Lynna
Going Natural
Posts: 106
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Post by Lynna on Sept 9, 2008 18:59:27 GMT -5
When I took adam to the vet today she said she noticed he had some hair loss on a small area on his hip. I'll try to take a picture. I noticed he lost his undercoat on his tail a few weeks ago but the base of the tail is fine. The vet agrees that there are blackheads on the tail so I assumed rat tail from stress either shedding or that I could only bring him to ohio to stay with me until I can move into a place where I can officially have pets. I hadn't seen the patch she mentioned before so now I'm worried about possible adrenal. The vet admitted that she doesnt know much about ferrets but wants to learn about them so I'd have to find a more experienced vet for testing possibly. There was also a very small bump on his belly that was kinda red and had her look at (it kinda looks like a nipple ). She said to keep an eye on it but it was probably just a scratch or irritated. He hasn't been agressive or acting any differently but I did take him on a car ride to Akron and back, about 3 hrs one way and he slept the whole time. Or maybe the diet change or just missing the other ferrets? Any advice? **You can only see the patch if you move the fur the opposit of the grain i guess youd call it** for comparison
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Post by Forum Administrator on Sept 9, 2008 19:19:05 GMT -5
This may sound like a random question, but how often (if ever) does Adam eat egg whites? And what does his diet consit of? IF the rat tail (I dunno what the red bump is, sorry) is diet related (and I cant say that it is) it could stem from a lack of or low amount of biotin in the diet, either from the feeding of egg whites in excess (which can cause biotin depletion) or feeding of foods low in biotin as the bulk of the diet.
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Lynna
Going Natural
Posts: 106
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Post by Lynna on Sept 9, 2008 20:46:24 GMT -5
Hes only ever gotten a small portion, the biggest being less than a 1 inch chunk of a frozen whole egg, two or three times with soup.
I leave his kibble out everyday for free feeding and during the later portion of august he was getting his soup every night. His kibble is a mix of evo cat, natural gold, dogswell vitality, wysong archetypal 1, pingford red, afs sprinkles, totally ferret chicken bits, squddies, shrimplings and dehydrated rabbit with bones and organs.
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Post by mustelidmusk on Sept 10, 2008 10:56:18 GMT -5
The rat tail - well, that can happen to ferrets- there's no concrete correlation between rat tail and adrenal. I have 3 "rats" at home right now. The bald spot doesn't seem like adreanl to me - adrenal hair loss is typically bilaterally symetrical....in fact - I've never even heard of adrenal-related hairloss that's NOT bilateral. My Kachina has a permanent bald spot in the same location from one of her escapes from a cage...she got an abrasion (she was obviously stuck/struggling ) and the fur never grew back - the wound was more like a scrape than a cut. The location seems a little high up to be an injection. But if the injection was given to her a s a young kit, perhaps the location seemed to change as she grew older? I see no sign of redness/irritation as though there could be a fungal or bacterial issue. This really doesn't seem like adrenal to me. How old is Adam? -jennifer
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Lynna
Going Natural
Posts: 106
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Post by Lynna on Sept 10, 2008 11:40:24 GMT -5
He's four but everyone who sees him thinks he's a kit for being a little guy. I'm glad to hear that it doesn't sound like adrenal. I had checked the other side too but the fur is normal. The skin isn't red or anything either. I don't currently remember if it looks like fur is trying to grow back. The detail from my camera phone is horrible.
Bacteria or fungal? I'll have to bring up the possibility with her. I don't remember him ever getting a shot in the butt.
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Post by mustelidmusk on Sept 10, 2008 21:39:36 GMT -5
Adam may have been given a shot or bitten on the rump as a baby before you got him. Typically, with fungal or bacterial skin issues, you'll see redness or flaking of the skin. or orange-ish stuff (which can be oily skin without fungus or bacteria). In the case of flakely/oily/reddish/ skin the vet would scrape a a few cells and look at them on a slide. I kind of think it might be something he's had for a long time like Kachina's "butt scar". The bilateral fur loss with adrenal disease usually starts fron the base of the tail and works its way up the rump and onto the back. The fur falls out starting from the spine and spreads "sideways" in both directins fron the spine - kind of like the top of my husband's head (good thing he's not on this forum!!!) If the little red bump is kind of flat and itchy, it may be a mast cell or a basal cell tumor. Neither of these tend to be really bad. But they can itch, get nfected, bleed, get bigger, etc. And, they can eventually metasticize in very rare cases. Keep an eye on the bump to see if it grows and/or starts bleeding. If either happens, you may want to have the vet look at it just to make sure its not something different that's potentially bad. I usually opt for removal when things are very small. Many people leave these types of tumors alone and only remove them if they have to. -jennifer
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Lynna
Going Natural
Posts: 106
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Post by Lynna on Sept 11, 2008 5:34:43 GMT -5
That's a good point. The skin is white and not flakey or orange and it looks like fur is growing in around the area but not so much inside that spot. There are very short guard hairs and a few white furs you can see growing in esp near the upper part of the blad area.
