odd shedding pattern

Question

ferret   QUESTION: Hi Jacquie,

I have a question about abnormal shedding.  I have a 3.5 year old late-neutered ferret who is displaying an odd pattern of hair loss/regrowth.  I am completely stumped!  I've done my research on ailments such as adrenal disease, but nothing matches this odd pattern.   

Let me give you a bit of history first.  Every fall my boy gets "rat tail" and looses most of his fur from the base of his tail down to the tip during a coat change.  It happens every season and regrows quickly.  The next October it will happen again like clockwork.  In the past, this process has only affected his tail.  

This season started with the same pattern.  He lost every bit of hair on his tail, and it began to regrow.  Here is the odd part... while that was finished regrowing, he lost every hair from his pelvis to his shoulders!  His new tail fur and shoulders remained.  I began to worry about adrenal disease, but his obscure nakedness only lasted a week before the new coat begin to emerge.

Now for the final part.  He is loosing fur on his shoulders!  It's not naked yet, but it will be soon.  I can see new growth  beginning to peek though the skin.  How bizarre is that?  

Have you ever heard of this?  I've done my research on rat tail, and it seems perfectly normal for some ferrets to experience it. He is acting completely fine besides being partially naked in 1/3 of his body!  I am stumped.

Any ideas would be appreciated.  I have owned many a ferret and never experienced anything like this.  

Thank you so much for your time.



ANSWER: Dear Owner:

I have a ferret who did the same thing. It baffled me for three years. I finally had him go to surgery for adrenal disease. The vet expected to find a huge gland after all the shedding over the past few years and now he was naked on the shoulders and patchy places on his hips, just recovering from rat tail, etc....sounds just like your story.....and the vet couldn't find the gland when she got in there!!  

I was told that a "normal" adrenal gland is about the size of the tip of a pencil. An enlarged one is maybe the size of your thumb!  So, after he recovered from his surgery, we waited (because she had removed some 'strange' looking tissue around the area of the adrenal glands) to see what the hair pattern and urinary difficulties were going to do.  Well, we didn't have to wait long - there was absolutely no change than from before the surgery.

I then put him on the six month LUPRON DEPOT injections and his fur all grew back, his urinary problems stopped within a week or 10 days and he is back to a normal ferret - that was almost two years ago now. So, live and learn (and be out $1,000). Poor little guy; we did what we thought was right and eventually we DID find something that worked.

I don't know if that experience will help you or not, but it's the best I have to offer you. If I were in your shoes, I would put that little guy on LUPRON 6 MONTH DEPOT injections. Hope that saves you $1,000 or so.  :-)  Best of luck to your precious little guy - he looks exactly like my little Gilbert who had the same problem! LOL

Sincerely

Jacquie Rodgers

















































---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: Thank you so much!  I will ask my vet what he thinks of the Lupron trial.  You have not seen any of the symptoms return since?  How odd!  

My ferret was from a private breeder (Shady Hollow) and a late neuter (8 months).  The breeder claims never to have seen adrenal disease in her stock over 20 years.  Of course this does not mean it is not possible... anything can happen.  I will keep a lookout for any other the other adrenal symptoms.  So far he is urinating fine and acting normally.

The other thing that came to mind was stress.  I moved cross country about 3 months ago for school, and the car ride was particularly hard on him.  He spent most of the time scratching and gnawing the cage.  Poor guy.  I would not be suprised if this took a toll on him.  Not only that but I'm 1500 miles south now, so the difference in light/dark might be playing tricks on his pineal gland and messing up the shedding.  There are so many possibilities it is always difficult to pinpoint.

Thank you so much for your time.  It is appriciated!  I had some ideas of what it could be, but I'm hesitant to take him in for an exploratory with such vague symptoms.  I shall definately ask my vet about Lupron though.  It seems a good idea, especially if his shedding follows the same pattern this spring.  

Answer
Well, the good news about adrenal disease is that it's not something that a bit of time will hurt, so continue to monitor and watch for other symptoms. If that trip upset him so much, it's a good chance that could have triggered some self-destructive behavior or nerves made some fur fall out. Definitely worth watching, but not to worry too much at this point.

Sincerely,

Jacquie Rodgers