I have read that fur loss on the tail can be caused by stress.  Rocky
has lost some fur near the tip of his tail and I see blackheads also.
He doesn't have any other adrenal symptoms, and I have spoken to my vet
who said it is probably seasonal alopecia.
 
My question is this: Can stress from brushing and scaling teeth be a
cause?  After my last vet appt.  in July, I started regularly cleaning
Rocky's teeth and the fur loss on the tail happened a month or so after.
Before this year, it was such an ordeal to clean his teeth that I rarely
did it but had them professionally cleaned last year.  Now I've made
major progress in getting the tartar off, but since I've been doing it
Rocky has been stand-offish with me and kind of depressed.  I just
realized that this could be what's stressing him out so much that it may
be causing the fur loss.
 
What do you guys think?  Should I give up on the teeth or do it less
often (I've been doing it every other day)?
 
Or, could the fur loss be caused by a food change?  Rocky did very well
on TF but when I bought the one with chicken bits last year, he hated it,
so I switched to Path Valley, since he seemed to like it, with a little
of the old NG mixed in.  He won't eat the new NG formula.  I have noticed
that since he hasn't been eating TF his ears are dirty all the time and
his coat isn't as nice.  Has anyone used Innova EVO?  I read the
ingredients in a pet shop and it sounds really good.  Maybe I'll try to
get a sample.  Or maybe I should try going back to reg.  TF.  He does
like BABY TF.  Would it be ok to feed him that?
 
The other food change is that he hasn't had chicken gravy since May
because I've had ongoing refrigerator problems, including with two new
ones, plus it's been too hot to make CG.
 
Regarding the blackheads, I read in Ferrets for Dummies that you could
get rid of them by washing the tail every other day with a shampoo
containing salacylic acid.  I've been doing this for a week and so far,
no improvement.  I read in the Archives that Phisoderm worked really
well.  Please let me know if you have any suggestions.
 
Thanks to all,
Shron & Rocky
[Posted in FML issue 5011]