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Post by buzzonesbirdie on Sept 11, 2008 9:06:43 GMT -5
Tootsie has a bald spot on her back right below her neck its about an inch long. She has never had hair there as long as i have had her and i dont know why. Other then that she is fine and not adrenal
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Lynna
Going Natural
Posts: 106
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Post by Lynna on Sept 12, 2008 9:11:30 GMT -5
It's good to hear that. I've never noticed this blad spot in all the time I've had him and with the rat tail happening for the first time it kind of made me worried. The bump on his tummy kinda looks like a very small mole IMO it's not irritated looking anymore. The redness cleared up the day after the vet check and it's about the size of the lead on the pencile. I'm not very concerned about it since it's so little and the vet wasn't either.
Last night though he curled up next to me and put his head on my arm and I was petting his neck and noticed another bump a little to the right of his blaze on the back of his head/upper neck so I'm going to talk to her about it. After that I tried to check over his whole body for any other surprises but I didn't find anything.
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Post by mustelidmusk on Sept 12, 2008 9:21:47 GMT -5
At four years of age, mast cell and/or basal cell tumors are not uncommon....it's the best reason to bathe ferrets... you can look for little skin things more easily . Watch those spots closely to see if they change or get irritated/ulcerated. If they change, you may want to have them checked before your next vet trip. -jennifer
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Lynna
Going Natural
Posts: 106
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Post by Lynna on Sept 12, 2008 10:18:33 GMT -5
Thanks for the info. I will deff be keeping my eyes on those spots. I just thought of this but back in pa he had exposure to natural light cycles and alot less artificial lighting. Since he's been in Ohio he's had very little exposure to sunlight since I only have one window in my room and I keep the blinds closed since I don't want people getting a peep show or anything so all he gets is artificial lights when hes not outside. Could this have something to do with his fur loss also? I try to keep very little lighting on at night but it doesnt usually work out that way. I have thought about getting the distortion window film but I keep forgetting about it.
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Post by suds on Sept 12, 2008 18:20:46 GMT -5
Peep show !! where ? I M not sure if the problems you see with the bumps are from lack of natural light , but I do believe having access to natural light is important , I open all my shades before i leave for work Hershy loves to lay on the window ledge and watch every body go by , but I also make sure they have a few dark places they can go to if they want to sleep , they only get cageg when I am ready for bed ( to many times I woke up from bitten legs under the covers ) and I always cover the cage to keep light out of it . at night .
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Lynna
Going Natural
Posts: 106
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Post by Lynna on Sept 23, 2008 9:50:35 GMT -5
He has alot of dark places to retreat to including under my blankets on the bed. I was more worried about the lack of sun effecting his fur and his normal shedding cycle. Also somethings that I have read about sunlight possibly being tied to adrenal worried me too. I already bought frosted window film that day from home depot and applied it. I'm soo happy with it too.
I had to take him to a vet yesterday since he chipped his right fang pretty badly over the weekend. I'm not sure how he managed it but luckily he can keep his tooth, it just needed to be filed so it wasnt so sharp. The vet also said one of his other fangs were fractured and to keep an eye on his gums/muzzle or for any swelling. She also agreed that the blad patch is a scar and one of the bumps I found worried her a little but she said if anything changes with it we'll be removing it and getting a biopsy but that he was in perfect health otherwise.
She was a very good vet but some things she said were a little odd. She kept asking if I was feeding him "ferret food" and I made it clear that I was feeding a high protine (min 50% for most) and low carb diet and pretty much it didn't matter if it was marketed for cats or ferrets as long as it met my criteria (didnt mention any raw). She also said marshalls ferrets usually get adrenal around 5yrs old which I agreed that many more ferrets in the usa get adrenal vs other countries but she thought he was one because he has a tattoo so i had to explain the difference in tattoos. She also mentioned possibly feeding canned food for weight gain if i wanted to try it. I was just happy that she knew so much about health problems afflicting ferrets vs me having to explain them and then she would have to learn about them on her own before addressing my concerns like with the other vet, even though I liked the fact that she wanted to learn about ferret care, but for $40+ to see a vet who doesnt know about common ferret care is kinda out of my league.
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