One of my ferrets, Alfalfa, has recently done something weird like this
too.  Hair loss on the tail and scabs.  He has had scabs for over a year,
first two and then it was up to five - two on his back, one on his neck,
two on his belly.  At his regular vet check-up a year ago October (when
there were only two), my vet said they were probably mast cell tumors, and
to just keep an eye on them.  Then Al developed the other three over the
course of the past year, and his tail hair started to thin out.  I was
crossing my fingers that it wasn't adrenal, because he's already had his
left adrenal removed.  Then, in September, he suddenly got scabs all over
his tail too.  When he went for his check-up this October, he looked
pretty tough.  So I made an appointment in December to have the tail scabs
biopsied and the mast-cell tumors on his body removed.  So, guess what
happened next?  The scabs all healed up and disappeared!  First his tail,
then the body scabs.  Guess he's had enough anesthesia in his 6 years,
with two major operations, and didn't want to go through that again.  I'm
just as happy as Al is, but have no idea why this would suddenly clear up
after getting steadily worse for over a year.  Very strange.
 
Nancy and critters
[Posted in FML issue 3591]