Hi.  It's me again.  Merlin is feeling much better.  He had his stitches
taken out yesterday.  He is back with everyone else now.
 
I have another question.  Two of our club members have albino male ferrets -
both approximately 4 years old.  Both ferrets have had a fair amount of hair
loss in the past 8 weeks or so.  One club member had just gotten a new
deodorizing spray to be used on the ferret and on the cage.  I think she
said it's called "Ferret Off." She stopped using it and washed the ferret
and cage and the hair loss seems to have stopped.
 
The other club member's ferret is getting more bald all the time.  It
started on the throat, then progressed down toward the stomach - it isn't
complete hair loss in those places, it's in patches.  Now he has lost
splotches of hair near the scruff and in the middle of his back.  The skin
isn't red or inflamed.  He isn't itchy.  He is eating and drinking okay.  He
is using his litter pan okay.
 
About 2 weeks before Rufus started losing his hair, this club member had
gotten two ferrets from one of the other club members that is pregnant and
couldn't take care of the ferrets anymore.  They were in separate cages, but
played together.  Since that time, they have all graduated to the same cage.
She had washed the ferrets and bedding very well.
 
They had the carpet taken out of their kitchen and put in linoleum.  She is
using an Amway product to wash the floor.  She also had an ant problem and
sprayed in the kitchen for ants.  The ferrets are caged in the kitchen, but
the other end of the room from where she had sprayed.  She has also washed
the kitchen floor quite a few times since the new floor was installed.
 
Both of these ferrets have been to the doctor about the hair loss.  He said
if it was adrenal, it would probibly have started at the base of the tail
and then forward from that.  Both of the club members want to find out what
is going on, but want to hold off on surgery if it could be something else.
 
In both cases, it looks like they may be responding to something different
in their environment.
 
Any ideas?
 
Thanks again.
Mary
Peoria Area Ferret Connection
[Posted in FML issue 1695]