Dear Fellow Fuzzy Lovers,
 
I'm not a subscriber to the FHL, nor do I plan to be anytime soon, but
I thought that some other vigilant ferret parents might be interested
in hearing my MJ's story.  MJ is just a little over a year, and is very
easily overcome by colds, the flu, pneumonia, etc.  So naurally, I pay
extra attention to her, because I don't want to lose her.  Earlier this
year, my house had a flea outbreak, which still continues but to a much
lesser extent now, and I treated my lil angel with a few drops of
Frontline Plus (CAT) to kill the little pests.  After a few months, I
switched to Advantage because of an availability issue, and MJ started
losing her hair.  It took me until now to realize that it most likely
was the Advantage that caused a reaction, but I immediately stopped all
topical flea treatment when I noticed the difference.
 
My first thought was the worst.  Could my baby girl be adrenal?  Her hair
loss was in an odd pattern, consisting primarily of the undercoat on her
body and the guard hairs on her head.  Her tail is prone to blackheads,
so she was already missing the bottom coat there.  I switched her off of
her previous food to Totally Ferret, having been given information (don't
know if it's reliable), that fed regularly TF can help ferrets produce a
natural flea repellent.  However, months went by since stopping the
Advantage, and still no new hair.
 
Sooooo, I called my vet, made an appt. a month in advance to check my
baby for adrenal problems, and decided that I would try the Frontline
again, just to give her some relief from the itch.  Lo and behold, a week
after administering the Frontline, the fleas were gone and in came that
damn undercoat.  She passed the vet check with a clean bill of health,
adrenal disease free.
 
Here is my thought on the matter, and you can feel free to e-mail me
or post your opinions here.  I think that the hair loss was definitely
an allergy.  Whether that allergy was to the Advantage or to the
anticoagulant in flea saliva I couldn't tell you.  I will say that I
treated my other three ferrets the same way and had no reactions from
them.  I'd be curious to know if anyone has had similar problems with
topical flea products.
 
Sincerely,
Sara, MJ, Nibbles, Gizmo, and Oracle
 
P.S. Please do not complain to me about my use of topical flea products.
I know that they have not been fully approved by vets, but I use them at
my own discretion and have had pretty good luck except for this one case.
[Posted in FML issue 4315]