A ferret friend sent me a link to an article in Pet Wiki about new advances in dog cancer, pointing me to the paragraph written by Dr Ananya Mandal in June 2010, which said …

“Queensland, Australia scientists have discovered a drug to cure cancer that has effectively worked in animals and is to be tried on humans in the next phase of trials. This drug is plant-derived and is called EBC-46 for trial purposes. The plant from which it is obtained is found in the Australian tropical rainforest. The drug has shown to reduce inoperable tumors in 150 dogs, cats and horses and a ferret to a significant extent. The drug was developed over the past six years from the seed of a rainforest plant found in the Atherton Tablelands. Scientists had cultivated their own plantation of the plant since forming the company QBiotics Limited in 2004.

I was looking at Mojo the other day and realised her tail looked like it was losing hair just at the base. Can you see what I mean here …

Her fur looks just a little bit less at the very top of her tail compared with half in inch below. My heart sank. Having thought Seamus had adrenal problems last year, then finding out that Angus definitely had that disease this year and now Mojo?

I turned her on her back and saw her bald patch …

I get a lot of emails from new and old-time ferret owners at my site asking me various questions about their ferrets, mainly asking for advice on what to do when their ferret is sick or asking questions about breeding.

Then a couple of years ago I read about Ferret Health Advancement at MSU.  Dr Matti Kiupel was doing a lot of research in a number of ferret illnesses, like coronaviruses, rotaviruses & coccidiosis. He’s also working with David Wilson researching the prognostication and carcinogenesis of adrenal cortical neoplasms. But, of course, with all things, money is necessary to further the research for these diseases so the department also has a page for donations.

As you know, I’m giving both Angus and Seamus a daily dose each of DHA Omega and it’s obviously helping Seamus, since I can see how he’s perked up since I’ve been giving it to him. Angus has always been full of beans so I can’t state categorically that it’s helping him but I hope it is shrinking his adrenal tumours so that he’ll be with me for many more years!

Since then, I’ve been told about coconut oil being good for pets.

Take a look …. don’t you think he’s looking a whole lot better?

This is the before shot, taken a couple of weeks ago …

and this photo was taken this morning …

As you can see, he’s lost that translucent skin but now he has a yellowish tinge to both his skin and his fur. I don’t know if that is due to the fact that his hair is growing back slowly or if it’s because of the DHA Omega I’m giving him.