I have a couple of questions myself on the topic of tail hair loss.  Years
ago, Pokey (male REW) lost ALL of the hair on his tail.  The vet did an
exam, skin scrapings, etc., and shrugged it off as something hormonal;
nothing we could do.  Next coat change, back came the hair, thicker and
purdier than ever.  He never had another problem with hair loss for the
rest of his life.  Currently I have a couple kids with thinning tail hair,
but no total baldness.  In recent years I've heard a lot about the role of
blackheads in this hair loss, but for some reason I haven't seen much about
it in the major publications.  Ferrets magazine has a "Vet Q&A" section
(with Karen L.  Rosenthal, DVM), and in the July/August issue, someone
asked her about tail hair loss.  She gave two possible reasons for the
loss; adrenal disease and normal seasonal coat changes.  She made no
mention of skin problems or blackheads.  Is this a major blunder on the
part of this vet, and others?  Also, many here on the FML have spoken of
using medication creams & shampoos to cure the skin problems that cause the
hair loss.  I understand that even if the creams do work, the hair won't
grow back again until the next coat change.  If this is true, then should
the creams & shampoos be considered a preventative measure, before the hair
loss?
 
Michael (Bluejay), Flower, Chester, and the French Dalton Gang
 
P.S.  The thugs are still controlling my house. : (  Thanks go out to Monica
for her suggestions; but how do you folks with 20-something fuzzbutts deal
with downright mean behavior of the bullies toward the others?  I'm only
dealing with a group of 5, and there are 3 bullies in the bunch, one of
which doesn't get along with the other two as well.  With a couple dozen,
the idea of separate play-times really doesn't seem feasible.  Is separate
time out how you deal with it?  Bob?  Sukie?  Ela?  What about those of you
with free-range ferts?  I'd really like to integrate all 5 into one large
cage, but not if it's going to terrorize Flower & Chester.
 
"Ignorance is nine-tenths of the law."
 
http://members.tripod.com/~michaeljay
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[Posted in FML issue 2387]