QUESTION:

My Chloe is almost 6. She is a trooper! She has had adrenal disease for about 3 years now. She has been through hypoglycemia, heat stroke, and the loss of our other ferret about 1 year ago. She is currently bald and has dry skin, but she is still beautiful. I am currently concerned because of her intense grooming of herself and any other living creature around her (such as our cats and my fiance and I). It is getting out of control. She hurts them and us by biting our skin and pulling out our hair. She wants to groom our hair on our head, our eyelids and brows, even our feet. She does not stop. She also has been whimpering lately when I hold her. I don't know what to do for her. On top of it,her back legs are failing. They stick out like flippers. I am sobbing as I am writing this to you but I don't know what to do. Is it her time? Why does she want to constantly groom us? She has never acted like this before until about maybe 6 months ago. She is obsessed with it and it hurts. What do I do? Have you ever heard of this or experienced this before?

Please help us if you can. I cannot find any information on this unusual behavior.

ANSWER:

It is not unusual behavior for a ferret with adrenal disease. The sex hormones are working overtime and she thinks she is pregnant, or caring for her young. What have you done for the adrenal disease, did she have surgery previously, or have you ever given her Lupron or Melatonin?

The back legs are giving out most likely because she has Insulinoma, you speak of her having hypoglycemia which is caused by Insulinoma most of the time, what are you giving her for that? If she was diagnosed with Insulinoma did the vet start her on Prednisone? Are you giving her supplemental feedings of Baby food? If her sugar is low then she needs the extra protein to bring it up and level it off, the baby food will help with that. Remember her actions are due to her health problems and once treatment is started she will return to normal.