Sorry, I was off line for a couple of days with family stuff...glad to see
Bruce was still here.
 
RE:  796  Vanilla and hair loss
Ditto the fine response that Dr. Williams gave.  I don't have much more to
add except that Dr. Karen Rosenthal and I will be trying a new drug protocol
to block the effects of the hormones that are causing the signs in this
disease...probably to start sometime in May.  It hopefully will provide a new
solution to an aggravating problem in these little critters.
 
RE: 797  Hair growth on tail
 
As has been said...to reinterate...ferrets can take a long time grow hair
back, usually not until their next hair molt.  However, it may be early
adrenal disease (don't panic) and see what happens this spring.  We also
think it has something to do with the artificial lighting that we keep our
ferrets under in the house.  I keep my ferrets outdoors (in complete luxury)
for 9 months out of the year and I find that the hair grows back much more
quickly when it has to be shaved.  I also don't get the annual "bald tail"
syndrome that I used to see when they were kept indoors all the time.  This
is just a tiny sample and is only one person's experience.
 
RE:  797  Cardiomyopathy
 
The only comments that I would make to Dr. WIlliams is that we see far less
cardiomyopathy than we used to before the started adding taurine to the cat
food diets.  Taurine deficiency was implicated in dilatative cardiomyopathy
in cats.  However, we see both dilatative (where the heart muscle is weak and
gets dilated) and hypertrophic (where the heart muscle gets thickened and the
ventricle space gets very small).  Diagnosis is based on signs, survey x-ray,
ECG and ultrasound...you need to differntiate the dilatative form from the
hypertrophic form, they use some different medications.  One should also test
the ferret for heartworms in heartworm susceptible areas (although, hopefully
they will be seen on ultrasound), because this disease can also cause serious
heart disease.  We use diuretics for all cases and Vasotech and then other
drugs as needed depending on the type of disease it is.  It is worth treating
and we have had ferrets go on for up to two years past the initial diagnosis
even with some fluid in the lungs initially.  Of course it all depends on how
much damage the heart has sustained in the first place.
 
Re:  Lifespan
 
In europe and australia....about 7-10 years...in the U.S.   5-7 years
(because of all the cancer).  The oldest ferret I have seen in practice was
11.
 
Dr. Susan Brown
 
[Posted in FML issue 0799]