From:
Russell Prater
Date: 2002-06-02 15:05:00 UTC
Subject: Re: new to the list, old ferret
myzoo8 wrote:
> The male has been in poor health for
> about a year now. He eats, but still looks like a skeleton (problem
> #1). And lately he keeps urinating in his hammock(problem #2) and is
> losing his hair from the urinic acid. I wash his hammock every few
> days, but it's not helping.
> About 6 months ago I brought him to the vet because he had lost
> almost all his hair. At the time that was the only symptom that we
> saw. The vet said it was mange! I don't think he knew what he was
> talking about, it was NOT mange.
No, I don't think your vet is up on ferret diseases. The hair loss is
almost certainly adrenal gland disease. Surgery is the best option if
the ferret is otherwise healthy, but I expect your old man would do
better on Lupron. The other stuff, weak rear end, weight loss, etc.,
sounds like insulinoma. Here again surgery is the best option, but your
ferret doesn't sound up to it so you will have to try to regulate his
blood glucose with drugs, prednisone and proglycem. Get your vet to run
an in-house blood glucose test. Normal is 100 ml/dl +/- 20. You are
going to have to take peoples word about the adrenal gland disease
unless you can afford about $150 for the University of Tennessee adrenal
panel.
--
Russ, Booger, Bonnie & Clyde
russellprater@w...