I think my ferret has adrenal gland disease...

[PingPongPony]

Hi all.
I think my male ferret has adrenal gland disease. He's lost all the hair on his tail, we did go to the vets when that happened, she told us to put sudocream on it but that she doesn't think its anything serious. He's now losing hair all over his back and chest, he's also itching more and has got little scabs on his back. I've booked him in for a visit on Tuesday to a ferret specialist so we shall hopefully have some proper answers then. But I just don't know what to think and do Does anyone have any experiences with the adrenal gland disease???? Whats the cost for the injections or the surgery???
I only got the pair (also have a female), they're both spayed/neutered, in January so this is awful knowing that there's something wrong and if it is the adrenal gland disease, I doubt that my parents will pay for surgery or injections which will need to be repeadted every 2-4months for the rest of the ferrets life.
I am hoping that it is some sort of allergy to something, as my female ferret has started losing her hair on her tail, and since they live together and eat same things I'm hoping its some sort of allergy.
Any ideas or experiences?

 

[jinglejoys]

If you are on FB try https://www.facebook.com/FerretWorld?fref=ts

 

[jodie3]

my lovely ferret lost all the hair on his tail after he moulted one year and it never grew back. It wasn't adrenal disease though as he had no other symptoms.

Have you ruled out a flea allergy or a reaction to something in your carpets?

 

[twiggy2]

losing the hair on the tail is normal for male ferrets it happens once per year in the majority of them.
having said that if both ferrets are losing hair it may be mites or lice.
have you treated them for fleas at all?

do they have any little orange patches/scabby bits?
what bedding do you use?

 

[PingPongPony]

yes, they do have little orangey patches/scabby bits, what is it???
Bedding wise, they have a huge cage outside, so the floor is all wood, they poo on newspaper and in their bed they have blankets and a hammock. They do live outside, and I have found a tick on him last week, we got it taken out and we're picking up frontline for them from vets on Tuesday.

 

[twiggy2]

sounds like harvest mite, you would be better using advocate rather than frontline as it treats mites and lice and frontline does not. make sure you wash all bedding and use demodex spray on the cage too

 

[twiggy2]

sounds like harvest mite, you would be better using advocate rather than frontline as it treats mites and lice and frontline does not. make sure you wash all bedding and use demodex spray on the cage too

that should read 'INDOREX' spray demodex is mange duh, sorry