Hi
I lurk on this list between semesters. . .when I have more than 2 minutes a
day to myself :-)
 
My kids and I took our wonderful 2.8 year old male MF ferret Pogo to the vet
because his stools were soft and he started going "anywhere" instead of his
litterbox.  She did fecal sample, found no evidence of bad bugs and
prescribed an antibiotic anyway.  He is fine in this sense.
 
Pogo also has lost about 1.5 inches of hair on the bottom of his tail. . .
one one side only. The vet gave me the "adrenal problems due to inbreeding"
talk.  Her options were:
1. ignore the problem, end up with bald ferret who will probably develop
   other problems
2. $75 blood test, sent to University of Tennessee which could positively
   tell whether or not this was adrenal tumor.  In addition a glucose test
   would be done to rule out pancreatic problems.
3. Exploratory Surgery.  This will cost $350 to $400.  If there is no
   adrenal problem visible she recommends removing the left gland (says
   statistically this is where most of the problems are) anyway.
4. Ultrasound.  This will cost about $150.  The technician/vet who does this
   visits once a month at my vet's clinic.  If nothing is found this does
   not conclusively prove that Pogo doesn't have a tumor. . .  just that
   she can't see it.
 
I told her I would check into things before we made a choice.  My 13 year
old son almost got sick as we left the vets office thinking of surgery on
Pogo (his love in life.) He said "Mom, I'd rather have Pogo bald than have
exploratory surgery.  What if he died and they didn't even find anything
wrong." My 9 year old daughter was equally as affected.
 
I asked the vet if this hair loss could be an "adolescent" thing.  She said
she has never heard of hair loss on the tail being a common adolescent
ferret occurrance.  She said Pogo was no longer an adolescent at 2.5 years
of age anyway.  He is an old guy by ferret standards (I hope not!) Pogo has
no "little black dots" I've heard described by others on this list as being
present in adolescent hair loss on the tail.
 
What should we do??  Is hair loss on the end of the tail indicative of
adrenal problems. . . or is it the base of the tail??  Pogo shows no other
signs of problems.  He is eating well, energetic, pouncing, chasing, etc.
No other fur has been lost.
 
Any advice would be appreciated. . . we live in Irving, TX.
 
Thanks from
Debbie and Dennis (Mom and Dad)
Nick, Tony and Sabrina (human kids)
Pogo (child of Nick, Tony and Sabrina, Grandchild of Debbie and Dennis)
[Posted in FML issue 1939]