The following was taken from the Ferret Adrenal/ Insulanoma Mailing List
#270 03/25/99 put out by Lynn McIntosh and it brings to mind the
experiences I've had with unusually colored ferrets.  Go ahead and read;
my response follows:
 
>Subject:  Nutrition - A Talk With a Biochemist
>From: J S <.com>
>Date: Thu, 25 Mar 1999 10:16:47 -0700
>
>...Here's a question for the biochemist--could ferret hair color be
>changed by diet?  I have a rescue ferret that came in almost hairless,
>due to malnutrition (he wasn't underfed, but fed the wrong foods, we
>think) rather than adrenal disease.  His fur is thick now, but I've
>noticed that there is a distinct orange band.  Below the orange, closer
>to the skin, the hair is white.  His face hairs, which hadn't been lost,
>have no orange or other bands.  The band is brilliant ORANGE, not gold
>or light red or a more 'natural' color.  I wonder whether the color band
>might be due to his malnutrition or maybe to some toxic substance he
>might have been exposed to.
>
>I hope your biochemist has some ideas on this--I have a hunch that
>ferret hair may contain more 'data' about their health than we know.
>
>Thanks,
>J.
 
Dear J[...] (and others who may be interested),
 
Hey!  You are right on to something very important.  I would conjure with
you that the hairs as well as each individual hair shaft likely contains a
wealth of information about just what's going on inside the ferret, or for
that matter, any animal including man.  A quick reference reads that a hair
is one of the usually pigmented filaments that form the charactertistic
"coat" of a mammal and is an outgrowth from the epidermis or skin
originating from an internal as well an an external root sheath that is
nourished and maintained by blood, nerves, and muscles.
 
One could look upon the hair and its condition as an external if somewhat
gross indicator of the health of the creature upon which it is growing.
In robust, healthy animals the hair is abundant, quality is good, as is
its texture, while in pathological conditions, as in asthenia, ( lack of
or loss of strength often due to excessive stimulation of the
adrenal-sympathetic system ) the hair is coarse, dry and brittle.  Color
changes such as greying, when not related to age or heredity necessarily,
are often associated with degenerative changes and premature senility in
the ferret as well as in man.
 
Perhaps this is one of the reasons why changes in the hair or coat of a
ferret often presages a diagnosis of cancer involving the adrenal glands, a
disease that is so common, especially, in Marshall Farms' ferrets.  Could
it come to pass that in the future, hair sampling and analysis of just one
individual hair shaft, could yield an early warning signal that cancer
cells were metastasizing or growing in their earlist stages?  Were chemo
and radiological therapy undertaken at this earliest time of cancer growth
could the growth of these deadly tumors be arrested?  Now that does seem
like a significant approach to eliminating or at least controlling the
scourge of deadly cancer in that class of ferrets that are reproductively
altered prepuberty (5 weeks of age) and thereby severely inhibited in the
maturation of their immune system.
 
With respect to the influence of diet on hair color, I've experienced the
disappointing loss of red-cinnamon haired ferrets their most unusual color
after being placed on my meat-vegetable stew, brewer's yeast/garlic/onion
soup for several months.  It is apparent to me that some colors of ferrets,
when that color is a function of malnutrition, do display their true color
following the continual consumption of LUMPS (Lipinski's Ultimate Porridge
Soup).  It was quite amazing to me that diet seemed to play such a
significant role in the pigmentation of the hair shaft.
 
Edward Lipinski @ Ferrets NorthWest FNW        Candide et caute. [L.]
With candor and caution.
[Posted in FML issue 2629]