Does your ferret have a rat’s tail?
I know how scary it can be to worry about hair loss on the tail of a ferret.
The first thing which comes to mind is adrenal disease. However, for the most part, if your ferret has adrenal problems, the hair loss starts at the base of the tail and moves up on either side of the spine.
Rat’s tail is when the tail is bald from the tip up.
I’ve been asked by several readers how to clean up a ferret’s tail as quite often they see blackheads on the skin and there are also scabby areas due to their ferret biting the naked tail as it’s so itchy there.
Well, a member of my forum has given us a great tip. Her ferret got a naked, scabby tail which, as you can imagine, caused a lot of stress and worry. There was the fear of adrenal disease and blood tests, etc, but at the end of it, a ferret vet suggested the hair loss might be caused by an allergy.
He suggested that she gets a tube of Ungvita, a product which is available at any chemist here in Australia and most probably available at any drug store in the States and any pharmacy in England …
It’s a Vitamin A ointment which is for mothers & babies – good for cradlecap, dermatitis, etc – so very safe to use and she was told it wouldn’t harm her ferret if it licked the ointment off her tail.
Before and after photos show the change…
So, there you go. If you find your ferret has a ratty looking tail, go and get a tube of Ungvita and put it on its tail daily. It should only take a week for you to see an improvement, with the fur growing back 
Other articles you might like;
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- The Ferret Squad
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- Happy New Year to All My Ferret Friends :)
- Merry Christmas to all ferret owners out there :)
- Naughty ferrets or complacent ferret owners?
- Dig box for ferrets
- Do ferrets get moody?
- Ferrets and a new drug called EBC-46
- I hope my ferret Mojo doesn’t have adrenal problems!
Filed under: Ferret Health • Ferrets as Pets
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Hmm I wonder if this works for their shaved legs!!! My Annabelle’s legs are still bald from surgery!
Hi, I recently adopted a little girl named Coco and her owner said that she thinks it\’s rat tail because she has hair loss on her tail, so I asked my mom to go buy this stuff for her and I will leave another reply to tell you if it worked!
Oh Emily, I hope it does work for Coco. Thanks so much for letting me know and I look forward to hearing what you think of it
Question !!!??? My BoBO’s hair lose is on the bottom of the tail & on his Belly. I have seen rat tail. It’s the hair lose on the belly that has me wondering, what it is. I have a vet appointment for him & I’m asking for blood work to be done. None the less never seen Adernal start on their bellies & under the tail.
JC – please let me know how BoBo after his vet’s appointment, won’t you. It’s such a worry and I hope everything goes well for him.
I am also a ferret owner and it really scares me when my pet is getting sick or having a hair loss and all that. Thanks for this kind of post you get to know what to do when that kind of circumstances happen. I am also a ferret enthusiast and I also love giving information about taking care of ferrets.