To Sheena Staples:
 
>I have a little sable female rescue (4 1/2 years old) whose tail has gone
>copmpletely bald.  My veterinarian has almost completely ruled out the
>possibilty of an adrenal tumour without going in for exploratory surgery.
>He doesn't want to do this because he doesn't want to cause her undue stress
>in case it's not a tumour (she's really really really small) (did I mention
>she was really small?) .
 
    How has your vet ruled out the possibility of an adrenal tumor.  I hear
this an awful lot, but adrenal disease does not show up on any routine
bloodwork.  Thgere is a special panel available from the Endocrinology
Department at the University of Tennessee that checks for five of the sex
hormones that are released in excess by affected adrenals.
 
    Rather than look for that magic hair replacement, we should try and
figure out what is causing the hair loss.  Just because a ferret is small
does not mean that surgery isn't an option.  Surgery is done of ferrets of
all sizes.
 
Bruce Williams, DVM, DACVP
Dept. of Vet Path, AFIP
[log in to unmask]  OR
Chief Pathologist, AccuPath
[log in to unmask]
[Posted in FML issue 1263]