Hello everyone at FML!  THis is our first time posting on the FML, so first
a brief introduction: Cornelius (aka Poobah, Corny, the Poo, Poopinator,
Poobela, Corny Louis, Hyperbaric, etc.) is the single child of Alex and Ali,
Massachusetts residents who recently found themselves spontaneoulsy in
possession of a 1.5 year old male sable ferret on the day they became legal
here (odd, because our receipt must have been pre-dated, and his certificate
says he was 2 momnths when we bought him.  Strange ;) ).
 
Unfortunately, we are not writing today to describe all the cute and
intelligent fuzzy things Corny can do, but instead we have a health
concerned question.  About a month ago, Corny developed some small yellowish
patches of hair bilaterally in front of his rear haunches.  Since then they
have progressed up his sides, causing him to look like he has these two
stripes along his sides (one side has a break in the stripe, restarting just
behind his front leg).  Theses areas seem to be itchy, though no itchier
than other areas of him, and he does not scratch anywhere too often.  We
believe that due to the itching in the striped areas, irritation represented
by small red dots at the roots of the hairs has appeared, along with some
slight hair loss.  Also, his underside has gotten very short, bare, and
coarse, with slightly pinker hue than the rest of him.  His appetite seems
fine, though since he has developed this condition, he does not accept his
treats (ferretbites, raisins, banana, ferrtone licks) as often (used to be
always).  He also is having slightly more accidents than usual, though his
recent denial of treats may have decreased the positive reinforcement
factor, since this was our best method of getting him to be a good boy, with
a record of almost two months with no accidents.  There is no change in his
behaviour (though sometimes he does exhibit lethargy), and he does not seem
to be in pain or discomfort.  His stools seem normal.
 
The first time at the vet, the vet just scraped the areas, and found some
slight bacterial and yeast activity (although this wasn't compared to a
nonaffected area).  She prescribed an antibacterial shampoo, which really
annoys the Poo ( he doesn't like the five minute wait).  Two weeks later,
this had no help, and we are going tomorrow for some bloodwork.
 
Some other notes: a month before the stripes started, he had a bad night of
vomiting and nausea; whether this is related I don't know.  Also, this
morning we noticed a sore with dried blood on his belly, and we hope this
was just a minor scrape from one of his escapades, although we've never seen
anything like this before- he was always the indestructible one, and we are
a little worried in light of the stripes.  I've found nothing in the
available literature that exactly corresponds to this situation, and I hope
someone maight be able to shed some light, as our faith in our vet is
limited, as ferrets are new to the state.
 
Sorry about the long letter, I get carried away! (Alex)
Love to all the little poobahs out there.
[Posted in FML issue 1631]