Anne, please, do write a detailed post to the FHL as you offered to do. If it is pemphigus this is a good time for a refresher which will happen if the topic comes up, and there certainly may be new autoimmune disease stuff on ferrets of which I am totally unaware, so your posting would help us all. http://fhl.sonic-weasel.org/browse.php?msg=SG513 includes: >While I wouldn't go so far as to say that it was lupus (ferrets have yet >to be truly diagnosed with lupus) our discussion centered around another >autoimmune disease, pemphigus. I think I can speak with authority on >lupus, as I have written book chapters on the subject, and I have seen a >number of cases of autoimmune disease in ferrets, and the two are quite >dissimilar. > >However, what the autoimmune diseases share in common is the fact that >for reasons we don't know, the body begins to produce antibodies against >normal components. In pemphigus, it is against the proteins that hold >the skin together, so it often just comes apart, and you get scab >formation. > >One of the main differences between lupus and pemphigus is that lupus >is generally a systemic disease affecting many organs, including the >kidneys and joints, and pemphigus is pretty much restricted to the skin >and mucus membranes. > >With kindest regards, > >Bruce Williams, DVM [Posted in FML issue 4803]