I have a female ferret who had symptoms much like what you are describing
in Gidget.  She had no symptoms except a swelling of the vulva.  She was
just over two years old when this happened.  My vet thought that she might
have one of two problems.  Sometimes when ferrets are fixed the ovaries are
not removed completely.  This can cause the ferret to go into heat.  This
is dangerous because the ferret can still suffer from anemia, just as if
she was never spayed.  The other thing that she said it could be was an
adrenal tumor, which can be fatal if not removed.  It turned out to be a
tumor.  My vet did an exploratory surgery to find out what the problem was
and removed the adrenals when she discovered the tumors.  Adrenal tumors
usually cause hair loss, but not always.  I would definitely have Gidget
checked out more thoroughly.
 
--
Serena Renee Cissell
faded skies~*~www.visi.com/~starla/
"Any idiot can face a crisis -
it's this day-to-day living that wears you out." -Anton Chekhov
[Posted in FML issue 2929]