Hello!
 
I've got a (probably 6 or 7) year old male ferret.  I don't know exactly
how old, because I found him near a college in Milwaukee about 4 years
ago.
 
I noticed yesterday (insert ominous music) that he's got a white band
around the base of his tail.  It doesn't look like he's LOSING hair, but
it looks like he's growing EXTRA downy hair.  There are about the same number
of guard-hairs there, but just a lot of white, fluffy hair that I didn't
notice before.
 
His tail's getting a bit thin, hair-wise, also.
 
What I need to know is if I'm worrying and he's just shedding, or if there's
a problem here.  He seems as energetic as always, eats science diet feline
growth, gets ferretone, and so on, so I don't think diet is a problem.  He
interacts (somewhat) with 2 cats and a dog, and has free run most of the day.
 
 
Thanks for any info or advice you can help me with on this.
 
Dave Hinz
 
[Posted in FML issue 0532]