Let me preface this by saying that Hope has a vet appiontment first thing
Monday morning.  Maybe someone on this list can offer advice on a similar
experience, or simply some good questions to ask the vet.  Any input is
greatly appreciated.
 
I noticed Hope's tail looked a little thinner than usual last week.  It
just didn't look as "fluffy" as usual.  I looked her over pretty good
and found no real cause for the thinned out look, no blad patches, no
irritation, and really thought it might be due to a seasonal shed.
 
Tonight, her tail has visible bald spots and a bit of irritation.  Some
places are scabbed over, and there is a bit of brown (I know this sounds
awful) ozze in certain places.  I am fairly certain she must have been
biting the areas that are missing hair.  There are literally several
patches of hair missing from her tail, all the way down it.  It seems
like it almost happened overnight.
 
Of course, any type of hair loss tends to unnerve me.  Hope is only a
little over a year old, and this hair loss looks like she has been
chewing out her hair.  She doesn't have any fleas.  She has not had a
bath in the last 2 months.  I have not changed detergents or anything
that I use to wash her bedding.  No change in litter.  No change in
diet.  No change in activity.
 
She is let out of the cage several hours a day, and has a cagemate that
is completely unaffected and has no similiar symptoms.  She does not
fight with her cage mate or our other elderly ferret.  And I have yet to
see her chewing at her tail!  I have been watching her all evening and
she seems completely ambivalent to the oozing tail with scabs all over
it.  She doesn't even have a reaction when her tail is touched.
 
Any ideas?  I am just at a loss as to how this could occur so quickly
without a "reason."
 
Mellisa
www.robandmellisa.com/hope
[Posted in FML issue 4222]