New chinchillas fur loss

Hi my daughter has recently got 3 new chinchillas mum and 2 daughters the age of them is unknown or there back ground. The lady she got her from has had them a year and that's about as much as we know, when they arrived they were in a very small cage and fed on tesco rabbit food no hay and there sand was more like play sand than chinchilla dust that we use. My concern is the mum is small compared to the two daughters she is missing half an ear and her fur has come out in big clumps. My daughter said when she went to collect them there was a cat climbing up there cage and they had loads of animals. They seem to be doing well we have bought them a large cage changed there food and got some chinchilla dust. They come to my daughter she can now pick them up and they run round her jumping about in a pen. But I was looking at mum today her fur is really bad not to skin but looks really patchy has anyone any ideas on what could be causing this or how to try and make her better

Aloha!

I'm gonna start out with a whole mess of questions, just 'cause it'll tell us way more about them and their health.

How long is "recently" that you've had them? On the right food with hay and actual dust? Do you mind sharing what brand of pellets you've switched them too? It sounds like you are on the right track, but improvements are going to take some time. Feeding the wrong food and no hay could have long lasting health issues. How do their teeth look? Are they a yellowy-orange or an off-white? How much do they weigh (in grams)... Are they gaining, losing or staying steady? Have you seen the momma actually eating pellets and hay both? What about treats?

Like I said, it sounds like you are on the right track, but if she's been on exactly the wrong foods, those effects can take a very long time to start reversing!! Hang in there!

~ Tina

We've only had them 2 weeks and there now being fed natures touch chinchilla food we mixed it at first but they just picked out the new stuff and left there old food! So we just started giving them new stuff. I've seen mum eating and she takes treats and hay. The problem is I think she's getting worse my daughter said she thinks she's lost some fur round her eye and one of the others has a small patch where she's loosing her fur. I've not seen them scratching or anything. My daughter loves them to bits and I'd hate anything to happen to them. But don't want to take them to vets and stress them out more if I don't need to. There teeth are a dark yellow colour. I don't know about weight I wouldn't know how to weigh them.

Keirazak said:

We've only had them 2 weeks and there now being fed natures touch chinchilla food we mixed it at first but they just picked out the new stuff and left there old food! So we just started giving them new stuff. I've seen mum eating and she takes treats and hay. The problem is I think she's getting worse my daughter said she thinks she's lost some fur round her eye and one of the others has a small patch where she's loosing her fur. I've not seen them scratching or anything. My daughter loves them to bits and I'd hate anything to happen to them. But don't want to take them to vets and stress them out more if I don't need to. There teeth are a dark yellow colour. I don't know about weight I wouldn't know how to weigh them.

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Aloha!

Look for a postal scale that weighs in grams. I got mine at a local office supply store for less than $20. Another place to look would be kitchen gadgets. You just want one that does grams as its a smaller increment to measure in. If you can't get them to hold still, trying doing a TARE with their bathhouse on it (sets the scale to 0, so it gives you the weight without whatever you've tared). For adults, I'd probably weigh once or twice a month unless I suspect something is up, then I'd weigh once or twice a week. Because they hide illness so well, many times, the first visible sign will be weight loss.

Not sure I've ever heard of Nature's Touch ... Oxbow or Mazuri seem to be the first choice among long-time chin owners. I would probably stop all treats, stick to good pellets and leafy Timothy hay. I dunno, maybe mix in some alfalfa as its higher in protein. Nutrition plays such an important role. I'm definitely no expert, but I'd guess that it's going to take much longer than 2 weeks to start correcting long-time poor nutrition. Dark yellow teeth is awesome, I had wondered if she was calcium deficient, but the yellow teeth tell me nope.

Hopefully, one of the long-timers has some better suggestions for you. Sounds like they are darn lucky you and your daughter rescued them!! Wish I had more experience to help you!

~ Tina

Thank you to Tina i have some kitchen scales never thought of the sand bath in there, I'll give it a go wasn't sure if I should get them all checked for mites but as I said I haven't noticed any of them scratching. I'll tell my daughter to give them more time I just didn't want to leave them if they are ill, but they run around enough in there pen bouncing of her and climbing on her and her brothers head There lovely but just wanted to check not really had any experience with any health issues in chinchillas

If you could post pics that would probably help a lot, the forum regularly has issues with pics so it's best to just upload them onto a website then link them.
From what you've said it sounds like the mother might be fur chewing, you said the fur looks patchy but not to the skin? Fur chewing can be caused by stress, so she might stop now that she doesn't have predators crawling all over her cage, lol. The missing fur around the eyes though makes me think possibly ringworm, especially if the daughters are getting fur loss around their faces too. Ringworm is commonly seen first around the nose and eyes, so you may need to take them to the vet to get that cleared up. Also make sure you wash after handling them if it is ringworm, since that can not only be passed between chins but be passed on to humans too.

