo
(Miconozole Shampoo made by micropearls)). When neither of these
worked for my guys, an article was presented to me about the use of
the kitten doseage of Program (a flea medication) to treat the
ringworm. This is what finally got rid of all the ringworm in my
house.
There is an article posted in the files section of this group about
the study involving the use of Program in the treatment of ringworm
in cats and dogs. When I was questioning the use of this in ferrets,
I printed the article out and brought it into my vet and we agreed to
give it a try.
My ferrets tolerated the taste of the Program suspension quite well
and didn't have any side effects from it. After about 2-3 weeks,
most of them were clear of the ringworm and after 2 months (and a
retreatment for some) all of it was gone. My ferrets had ringworm
for about 4 months before finally being finished with it - due to the
varying types of treatment tried.
I'm not sure if this sounds like what it could be, but just thought I
would suggest it. I don't know that treatment with pred would help
get rid of it if that's what it is. Pred is thought to be immuno-
suppresent and may actually make it more difficult to get rid of the
ringworm because it will impede in the body's natural defense to
fight it off. I know of one ferret at a shelter who had ringworm and
was on a high dose of pred for insulinoma - and the director just
couldn't seem to get rid of the ringworm despite many different
treatments.
Hope this helps in the problem solving of what the orange areas on
your little guy are! Keep us posted, okay?
Lisa Shortley