Help, think my chin has a fungus

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IceMaiden

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Joined
Nov 7, 2015
Messages
82
I have a 4 year old chinchilla and a month ago I bought her a baby for company. After a few initial squabbles they're now happy together from what I can see and hear. However last night I noticed the baby suddenly has a tiny bald spot below one eye and all around her nose and whiskers. Her whiskers one one side don't look that smooth either and having had a good look this morning she seems to have quite a lot of fur missing under her jaw too. She obviously hasn't chewed it out herself but could the older one have gone a bit extreme with grooming or even pulled it out in a fight? The rest of her fur is perfect.

I'm concerned it's a fungus but surely it wouldn't appear that quick, and my other one is fine. I'm afraid they've already had a dustbath and they share it so it's too late to do anything about that, other than replace the dust. Is this something I can sort myself without a vet visit? I have read to put Tinactin in the dust bath, but I'm in the UK and we don't seem to sell it, is there an alternative? Also my main problem is that all the things I've read say to throw out anything wooden, but the whole cage is wooden as they live free range in a converted shed and I can hardly throw that away! Some advice would be very gratefully received!
 
Tinactin is a name brand, you just want athlete's foot powder that contains 1% tolfanate which is an anti fungal. I would give each their own dust bathes in different containers, but both with the powder in it. The baby's to treat the fungus, and the adult's to hopefully prevent it. You will want to change the dust after each use to prevent reinfection. I think it takes a couple months of baths to make sure it's all gone.

It sounds like your chin has ringworm, which is a fungal infection. It's very itchy, so yes it can happen that quickly, basically the chin spend the day/night rubbing and scratching the area. The most common areas for it to start are around the eyes, nose, and mouth, places that might be damp. Since you have only had her a month it's very possible she came with the fungal infection. It takes about a month to show up after exposure. (Another example of why you should quarantine new chins for 30 days before introducing to others)

I would try the bathes first, if you don't see any improvement, or it gets worse you'll need to go to the vet. Sometimes they need oral anti fungal to treat it. Oh and keep in mind that ringworm is contagious to humans too so make sure you wash your hands and maybe even change your clothes after handing the chins.

Unfortunately if it is ringworm the spore get into the wood. Anytime the humidity goes up in the area or the wood gets wet (pee, spilled water, etc) the spores can germinate and reinfect the chins. The only other way to save wood is to soak it in a tub of bleach overnight or longer so it fully penetrates though the thickness of the wood, then soak it for another day or two in tubs of water to rinse out all the bleach, then you need to make sure it's fully dry ideally baking in an oven. Then don't put it back in with the chin until they are cured. That obviously wont work with a shed. It's much easier for people to just toss the wood, because it will likely be pretty warped by the time it's disinfected and will get moldy if it stays wet too long or isn't fully 100% dried.

I'm sure you don't want to hear this, but I think your best bet would be to get the chins a cage or cages, something you can clean, because until the chins are fulled cured they will be shedding spores. You will be needing to wash down and disinfect the cage about once a week for a couple months. Put the cage in the house not in the contaminated shed. I don't think the shed is salvageable for the chins at this point, unless you change out all surface wood (walls, floor, ceiling, and any shelving, and hiding houses, etc). Obviously if you redo the wood in the shed don't put the chins back until they are cured, at least a couple months.

If possible I would also separate the chins, since only one is showing signs you might get lucky and the other one wont get infected. If the other one start showing signs too though it doesn't matter.
 
Thank you so much Amethyst:thumbs:.

I threw out every wooden toy and house and I was debating how best to clean the shed out efficiently when I realised that looking closely it was in a far worse state than I'd first thought. It's 13 years old anyway and was feeling it's age and I think the relentless wet and cold weather we've had the past few months has given it a real battering and finally finished it off. Absolutely unsalvagable and not worth the bother to try, so I bit the bullet and bought a new one, which is arriving next week and all the old wood will then have been disposed of.

In the meantime, I got some athlete's foot powder with 1% Tolnafotate in it and after some vigorous and thorough dusting with it, it's looking a bit better. The skin is losing it's pinkness and flakiness although she has lost a bit more hair above her nose. I have put them in a wire cage lined with newspaper so it can be cleaned easily, they have adjusted to being closed in a cage surprisingly quickly, I wasn't at all sure they would, particularly the adult, after being free range for so long.
 
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