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Post by Deleted on Jul 23, 2014 19:20:28 GMT -5
OK its hard to get pictures showing the difference, because he decided to be a wiggly butt. But you'll have to take my word for it that the fur used to be thicker than this. Normal fur on his back - he looks 100% normal.  His tummy:   Base of tail:   His leg:  I've also only noticed this recently and I'm wondering to anyone who has dealt with adrenal if this looks like it, or if I should wait a few weeks and see if its a weird shed. (I'm not really seeing him shedding anywhere else though, and it doesn't come off in my hands that much.) He's also been a lot sleepier lately, but I almost want to chalk that up to me working more so he's more used to having to wait in his cage all day till I get home to let him out. He's having a blast in his dryer duct tube atm and still has crazy energy most days. He's 4.5years old now if that helps. |
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Post by Heather on Jul 23, 2014 21:03:20 GMT -5
He's the right age to get adrenal. Lethargy is indeed a symptom as is patterned shedding. Can you give a photo of him as an all over picture. Hold him up so we can see him from top to bottom both front and back?  similar to this. This is Lady "B" and she was adrenal. I don't think the pic shows her full length but if you could do this, we could better see the pattern of the shedding. ciao |
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Post by Heather on Jul 23, 2014 21:05:31 GMT -5
Good it is a whole ferret photo. Notice her belly (hair thinning), her toes are also naked, she's also loosing fur under her arm pits. I can't seem to find her back photo but I have one like that too. I was documenting hair growth with her because she was one of my first ferrets to get an implant
ciao
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Post by Deleted on Jul 23, 2014 22:12:04 GMT -5
 I don't have anyone to help me take a picture and he hates sitting still so this is the best I could manage (he's reaching up to give me kisses on my chin  ). He hasn't lost any fur on his back though, that's probably why I only first noticed the hair loss a few days ago. It's still pretty minor so thats why I'm in the stage of "is it something to worry about or not". His fur on his back, when you separate it you can't see any of the pink skin, you can just see white. He also had a weird shed last time (midwinter) he changed coats, though it mostly affected the end of his tail & got lots of blackheads. I just rinsed his tail off every week and it grew out normally with the rest of his coat. Here's a picture from about 2.5years ago - you can see his tummy was very white, you could hardly see the pink skin except for a few areas which have always been like that.  He's a more recent picture (sometime within the last 8months) of what his tummy normally looks like:  |
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Post by Deleted on Jul 23, 2014 22:27:57 GMT -5
Omg you know what... going through the pictures has really hit me hard - he no longer has his clearly defined zipper, and I can see the flabby armpit skin   The pictures might be hard for you guys to see because the guard hairs are still there, and its not a huge amount of hair loss yet.... but the white undercoat is so far gone by his armpits & his lower belly.... The difference from his old pictures really is significant..... And both of those older pictures were his summer coat too... which isn't even as fluffy as his winter coat is. |
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Post by nancyl on Jul 23, 2014 23:28:40 GMT -5
I'd call that adrenal myself. It looks like a pretty typical pattern especially when you say he went through a period with blackheads and a non-normal shed. Others may not agree with me but I've never seen a case of blackheads that was not a precursor to adrenal.
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Post by Sherry on Jul 24, 2014 8:32:13 GMT -5
That appears to be adrenal to me as well.
Go to the adrenal sub board in medical. Second page has a pic of my Zeus that looks a lot like your's, just more advanced.
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Post by unclejoe on Jul 24, 2014 13:12:17 GMT -5
I'd call that adrenal myself. It looks like a pretty typical pattern especially when you say he went through a period with blackheads and a non-normal shed. Others may not agree with me but I've never seen a case of blackheads that was not a precursor to adrenal. I agree with you. All of our adrenals have got rat tail as what I now consider to be a first sign of adrenal. Every ferret that had rat tail ended up with adrenal, but there was one that did not have it first. Eddie had rat tail come and go twice before he showed any other signs. |
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Post by Heather on Jul 24, 2014 15:54:17 GMT -5
That last pic is of an adrenal ferret...sorry. A DES implant used with a melatonin implant will help him a lot.
ciao
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Post by Deleted on Jul 24, 2014 17:12:35 GMT -5
Thanks everyone - the hair loss was really quite rapid over the past 2weeks, though at first I thought he was just shedding at an odd time and the pattern wasn't so obvious.....
Anyways he's got a vet appointment booked for next thursday - the soonest they had an opening & I wasn't working during clinic hours. He doesn't seem to realize he's sick yet, other than sleeping a little more, so hopefully he'll be fine till then. I already spoke to the staff and they keep the des implant in stock which is likely the treatment I'm most inclined to go with. The clinic is greenwood animal clinic for anyone in Toronto with experience with them.
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Post by katt on Jul 24, 2014 18:27:23 GMT -5
That's good they keep Des stocked. Hopefully they'll give him an implant that day. Melatonin seems to help with hair regrowth better than Des, so as Heather said you may consider getting a melatonin (also called Ferretonin) implant done at some point too. Des of corse is much better at treating the actual disease though, so still do Des regardless. He'll need a new implant every 9 months or so. :/
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Post by Deleted on Jul 24, 2014 21:04:16 GMT -5
That's good they keep Des stocked. Hopefully they'll give him an implant that day. Melatonin seems to help with hair regrowth better than Des, so as Heather said you may consider getting a melatonin (also called Ferretonin) implant done at some point too. Des of corse is much better at treating the actual disease though, so still do Des regardless. He'll need a new implant every 9 months or so. :/ Is the melatonin just for aesthetics? Or does it help with the disease? Can they both be implanted at the same time? The loss so far is not really that evident - not unless you're looking at the old pics of him anyway, but its really only in the patches between his arms and legs, and extending onto his belly/legs/tail a bit, but when he's playing and stuff he still looks normal. I'll ask the vet what he thinks about melatonin as well. |
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Post by Heather on Jul 24, 2014 21:56:14 GMT -5
The melatonin really seems to help with the skin issues and the itchies. Unfortunately, there seems to be an increase in various sores and skin issues with the adrenal diagnosis. The melatonin really seems to help with these issues. It also helps with the regrowth of fur which may seem superficial but the naked ferrets often have sores and other irritants. They also have a tendency toward blocked pores and becoming dirty and requiring more frequent bathing which also seems to lead to more skin issues
ciao
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Post by Deleted on Jul 24, 2014 22:46:29 GMT -5
The melatonin really seems to help with the skin issues and the itchies. Unfortunately, there seems to be an increase in various sores and skin issues with the adrenal diagnosis. The melatonin really seems to help with these issues. It also helps with the regrowth of fur which may seem superficial but the naked ferrets often have sores and other irritants. They also have a tendency toward blocked pores and becoming dirty and requiring more frequent bathing which also seems to lead to more skin issues ciao Ok thanks that makes a lot of sense - I'll make sure to ask on thursday and see if they have it as an option.... depending on cost I may have to wait a bit on it, and I may have to go in for a followup a few months later anyway at which point I could ask for the melatonin then too. |
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Post by katt on Jul 25, 2014 1:47:37 GMT -5
It's usually best to space the two anyways because both use a big needle. Also melatonin has to be redone every 4 months I believe. You can do oral melatonin too, but you have to be really good with the timing.
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