>I have 3 girls, all between 4-5 years old.  Two of them have had drastic
>hair loss in the past 2 weeks.  The third one (usually my problem girl)
>shows no signs of any of this) Sadie received her vaccinations about 3
>weeks ago but Monkey has had no changes that I can recall.  Sadie had
>drastic hair loss on her tummy overnight.  Two weeks later, I see no sign
>of new hair growth.  Monkey lost a good deal of her hair on her back.  It
>is not really at the base of her tail like classic adrenal disease, but
>more in the middle of her back.  On both girls it occurred within a matter
>of 1-2 days.
 
Dear Jean:
 
With rapid hair loss over a period of days - you generally don't put
adrenal at the top of your list.  A couple of days ago on the FML we talked
about "telogen effluvium", a condition folowing a severe stress in which
hair falls out at a rapid rate (however, it usually comes back very
nicely).  Adrenal disease is due to a slow gradual increase in estrogen in
the bloodstream, which causes progressive changes in hair follicles.  It
doesn't happen overnight, and rarely in a matter of weeks.  (However, I
have to put a disclaimer on this, as many owners don't notice the early
changes, but only when it has reached a critical point, and so it happens
"overnight." Present company excluded of course.!!!
 
In this case, let's wait a while and re-evaluate in 3-4 weeks.  New hair
should be coming in at that point.  If not, or other signs of adrenal
disease appear, such as a swollen vulva, then we can do the adrenal panel
at UT, or if the signs are characteristic enough, we can do surgery.
 
>Sadie also had a bump removed from her shoulders which came back as a
>severe allergic reaction.  Obviously, I think that this might have
>something to do with her hair loss but the bump was present 4-6 weeks
>prior to the drastic hair loss and Monkey never showed had anything like
>this.  If anyone, Dr. Williams included, has any ideas on this, I would
>appreciate your input.
 
Actually, these lumps are not an allergic reaction per se, but they are a
reaction to the vaccine.  Sometimes, the vaccine material gets trapped in
the lower layers of the skin, and does not disperse well.  The ferret will
then mount a local reaction (as opposed to a systemic reaction which is
what we try to achieve), and cause a localized granulomatous vaccine
reaction.  While the reaction would eventually dissipate on its own, it
may take months or even years, as the body tries to wall off this foreign
material.  Chance are that in spite of this reaction, your ferret has been
successfully vaccinated, and the reaction is more cosmetic than anything
else.  However, as dermal tumors can present the same way, as a lump, you
and your vet were correct in having it removed and analyzed.
 
>Additionally, if anyone could help with the correct benadryl dose for
>allergic reactions, that would help also.  I have 12.5mg per 5ml.  Monkey
>weighs 1 pound (a little girl) and Sadie weighs 1.5 pounds.
 
The dose is 2 mg per feret - so we are looking at about 0.8 ml.  It is very
safe in ferrets, so if you wanted to round up to 1 ml.  that would be fine
also.
[Posted in FML issue 3224]