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.

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.

I’ve dodged this bullet for SEVENTEEN years!  Imagine that!

Well – actually that’s not entirely true, as Muis my albino girl who developed insulinoma got it at the end of her life but the AGD was as a result of her insulinoma.

You might have read my post about Seamus, when I thought he had AGD and took him for an ultrasound and biopsy, but – thankfully – both found that there was nothing wrong with his adrenal glands.

I must say I was convinced he had adrenal disease, because the hair loss was – according to all I’ve read and heard about – typical. A big blob of hair missing right at the base of the tail, like so …

… You can see where the hair is missing, can’t you?

Another symptom I thought he had was pruritis. He seemed to be itchy, far more than the other three, and excessive itchiness is another wretched symptom of adrenal gland disease (ADG).

The last time I had a ferret who enjoyed rearranging all my books for me was when Kaos was around so I’m wondering if this is a BEW (DEW) fetish or if it’s just a coincidence that both my recent BEWs enjoy removing books

I must say that Spook is settling in extremely well. The only bit of trouble seems to be around 6am every morning, when he and Seamus decide to pounce on each other. There’s a lot of screaming, I think mainly from Seamus, big bottlebrushes on both tails and the smell … oh my! It’s pure whole hob aroma – very yukky – and seems to hang around for quite a while.