From:
"Marie Bartholdsson"
Date: 2005-07-24 12:10:52 UTC
Subject: RE: [ferrethealth] Re: Precious' tail
To: ferrethealth@smartgroups.com
Message-ID: <BAY18-F29E7B0D4C5E2BE54F6EC65B6CB0@phx.gbl>
>It was Dr Tom Kawasaki who stated that all
>hair loss on the tail is adrenal gland disease.
>Sadly he is probably right!
>Hope that helps,
>Jerry Murray, DVM
>
>I take then Dr Kawasaki does not live in the UK or our Adrenal Disease
>must spontaneously self rectify. Tail hair loss is fairly common here in
>stressed incorrectly fed or housed ferrets. It mostly shows in the early
>summer shed and corrects itself at the autumn shed. Chris.
>
We see the same thing in Sweden. Temporary, seasonal hair loss that is
fairly common. Some ferrets may have it almost every year, but it's also
common for a ferret to experience this only once or a couple of times during
a lifetime. In some it's more common at old age. Whole hobs can get thinning
of the the hair on the tail during rut. It can happen also in well kept
ferrets.
I have experienced this myself sometimes in older, neutered ferrets (both
jills and hobs) and occasionally in hobs in rut. Necrospy has been done on
all my ferrets that have died including old ferrets (that passed because of
"old age") with thin, or very little hair on the tail (some had this for
several seasons, or had it for one or more occasions several years before
they died). There's has never been an abnormal adrenal gland in any of them.
Marie