From:
princesspunkrock83@hotmail.com
Date: 2004-01-10 15:18:32 UTC
Subject: hair loss
To: ferrethealth@smartgroups.com
Message-ID: <8023551.1073747912046.JavaMail.root@indium.smartgroups.com>
I'm still new at being a ferret mom (my two girls are four months old), so =
I could just be getting worried over nothing, but this morning I noticed th=
at Fiona has a patch of missing hair on her front left leg. Its only on th=
e front of her leg and reaches from where her leg connects to her body (her=
shoulder?) to about her ankle area (though I'm not even sure if ferrets ha=
ve ankles per se). There is not complete hair loss, it actually looks like=
her fur was shaved and has had about a week or two to grow back in. You c=
an see pieces of her dark guard hair coming in (she is a silver mitt), but =
most of it is white downy type fur. She has been acting completely normal,=
there hasn't been any change in her food or water consumption, nor her bat=
hroom habits. Besides the hair loss, she seems completely healthy and norm=
al. My fiance and I have both noticed that Mila's (our other baby) fur has=
gotten thicker, softer and changed color (lightened) some in the past week=
or so. There doesn't seem to be a change in Fiona's fur (besides the hair=
loss and it seems lighter in color), but it would be hard to tell because =
she has always had thick fluffy fur. We have also noticed that there is a =
lot more fur around, so I don't know if they're shedding or what. We live =
in Ohio and up until New Years, the weather has been pretty mild with some =
days of abnormaly warm weather and a few days of very cold weather. Howeve=
r, since about New Years, it has been very cold here, so I'm wondering if a=
ll of this is all just related to the weather changes. Also, we cut the gi=
rls' nails last night and I was helping hold her leg still while my fiance =
cut her nails and he later commented that they were shedding, so I am also =
wondering if she is missing hair in that spot because I was holding her arm=
and she was struggling (they both HATE getting their nails cut). But I wa=
sn't holding her hard and she didn't make any noises like she was hurt. So=
I don't know. Does anyone have any suggestions as to why her fur may be m=
issing and if I'm worrying about nothing?
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