Ferret Sudden Hair Loss After Obstruction

My ferret is 5 years old now and last week she had a hairball obstruction that made her lose about half her weight. During this time, I moved her into a room closer to mine and took her to the vet the next day. The vet (who hadn't even felt her abdomen to rule out obstructions) diagnosed her with insulinoma (blood sugar 47) and gave me predisone which I gave to her for about a week (1cc twice a day.) However, she passed the obstruction (hairball) last week on Christmas morning (talk about your happiest christmas presents) and started eating kibble the same morning (she would not touch anything other than thin chicken broth for several days while obstructed, not even duck soup.) I stopped giving her predisone about a week ago. Then, this week, she started rapidly losing hair, leaving only a thin undercoat. Within 3 days she lost all her overcoat. Under her thin undercoat, there is the blueish color of new hair growth, but she seems to be still rapidly shedding. Is this because of the prednisone being stopped suddenly? Or havign starved for about a week? Is it due to moving her into another room which may have different lighting? Could she have an agressive adrenal tumor?
Please help!

[Aleda M Cheng, D.V.M., C.V.A]

Your ferret could have adrenal disease and an insulinoma because they are both very common in the ferret.  The most common symptom of ferret adrenal disease is hair loss.

Unknown factors cause the pituitary gland to secrete excess sex hormones even in the spayed or neutered animal.  The imbalanced sex hormones cause the adrenal gland into over production of it's hormones, one of which causes hair loss.  

In addition to hair loss the excess secretion of estrogen in female ferrets also causes the vulva to enlarge.  An enlarged vulva can be determined by your veterinarian and is an important clue to this disease.

Most adrenal tumors in ferrets are benign, as follows:

Nodular hyperplasia , which is benign, occurs 56% of the time
Adrenocortical adenoma occurs (also benign) 16 % of the time
Adrenocortical adenocarcinoma occurs 26% of the time (this is the malignant one).

Diagnosis of adrenal tumors includes: abdominal ultrasound, blood tests of hormones and exploratory surgery.

Treatment for adrenal tumors is surgical removal of the tumor or tumors.  

Since there is also a possibility that your ferret could have an insulinoma, it would be best for your veterinary surgeon to check for this if you decide to have surgery.

Before you do anything please find a vet who specializes in exotics for the best diagnosis, treatment, and outcome!