My sincerest condolence to Kodo and his family.
 
This is a post on behalf of a ferret owner who has no access to FML.
 
Coo is 1.5 years old, male, origin of New Zealand.  He is short-nosed, so
avoiding anesthesia is desirable.
 
April - Coo wetted the bed while sleeping (not always, but sometimes).  The
owner mentioned this problem when she took him to the vet for ear mite
treatment.   Diagnosed no problem.  Further monitor suggested.  If
continues, come back.  (I don't know what kind of diagnosis was performed
but as of today, July 8, no X-ray or blood work has been done at all.
 
May - back to the vet for vaccination.  Again mentioned the same continuous
problem.  Was diagnosed "no problem" and further monior suggested.
 
June - Wetted the bed three time with a larger amount of urine.  Younger vet
suspected diabetes.  The head vet suspected calculus.  Three people
struggled holding Coo to catherter.  Urine was collected directly from the
bladder and the test paper was subjected to the test machine (I have no idea
what was done.  This is just direct translation from the owner.) Result: no
calculus, pH normal.  no sugar.  Slightly higher white blood cell count but
"no problem", so the vet said.  Except this bed-wetting problem, Coo is
happy.  The vet doesn't know what it is but says this type of ferret (I
don't know what he meant) is castrated 4 days after birth, so hormonals
imbalance could be the cause.
 
Blood work is still undone.  This vet warned the owner (before this
happened) not to anesthetize Coo because he is short-nosed.  Now every time
the onwer implies the necessity of blood work, he says no.  We guess that he
does not want to anesthetize Coo.  His conclusion; " Coo just has a habit of
urinating while sleeping.  We are not convinced.
 
Other info from the onwer.  Coo has a huge belly.  Loosing hair on tail.
Black dots are seen.  Lost hair aournd the shoulder area and hips some time
ago, but now new hair is coming out.  Coo's shedding period does not
coincide with that of other ferrets (from U.S.  living in Japan) It may has
something to do with Coo coming from the southern hemisphere????
 
This post is probably hard to understand but all is second-hand information
to me.  All my ferrets are girls, so I am not too familiar with male
behavior, but isn't urine dribbling one of the signs of adrenal problem?
His hair loss is limited to the tail or not is hard to tell at this moment.
Not very many vets are ferret knowledgeable in Japan.  The owner monitors
Coo every day with a hope of many replies from you all.  You are her and
Coo's last resort.
 
Thank you for your help in advance.
 
Keiko
[Posted in FML issue 1996]