I'm not sure about the natures touch food, hopefully someone from the UK can chime in with what is available for good chin foods over there. The food should be a high quality pellet only food though, no fruits, vegetables, nuts, seeds, or animal products in it. Likewise the treats should not be any of those foods either.

As said gram scales are what you want, a postal scale works, as does a kitchen scale, so long as it measures in grams and I find the digital ones are much easier. I use a small box to put my chins in to weigh them, most chins don't sit still long enough, lol. Other options are, a bowl (put your hand over top but not on the bowl), the bath house as mentioned if it's the closed type, or even a plastic container with holes in the top.

Hope these links work best I could get! Took pics of food too. Looked up fur loss but there's so much there any advice would be appreciated
http://a65.tinypic.com/2nu0eg6.jpg
http://a68.tinypic.com/2iw7p02.jpg
http://a65.tinypic.com/oqd7ig.jpg
http://a63.tinypic.com/2s1vk8g.jpg
http://a68.tinypic.com/160vu6h.jpg

Keirazak said:

Hope these links work best I could get! Took pics of food too. Looked up fur loss but there's so much there any advice would be appreciated
http://a65.tinypic.com/2nu0eg6.jpg
http://a68.tinypic.com/2iw7p02.jpg
http://a65.tinypic.com/oqd7ig.jpg
http://a63.tinypic.com/2s1vk8g.jpg
http://a68.tinypic.com/160vu6h.jpg

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Aloha!

I started to think it might be ok, but the first line "mix of hay, vegetables" turns me right off! In the ingredient list, carrots and beetroot pulp are no-no's and cane molasses is almost pure sugar. And from the picture it doesn't look like a pellet, either.

I'm looking on www.amazon.co.uk to get these links. Again, we are looking for an alfalfa based pellet without added sugar, fats, vegetables, etc. this one looks ok, at first glance anyway:

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Supreme-Petfoods-Science-Selective-Chinchilla/dp/B007ZYRA16/​

But notice the carrots? Nope, bad idea... Chin could very well just eat the carrots which do nothing for chins nutrition wise. Oh! Here, this would be my suggestion:

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Oxbow-Animal-Chinchilla-Fortified-5-Pound/dp/B0009X49J6/​

I have noticed locally, I'm more apt to find a good quality chinchilla food at the local farm supply store over a pet store.

If you want to be prepared and are willing to do anything to help her heal, then I'd probably grab some of this to keep handy:

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Oxbow-Critical-Apple-Banana-Supplement/dp/B001FKACXO/​

And these to feed the critical care through:

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Easy-Feed-Syringe-Feeder-2pk/dp/B0002AT7J8/​

I sure hope some of this helps and you aren't feeling overwhelmedI

Mahalo,
~Tina

I bought this as they were being fed a supermarket branded rabbit musli and wanted something different from pellets to gradually introduce that wasn't too far from the musli there used to , I thought that it seemed a good option to be honest and once it's opened it looks like mainly hay with bits of flowers in it. Now I feel bad cause I obviously don't want to make them worse I'll look at the links but it looks like I'd have to order online as there isn't much choice in the local per supply shops around here thank you though Amazon is a good option

The chinchilla is a fur chewer so nothing is 'wrong' with her fur. The mother may be smaller due to genetics or if her daughters are bullying her. Its always best to have food in 2 or 3 places in the cage to prevent this. The important thing is to weigh her and make sure she isnt loosing. Adult chins can vary from 400 grams all the way up to 1200 grams and still be healthy

Actually the Science Selective Chinchilla food that IkiKolohe linked is one I've seen mentioned as a good food in the UK. I'm not sure where they saw carrots listed in it, but it's a pellet only anyway so nothing to pick out.

The food you have isn't completely terrible, and as said much better then what they were eating I'm sure. You could pick out the bad stuff and use the rest a treat mix, at least that way it's not a complete waste.

I agree looking at the pics the mother just looks to be a fur chewer, as I said before stress can cause it, but it can also be a habit. It doesn't hurt her, she just doesn't look the prettiest, but if she stops it should start to grow back in in a few months. Chins also come in a wide variety of sizes, from about 400g to 1,000g+, so long as she isn't losing weight, and doesn't feel like a skeleton with fur, she is probably just small. As mentioned you want as many food bowls as you have chins in a cage, also as many water bottles too, that can help prevent one or more from preventing others from eating or drinking.

