I have a couple of questions myself on the topic of tail hair loss. Years ago, Pokey (male REW) lost ALL of the hair on his tail. The vet did an exam, skin scrapings, etc., and shrugged it off as something hormonal; nothing we could do. Next coat change, back came the hair, thicker and purdier than ever. He never had another problem with hair loss for the rest of his life. Currently I have a couple kids with thinning tail hair, but no total baldness. In recent years I've heard a lot about the role of blackheads in this hair loss, but for some reason I haven't seen much about it in the major publications. Ferrets magazine has a "Vet Q&A" section (with Karen L. Rosenthal, DVM), and in the July/August issue, someone asked her about tail hair loss. She gave two possible reasons for the loss; adrenal disease and normal seasonal coat changes. She made no mention of skin problems or blackheads. Is this a major blunder on the part of this vet, and others? Also, many here on the FML have spoken of using medication creams & shampoos to cure the skin problems that cause the hair loss. I understand that even if the creams do work, the hair won't grow back again until the next coat change. If this is true, then should the creams & shampoos be considered a preventative measure, before the hair loss? Michael (Bluejay), Flower, Chester, and the French Dalton Gang P.S. The thugs are still controlling my house. : ( Thanks go out to Monica for her suggestions; but how do you folks with 20-something fuzzbutts deal with downright mean behavior of the bullies toward the others? I'm only dealing with a group of 5, and there are 3 bullies in the bunch, one of which doesn't get along with the other two as well. With a couple dozen, the idea of separate play-times really doesn't seem feasible. Is separate time out how you deal with it? Bob? Sukie? Ela? What about those of you with free-range ferts? I'd really like to integrate all 5 into one large cage, but not if it's going to terrorize Flower & Chester. "Ignorance is nine-tenths of the law." http://members.tripod.com/~michaeljay Web design AND language translation! http://www.wkgroup.com/mots-et-image Visit The Bridge Coffeehouse! http://www.geocities.com/SoHo/Cafe/9636/index.htm [Posted in FML issue 2387]