To Steve and Colleen concerning the orange crusties:
 
>My wife and I have a question we hope somebody can answer.  One of our
>males (a foundling--we *think* he's about 8 years old) recently developed what
>we've heard called 'orange crusties' on his back.  These look much like
>semi-oozing watery wounds or sores. They sort of look like what you might
>expect to see if a ferret had yanked a wad of hair out except that they don't
>seem to heal on their own.  The vet says this is due to an oil
>buildup that causes a rash-like skin reaction.  We've been treating them with
>Panalog, which seems to be making a difference.
 
>Have other people's ferrets acted as if these are painful?  Ripple (the
>ferret in question) definitely reacts when we apply the Panalog.  It was our
>understanding that these spots shouldn't really be very sensitive.
 
 
       The orange crusties are a very non-specific skin reaction which is caused
by an accumulation of the dead layes of skin (which are normally sloughed off).
They can be caused by any number of problems, such as mast cell tumros (which I
have seen mentioned on yesterdays FML, seborrhea, minor skin infections due to
yeast or bacteria, even distemper. It is well-known that older ferrets have poor
haircoats and skin.  This problem is certainly not unusual.  A weekly bath in a
bactericidal shampoo along with topical antibiotics, will work in a fair number
of cases, as it seems to in yours.  But should you see no imporvement in a few
weeks (the crusties are not life threatening), then I would suggest a biopsy of
two or three of these lesions to see if other problems can be identified.
 
       Bruce Williams, DVM                 Department of Veterinary Pathology
       [log in to unmask]         Armed Forces Institute of Pathology
       (202) 576-2453/2454                 Washington, D.C.  20306-6000
 
[Posted in FML issue 0922]