Hi all!  I don't often post, I'm too busy trying to catch up with all the
reading.  How do the rest of you keep up?
 
First of all I'd like to pass on my heart felt sympathies to those of you
who have recently lost a beloved fuzzies.  I too have lost a loved one and
share in your grief.
 
Now I have a question that I hope someone out there might be able to help me
with.
 
Tippie my Olympic wanna be has a problem that has been going on for well
over a year now.  She scratches constantly.
 
She will be three this year.  At age 1 1/2 she underwent surgery for adrenal
tumor.  Her right (I think) gland was removed and she bounced right back.
Actually the only symptom she had was complete hair loss on her tail.
 
First of all the hair on her tail has never grown back, except for a few
hairs at the very tip.  (like a little flag) About six months after that she
started scratching.  It's not confined to any one area.  She scratches and
chews herself from head to tail.
 
There are no lumps, bumps or rashes on any part of her.  Nor does she have
any sore spots or excema.  She has lots of energy and eats and drinks well.
In fact sometimes I think she is too hyper.  Certainly she has more energy
then my other two ferts.
 
I have had her to the vet on several occasions for this.  The vet has ruled
out skin infections, and we don't have any fleas to speak of in this area.
 
He thought it might be a reoccurrence of the adrenal so he did an
exploratory and found nothing.
 
Then he thought it might be something wrong with her thyroid and so we tried
her on medication for 8 weeks but no difference.
 
She also will occasionally get what I can hot spots, where the skin at the
back of her neck will look reddish for a while.  Also her hair is thin
looking you can see the skin easily.
 
This is driving me and her crazy.  Some days she'll even jump up out of a
sound sleep just to scratch.  I don't know what else to do.  Please if
someone can give me any suggestions as to what might be causing this I will
be eternally grateful.
[Posted in FML issue 1889]