From:
Russell Prater
Date: 2001-08-24 19:19:00 UTC
Subject: Re: [Ferret-Health-list] Hair Loss and black speckles on
Tail?!
aikizenmonkey@y... wrote:
>
> My wife and I are starting to become quite concerned and a bit
> confused about the condition of one of our pair of California Stretch
> Rats.
>
> Sherlock's tail fur has thinned out a LOT on his tail, mostly towards
> the tip and getting thicker towards the tailbase. He also has black
> speckles all over the skin of his tail. The speckles don't rub off
> and the hair is thin enough to easily see his skin at tail tip. It
> seems to be getting more sparse as times goes on, but is not quickly
> progressing.
>
> He seems healthy otherwise and is eating. I am getting to the point
> where I'm readying to isolate him for a few nights to track his fecal
> deposits and eating rate to see if anything seems abnormal there.
>
> He is still the healthy seeming raisin slut he has normally been.
> Still pretty active, but seems to tire out a bit faster now.
>
> I hope I am just paranoid, but is there something I should be keeping
> an eye out for?
What you describe is what we call a nice case of rattail. It is a skin
condition and for years we have used human acne preparations to treat
it. A couple of years ago I found a new product that really helps. It is
Johnson & Johnson's Clean & Clear Foaming Facial Wash with Triclosan.
It's available at any Wal-Mart acne counter. What you do is wet the tail
and splash Clean & Clear on it. Scrub the tail with it and a handbrush
or soft toothbrush. Rinse well. Look closely for missed blackheads and
scratch them out with a fingernail or toothpick. Do this daily until the
tail begins to remain clean between washes, about two weeks. Then you
can slack off to twice a week and finally once a week. The hair may grow
back in a month or it may remain thin until his next shed. It's nothing
to really worry about, it's just ugly.
--
Russ, Booger, Bonnie & Clyde
russellprater@w...
URA Redneck if you think Dom Perignon is a Mafia leader.