Amethyst said:

Actually the Science Selective Chinchilla food that IkiKolohe linked is one I've seen mentioned as a good food in the UK. I'm not sure where they saw carrots listed in it, but it's a pellet only anyway so nothing to pick out.

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Aloha!

Take a look at the description and then the ingredient list Keirazak posted of what she is currently feeding. Something called "Nature's Touch".:

"This delicious mix of hay, vegetables, flowers and plants..." Then look at the ingredient list... Sunflower? Dehydrated carrot? Beetroot pulp? Sunflower would be in the nuts category so high in oils, carrots and beetroot would both fall under vegetables and during another nutrition conversation on Facebook recently, the sugar level of beetroot pulp is fairly high.

Also if you look at the front bag, the second bullet down is "Added Carrots" and that photo of the little fluffball isn't standing on pellets - it made me wonder if there is too much variation in it and momma is picking and choosing against her better health.

Compared to the ingredients of say, Oxbow:

Alfalfa Meal, Soybean Hulls, Wheat Middlings, Soybean Meal, Soybean Oil, Salt, Lignin Sulfonate, Cane Molasses, L-Ascorbyl-2-Monophosphate (Vitamin C), Limestone, Yeast Culture (dehydrated), Vitamin E Supplement, Choline Chloride, Zinc Proteinate, Zinc Sulfate, Ferrous Sulfate, Niacin, Copper Sulfate, Selenium Yeast, Vitamin A Supplement, Folic Acid, d-Calcium Pantothenate, Copper Proteinate, Riboflavin Supplement, Manganese Proteinate, Biotin, Manganous Oxide, Thiamine Mononitrate, Magnesium Sulfate, Vitamin B12 Supplement, Sodium Selenite, Pyridoxine Hydrochloride, Cobalt Carbonate, Vitamin D3 Supplement, Calcium Iodate.​

Any of these foods discussed here, though, have just GOT to be better than your run of the mill grocery store rabbit food that momma, and her 2 girls were on before being rescued!

~ Tina

IkiKolohe said:

Aloha!

Take a look at the description and then the ingredient list Keirazak posted of what she is currently feeding. Something called "Nature's Touch".:

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Yeah, I saw that food, but I was referring to the link you had to the Science Selective Chinchilla,

IkiKolohe said:

I'm looking on www.amazon.co.uk to get these links. Again, we are looking for an alfalfa based pellet without added sugar, fats, vegetables, etc. this one looks ok, at first glance anyway:

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Supreme-Pet...dp/B007ZYRA16/

But notice the carrots? Nope, bad idea... Chin could very well just eat the carrots which do nothing for chins nutrition wise.

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that food doesn't have carrots, and is suppose to be good.

Amethyst said:

Yeah, I saw that food, but I was referring to the link you had to the Science Selective Chinchilla, that food doesn't have carrots, and is suppose to be good.

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Hrmph, think I got my link and my statement backwards, the carrots were about the Nature's Touch stuff. So the Science Selective is a good choice for UK owners? Just as good as Oxbow or easier to get? Or just personal preference really? Interesting which foods are available world-wide and which ones are specific to a particular country!

Sometimes I think Hawai'i is a different country but I noticed our local feed store carries Mazuri and Thank the Lord for Amazon - I can get Oxbow from there! I think 99% of everything I've picked up over the last 2 months for my new girls coming home in mid-September has come from Amazon.

~ Tina

I feed my guys oxbow, it's what I can get easily here in Northern Alberta. I just remember that food mentioned on this forum before when people were looking for food in the UK. example

Think I'll have a look in Amazon never even thought of there to be honest there's not a lot of local pet stores and out of those only half sell anything for chinchillas. My daughters took carrots out this morning but said there was only a couple in there. But I'll look at changing it.

Thank you I feel a lot better now knowing that she's ok fingers crossed she stops but I've heard that once they start it's hard for them to stop She's def not the most attractive with half an ear and patchy fur but she's so loving bless her she loves siting on kids head lol. She is very cute in a scruffy way we love her

Update Doris is loads better now her patches have nearly gone she still has half an ear lol but she's come on loads she's so sweet too. Thanks for all the advise

Keirazak said:

Update Doris is loads better now her patches have nearly gone she still has half an ear lol but she's come on loads she's so sweet too. Thanks for all the advise

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Aloha!!!

So glad to hear little Doris is doing better!! Were you able to get her switched to a better quality food?

I just love hearing that a chinnie has improved and is doing better! *hugz* to you and Doris!

A hui hou,
~ Tina

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