To Karen Vance:
 
> a little after her third birthday, she swelled up again, and has been
>so for two or three weeks.  So far, only normal spring hair loss.
>Well, she's back inside now.  (They all come inside when it gets hot.)
> Could we have bits of misplaced ovarian tissue causing this?  Or is
>it more likely the usual ferret disorder?  She'll have to start with
>blood work on Tuesday, no doubt. I'm wishing her condition would just
>recede since I brought her in.  BTW she smells outrageous, while the
>others are odor-free.
 
    Karen - this really sounds like adenal problem to me.  The frequency
of ovarian remnants is vastly overestimated.  We often see a waxing and
waning pattern of hair loss which coincides with a seasonal cycle - but
the hair loss becomes more and more severe with each cycle.
 
    Check and see if your vet knows about the adrenal screen available
at the University of Tennessee endocrinology department.   This will
help to nail down the source of the problem - anyother option though is
simply to go in and look for either an enlarged adrenal or the elusive
(mythical?) ovarian remnant...
 
Bruce Williams
[Posted in FML issue 1194]