Ferret hair loss and weight loss

Question
Our oldest ferret is barely turning a year in a month or two.  The past few days, my husband and I noticed that he was shedding quite a bit and has lost some weight.  He ised to be our largest ferret out of 7, and now he is our smallest, and our youngest is half his age.  When my husband was brushing him to rid him of some of his loose hair, he noticed he had quite a bit.  Without much effort at all, he was able to remove tiny clumps of hair just about everywhere.  He eats nothing but Marshalls brand food, his poop and demeanor are normal so we are confused.  I read about the adrenal gland disease but Im not sure if it is that.  We are worried and willing to do anything and everything it takes to get him back to normal.  He was our first, and as you can see we were beyond pleased....that is how we ended up with 6 more.  We had to let an 8th one go early in the year due to a prolapsed anus (the problems were bigger than normal) and we simply do not want to lose another.  His name is Max and we love him.  Is there anything you can tell us or advise us to do?  Anything you can offer we appreciate.  Thank you for your time.

Answer
Hi Amanda:

First of all, I'm so sorry for the loss of your little guy with the prolapsed rectum. Unfortunately that is a not-so-rare result of the breeders taking baby ferrets from their mommies and feeding them dry kibble long before their little digestive systems can handle it.  You can pass the word to anyone you know who gets a ferret that seems particularly small at the pet store (or if the lot at the pet store seems small) tell them to put water on the kibble and serve it wet. Pet stores don't like to do this because there is a lot of food lost, as it doesn't keep well after it's wet and has to be changed 3-4 times a day.  But prolapsed rectum is almost always the result of a too young ferret being fed dry kibble. Very sad when it is a problem so easily cured. Unfortunately the breeders and pet stores are too anxious to get that buck from the buyer than to care about the welfare of the ferret.  IF it was a Marshall's ferret, I suggest you contact them on their website online and tell them about this. They are really good at not only refunding your money, but also giving stricter guidelines to pet stores and/or re-examining their own shipping times.

Now, to the problem at hand...because it is summertime, the first thing I suspect is that your ferret may be getting overheated. Ferrets should never be kept in a room warmer than 82 degrees MAXIMUM.  If the room is hotter than that, you can place frozen litre size soda bottles in the cage with the ferrets and lay wet towels on the outer edges of the cage and put a fan in the area. Cooling only happens when water evaporates and ferrets don't sweat, so you have to make the wetness with wet blankies that will make cooler air when the moving air from the fan hits it - but remember to keep them good and wet.

Your ferret is a bit young at one year to get adrenal disease, but it wouldn't be impossible.  Adrenal symptoms would likely begin with a loss of fur at the BASE OF THE TAIL, then slowly working its way up the ferret - until the whole ferret can literally become "bald" if treatment isn't sought in a timely fashion.  Hopefully, educated ferret owners recognize it as soon as the ferret gets a bare area just above the tail.

If your ferret is too warm, that could also account for him not wanting to eat.  However, if you have him in a room that is less than 82 degrees and he is still losing weight, you definitely need to get him a vet appointment. A ferret that age should be rambunctious, energetic, eat like a horse and be dancing daily. :-)  If he's not doing that, something is wrong and only a vet can diagnose what - there are just too many things it *could* be for me to even attempt guessing and it wouldn't help your ferret either.

So, my best advice to you is to get a good thermometer and put it near the ferret cage, cool the room better if necesary; and if none of that works, try to get this little guy in to a vet as soon as possible.

My best wishes to you and to him.....let me know what you find out, okay?

Sincerely,

Jacquie Rodgers