Well, Akira (and I, by extension) are now members of the adrenal club. A couple of weeks ago I noticed that me two year old, neutered, decented male, Akira, had lost the fur around his tail and the fur on his body was thinning out. ACK! I yelped, and scurried off to the vet. My (usual) vet, not being comfortable with anything beyond the basics such as vaccinations for ferrets consulted another vet, who I shall call X, as I can't remember his name anyway. Dr. X said that it was just seasonal shedding, and that three years old was the magic number for hormonal problems. Now since Akira did shed his coat back in mid-September (I remember quite clearly because that's when Judy died, and I was paranoid about any possible sickness at the time), I had my doubts about this diagnosis (I did state to my vet that Akira had shed in Sept.), and sent e-mail to Dr. Williams. Dr. Williams suggested a second opinion, which I got on Wednesday of last week. The vet at the Midwest Bird and Exotic Animal Clinic in Westchester (Chicago Burb) (Plug plug), looked at Ak and said he had a classical set of symptoms for adrenal problems, except for the age. But, he added he is a ferret (and we all know how well they obey the rules). Akira's blood test came out just a touch high on the lymphocyte count, so the vet suggested doing exploratory surgery for the adrenal problem, and taking a biopsy of the lymph node. To shorten this up, Akira got his left adrenal gland removed today. I'm glad I found the FML or I might have believed Dr. X. As it is, I caught it before it went too far (but not as soon as I liked, the right adrenal also looks poorly). Since I don't want Kogeki, the baby bully brat to try to beat up on Ak, I am going to have him in a separate cage for a while. I was also planning on switching bedding so Akira picks up the other three's smell and vice versa. Does this make sense? Anyone have any other suggestions to ease Akira's recovery? Many thanks to Dr. Williams for encouraging me to quit waffling and get a second opinion, and for his article on adrenal problems. Liana Winsauer and the rest of the zoo, especially Akira Monster [log in to unmask] [Posted in FML issue 0715]