From:
"Sukie Crandall"
Date: 2008-02-22 06:14:45 UTC
Subject: [ferrethealth] Re: Orange/Yellow Bald Spot?
To: ferrethealth@yahoogroups.com
One patch on one side is not standard for adrenal disease. Are you treating for fleas still
and which treatment was used (since a number are not good for ferrets)? Any signs of
fleas? Has ringworm (which is actually a skin fungus) been considered? Is there a
wounded area in the bald patch which might be a benign mast cell tumor?
I think that you need to learn about things like ECE and coccidia in relation to the diarrhea
just to cover your bases, and just because they are important for any ferret person to
learn about. Another possibility that fits better with the improvement when the diet
changed is that before you went to kibble the food might not have been a balanced
enough diet. It is actually a very common problem; what is too often fed as "natural" diet
is not balanced (often low in essential minerals among other things). Also, there are real
possibilities of food borne infections. Ferrets tend to get them less often than humans
but they still happen.
You will find past posts go into such things and mention resources. There is also the
links section of the FHL to help. One thing about ferrets is that all of us are constantly
learning with them.
Sukie (not a vet)
Recommended ferret health links:
http://pets.groups.yahoo.com/group/ferrethealth/
http://ferrethealth.org/archive/
http://www.afip.org/ferrets/index.html
http://www.miamiferret.org/fhc/
http://www.ferretcongress.org/
http://www.trifl.org/index.shtml
http://homepage.mac.com/sukie/sukiesferretlinks.html
--- In ferrethealth@yahoogroups.com, "honoralexandria" <honoralexandria@...> wrote:
>
> Hello all :)
>
> So this is my first time posting here and I apologize for not making a
> proper introduction, but I figured who wants to hear about me when
> there's ferret problems to solve?
>
> Right, so on to my question.
>
> Some history first, so we're all coming from the same place:
>
> 2-3 year old ferret (he was adopted, so not entirely sure). Silver
> male, with suspected (but not clinically verified) inflammatory bowel.
> The reason I say suspected is because him and his cagemate have both
> had on/off diarrhea since we had gotten them, replete with birdseed
> and mucous appearances. I had them on a variety of foods, trying to
> get them the highest protein, closest to "natural" diet possible. I
> don't like feeding kibble because of the carbs, but they never
> imprinted on meat so it's our only choice. Once I (rather
> accidentally) switched them to a single kibble, with less animal
> protein, they both almost instantly got better and had stool of normal
> color and consistancy. I had taken them to a vet where he put them on
> antibotics for two weeks (amox)and wanted to change them a diabetic
> cat kibble, which I did NOT like. "High' in protein (although the evo
> they were on at the time was higher actually) but made of almost
> eclusively plant proteins: wheat, soy, corn. I didn't try it but
> fiddled with their diet on my own until I made the above mentioned
> discovery. That vet never even mentioned IBD or did a fecal and we
> didn't go back. I took them to another vet who did a fecal, ruled out
> parasites, but also told me I overreacting. Ever since the food change
> (Zupreem Ferret) they've been fairly "normal" with only a few episodes.
>
> The reason I mention this IBD is because I suspect it may have
> something to do with my real question:
>
> I've had him for almost 10 months now, and at about 5 months after we
> had him, still dealing/figuring out the IBD-type thing I noticed he
> had a medium sized patch on his side that had gone bald, and was
> exceptionally organish/yellow. There were also little red dots on the
> skin, that made me think they were tiny capillaries that had broken
> from irritation.
> Now I know whenever a ferret starts to lose fur, we all think "Adrenal
> disease", but I'm not sure if it's that.
> BECAUSE:
> -When I looked at the spot closely it wasn't completely bald, but
> rather looked like it had been chewed at- the hair pieces were there
> by very very short/broken looking. I have a dog w/ flea allergies, and
> the spot looked the same
>
> -Before the spot appeared I noticed he had been rather itchy, but also
> read/heard that ferrets seem excessively itchy to humans, which can be
> normal for them, and I had given him quite a few baths recently, so
> figured it was due to that.
>
> -I know that they can get really itchy if bathed too much, but figured
> that should affect the whole body, not just a random spot on his side.
>
> -This started about 5 months ago, and the spot resolved itself (grew
> back) - but I can't tell if it coincided w/ the bowel resolution. It's
> kinda "iffy" now. There's some hair there, but it's noticable as a
> "strange" patch.
>
> -He has and continues to show no other signs of adrenal disease. He's
> alert, happy, dooky, eats and drinks well, completely normal in all
> other aspects. His weight is completely normal, if not a touch over
> because I haven't let him out as much lately.
>
> I remember reading something in a recent ferret magazine by the
> famous Dr. Williams about immune-mediated skin disorders and
> wondered if maybe this could be something similar, given the
> (possible) inflammatory bowel which is also immune mediated. I don't
> remember the article in it's entirety though and haven't been able to
> find much information on this on the 'net.
>
> Has anyone had any experience like this? A single bald patch on a male
> that's *not* adrenal disease? What are the chances? or possibilities?
>
> Sorry for the length of this. I didn't want to leave out anything that
> might help.
>
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