So my vet just diagnosed my 8 year old female, Miesa, with Lupus.  He
thinks.  He said he's never treated a ferret with lupus before, but he
thinks that's what's wrong.  Brief synopsis- she has REALLY bad cataracts
in both eyes.  Back in the fall she started loosing fur in a patch on her
side.  It was about the size of a nickle and was around a bump the vet
indicated was a sign of stress.  In the last month she's lost a lot more
fur.  The skin is kind of flaky and scaly looking and the area has grown
to about the size of a silver dollar.  The toes on her front right foot
have the same scaly thing going on.  She's been real lethargic lately,
most of which I attributed to her mournng the death of her favorite
playmate back in the fall.  The vet tested the scaly skin, ran a full
blood work up, checked ears, feces, etc.  Lupus is his guess.  We're
started a steroid regime (dexamethasone).  Anyone ever heard of this
before?  As I said , Miesa is eight years old.  She came from a breeder
and was a late alter.  Other than her eyes, she's never had any health
problems.  No adrenal.  No insulinoma.  Nothing.
 
Thoughts on the matter from the learned of the board?
 
Anne
(with Miesa and the boys)
[Posted in FML issue 4799]