From:
"Steve & Becky McMall"
Date: 2003-07-04 03:26:32 UTC
Subject: mast cell tumors and hair loss
To: <ferrethealth@smartgroups.com>
Message-ID: <002301c341dc$11105740$6601a8c0@D7Y35H11>
One of our male ferrets, Max, had lost most of the hair on his back, start=
ing with his guard hairs. He still had a nice full tail. We suspected adr=
enal, and
planned to do a sonogram. Well, he had a couple of large mast cell tumors=
on his back and under his arm. While reading about them, I found a one se=
ntence
blurb that mast cell tumors could cause hair loss. He was also very itchy =
all the time (they release histamine). Last Friday we had the tumors remov=
ed and
already Max is regrowing his hair and has stopped the excessive scratching!=
I =
wanted to bring this possibility up for those owned by ferrets to consider =
when
a ferret is losing hair and scratching excessively. Of course, adrenal pro=
blems can cause the same symptoms. In Max's case, the hair loss did not fo=
llow the typical patterns for adrenal problems.