I too have wondered the same thing about a possible connection between the
two.  One of my babies, Pooh, started losing hair on his tail before he
was even a year old.  Since it is mostly older ferrets that have adrenal
problems, I figured it was "rat tail", and my vet agreed.  It also looked
like you could see little dark (black?) dots on his tail.  Eventually the
hair loss spread and it started to look more like the hair loss pattern
you see from adrenal gland disease.  So Pooh did undergo surgery and sure
enough he had huge tumor on the right adrenal gland, but the left adrenal
gland looked fine.
 
Well, time went by and he still did not have any hair on his tail or his
butt.  To keep a long story short, he eventually had to have the left
adrenal removed as well.  After his 2nd surgery, I noticed that the little
dark dots on his tail had multiplied and was very confused until hair
started breaking the surface.  What I had thought was black heads all
that time, was actually his hair just under the surface that would not
grow because of his adrenal gland disease.  Once he was cured, the hair
started coming back.
 
Since that time I have often wondered if other people have made that
same mistake.  I guess that would only happen if the ferret was dark in
coloration, and Pooh is a very dark brown sable in coloration.  Just from
my personal experiences, I would say that anytime there is hair loss, it
can't hurt to take the little one to the vet for an evaulation just in
case.  The TN blood panel may help in diagnosis.  Although interestingly
enough, Pooh's lab tests always came back negative.  So just remember that
no test is 100% accurate.  Forgive me for being wordy, but I couldn't
figure out a way to make this shorter without losing important
information.
 
Holly
Tigger & Pooh
[Posted in FML issue 3565]