From:
Caitlyn Martin
Date: 2003-07-23 00:20:54 UTC
Subject: Re: [ferrethealth] Adrenal Disease/Part 3
To: ferrethealth@smartgroups.com
Message-Id: <20030722172054.41f69ced.whiteweasel@earthlink.net>
On Tue, 22 Jul 2003 21:18:27 +0100 (BST)
linsto@hotmail.com wrote:
> Can something else than Adrenal Disease can cause Hair loss ?
Yes, especially on the tail. Adric has had on and off skin problems
that have caused him to lose hair on his tail and a little bit above the
tail around coat change time the last three years. We can always tell
because he gets little blackheads on his tail. The first time that
wasn't obvious at first, and it was spring coat change so he lost a
bunch of weight, and we thought we were dealing with adrenal. We
weren't.
Some ferrets go through a coat change gradually while others "blow"
their coats. It can look like pretty serious hair loss, except all the
hair grows back pretty quickly. It isn't anything to worry about.
I've heard stress can cause hair loss. Bad diet can result in a
brittle, coarse coat or a poor quality coat.
For me to think adrenal it has to be either serious hair loss, hair loss
combined with another common adrenal symptom, or slow, steady hair loss
that is ongoing and not just at coat change time. Having said that,
Keith and I seem to be very good at picking up on adrenal very early.
Usually something else like weight loss or aggressiveness plus the
beginning of hair loss tips us off.
All the best,
Caity and the notorious nine