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My vertebra hair is starting to fall out. What could be going on and what can I do?
Optional Information: Pet's Gender: Male Pet's Age: 5 Type of Animal: Ferrett Name of Animal: Raffi Already Tried: Nothing yet
Hello,
Has the hair loss been gradual or has it been rapid?
Is the hair loss on the back or tail?
Is the hair loss symmetrical?
What type of diet are you feeding?
What type of bedding are you using?
Any other issues? Star gazing, excessive salivation, pawing at the mouth or anything else unusual?
Joan
Hair loss has happened rapidly, the hair loss is on lower back and tail. The loss is symmetrical, his food is Marshall premium ferrett diet. Bedding is paper based. No other issues.
It sounds like your boy Raffi is going through a spring/summer Molt. This is not uncommom to see male Ferrets rapidly loose their hair from the tail up. It is a form of Alopecia common to male ferrets. There is no real cause know for this but the hair will return.
Usually in the spring we will see the ferrets loose their whole coat in the molt and the summmer coat will come back it. These molts usually happen twice a year. If there was some of the other symptoms I mentioned I would be more concerned about something hormonal and relating to the Adrenal glands.
This link goes over Hair loss in Ferrets and expalins about the molts and the various reasons and types of molts: http://www.peteducation.com/article.cfm?c=11+2074&aid=543
If Raffi starts showing any other symptoms and starts to get a pot belly along with the hair loss, then I would have Raffi in for a check for Adrenal glands. This goes over hair loss due to an Adrenal Gland issue: http://miamiferret.org/basics.htm
Please let me know if you need firther help or a link to locate Ferret Vets for Raffi.
He has never lost hair like this before. It doesn't seem seasonal because of this.
As I said it may be hormonal or it may be Adrenal issues. If you feel that if could be either hormonal or Adrenal, then a Vet visit will be need for some tests to rule those two issues out. http://www.2ndchance.info/ferretadrenal.htm
This is a link for Ferret Vets: http://www.ferretuniverse.com/vets/vetlist.asp