Adrenal Disease
by Margaret Merchant
I bet that all of us have wondered at one time or another if the missing hair on our ferret is due to adrenal disease. Go to any ferret forum and you will see anxious owners asking for opinions about thinning hair or hair loss on their ferret’s tail, the most common place for adrenal disease hair loss to occur. Many times, the missing hair is due to some other cause, but the anxiety of this disease remains.
This is Freddy around three years old, a healthy happy boy.
Adrenal glands are extremely small in a ferret, about the size of a pinhead when normal. However, for unknown reasons, these glands will sometimes develop abnormally and become enlarged. This enlargement is not necessarily cancerous, but the affects are the same. Due to the enlargement, the glands produce higher levels of hormones than normal, which can lead to many changes in the ferret.
The classic symptoms of adrenal disease are hair loss at the base of the tail, which is where the tail in anchored to the body of the animal. This can start out like a cigar band of missing hair, with full hair everywhere else on the ferret. Many times owners will see thinning hair all over the tail, or on the end of the tail. Most of the time this type of hair loss is actually due to blackheads. It is easy to tell the difference: with blackheads the skin will have small dark spots all over it, making the skin look rather brown and dirty, adrenal disease will be missing the black spots and the skin looks pink. Along with the hair loss, other signs include a swollen vulva in females and dribbling urine in males.
Freddy developed adrenal disease at age 5
However, many times the ferret will not exhibit these so-called “classic” symptoms. Females do not get a swollen vulva all the time, or if they do, it can swell and then return to normal size, even cycle between the two. If you are not sure the vulva is swollen, then it probably isn’t. Most owners worry because they have never seen a swollen vulva and they don’t recall the regular appearance of their ferret’s vulva. There will be no doubt when there is swelling. But as I said, this doesn’t always occur or it can come and go.
The dribbling urine in males is sometimes hard for owners to detect. And again, it isn’t always there. But if you pick up your male and his tummy seems wet most of the time, he may be dribbling urine.
As for hair loss, again you may not see the classic cigar band ring on the tail of your ferret. Ferrets do not necessarily have any hair loss at all, or it can come in a variety of ways. Some ferrets will exhibit all over thinning of hair, making the loss harder to notice. Eventually the coat just seems much less full than normal. Or many times you will notice hair loss around the shoulder blades of the ferrets, or on top of the head. I have seen this in both males and females.
The skin on a ferret dealing with adrenal disease usually gets a pinkish, almost feverish look to it. It also becomes very thing and wrinkly looking, much like the skin of an older person. Part of the wrinkly look may be due to weight loss that is not yet severe. You may also notice more scraps and scratches on your ferret, since the skin is thin, it is also more prone to injury.
You may also notice that your ferret has a stronger smell to them, especially around the ears. Adrenal glands are in the endocrine system, which can affect many different aspects of health in the ferret. Oil and scent production may be involved. Some ferrets can get as stinky as a whole animal in heat.
It is common for female ferrets to have a discharge from their vulvas with adrenal disease. If the vulva is swollen, it can also easily get an infection from contact with dirty litter.
Males with adrenal disease are also prone to enlarged prostate glands, which if left untreated can impede and then stop the normal flow of urine from the bladder.
Another change is in the teats of the ferret. They are normally not something you notice unless you look for them, but in a ferret suffering with adrenal disease, they are noticeable when you rub their bellies. You will feel little raised nubs. I have felt this on both males and females.
The general activity of the ferret may become more active, but unproductive. They seem to run around more, just move more, rather than relaxing. Think of when you get anxious and have trouble sitting down, this seems to be what is going on with them. Normally cuddly ferrets get less so, appearing to be more generally agitated.
Along with this agitation, you may notice a change in the bowel habits of the your ferret. I have seen a tendency to have less formed poops, mainly with the seedy appearance that comes with rapid transit of food through the intestinal tract. As the disease goes on, this may move into chronic diarrhea.
As the ferret looses weight, the shoulder blades and hipbones with become
more pronounced, giving the ferret a “bony” look to them.
Worried that your ferret may have adrenal disease? There is a blood panel
that is available to vets that give the levels of hormones in the ferret’s
blood. However, this test is not always indicative of what is going on with
the ferret. Many times the best way to diagnose a possible case of adrenal
disease is by the symptoms that I have listed above, coupled with exploratory
surgery.
Surgery is a very effective cure for adrenal disease, if the ferret is otherwise healthy. I have had all ages of ferrets undergo surgery with great success. The affected adrenal gland is removed (there are two glands). Normally the size of a pinhead, these glands can become quite large, approaching the size of a chickpea or greater.
If for some reason surgery is not an option, you may decide to use the drug Lupron, which suppresses the production of hormones caused by the adrenal glands. Lupron is normally given monthly at the start and then on a decreasing schedule. While this makes it easy on the ferret, and can be effective, it is also expensive for most owners. I have heard of shots ranging in price from $15 U.S. to $90 U.S. Much of this is based on availability to the veterinarian and also how much of the drug the veterinarian will use. It comes in a larger bottle, which once opened must be used within a short time. Since the quantity is much more than any single ferret may use, the owner may have to pay a higher price in order to get the drug for their ferret.
Another treatment that ferret owners are trying is Melatonin. This herbal treatment may be familiar to many as a way to help regulate sleep. Giving 1 mil daily to a ferret seems to also suppress the overproduction of hormones in the ferret, also reversing many of the symptoms of the disease such as hair loss. While more work for the ferret owner, it may also be a more economically available treatment for owners to check into.
Whatever treatment you decide to pursue, you can easily make your ferret more comfortable living with this disease. Don’t let your own anxiety stop you from seeking advice and treatment for your beloved companion.
For some great information and a wide variety of technical information on adrenal disease, be sure and visit these sites: