Fur Chewing

[Brittney]

Lately I have noticed my little guy has been chewing the fur off the tip of his tail and a little tiny spot on his thigh. I have tried everything that I can think of to make him stop. I have extended his play times, and I bring him out as much as possible, I have stocked his cage full of new toys and things to hide in, I bring him out into the living room so he is included and with the family, and I am even about to give him a cage mate and he still just looks so bored.

I have checked with the vet and he doesn't have fungus or anything, but he didn't tell me what to do to make him stop. I can't pinpoint why he is doing this and it is driving me crazy :hair:

Is it possible to get him to stop?

Is it hereditary and is just now kicking in for him? (he is a Petco chin)

Any help would be helpful and well appreciated. Thank you so much.

 

[Cat75]

How long have you had him? Anything change in his life?

 

[Brittney]

He is 9 months old, and I've had him for 5 months, and no, nothing has changed, it just started out of the blue.

 

[shuboyje]

I am even about to give him a cage mate

Do you already have the cage mate? If so this could be the issue.
Is he kept in a Air conditioned room?

Fur chewing is a genetic trait that is triggered environmentally. Meaning, a chins needs a specific gene to make it chew, but that does not alone make it chew. Stress of some sort is generally what triggers the chewing in animals genetically inclined to chew.

 

[Brittney]

The cage mate is currently under quarantine, he is not even aware I have him. And this started way before I even got the cage mate.

Only thing I can think of is I went out of town for 4 days and had someone watch him, came home and his tail tip had been chewed. But he continues to do it and this was over a month ago.

And yes, the room he is in is at 65*

 

[TammyC]

You leaving out of town for several days could do it though. From everything I've learned about this, it is stress induced. I would just try to keep everything as routine as possible. I don't know if introducing a new chin would be the best thing for him right now either. He may even start to fur chew his new friend. Just try to keep everything as less stressful as possible and see how he does. Maybe give him lots of chew toys to try and keep his chewing focused on those things. I don't really think there is anything else you can do for him to get him to stop. Good luck with it all.

 

[Brittney]

I just looked at him and blew onto the area i thought he was "chewing" on his thigh. It is shorter than the other hair, but it has white tips instead of being grey. So it looks like new hair is growing in. I'll try to get a pic after his bath. Is it normal for them to just grow new hair like that? He hasn't slipped any.

 

[TammyC]

Yeah. Their under coats are white (except ebonies and maybe violets I think). They don't always chew all the way down until there's a bald spot, but they don't just grow new hair like that. Atleast not that I've ever seen or heard about. I have 2 fur chewers here that I adopted a couple months ago. I have been working with them to get them settled in and giving them lots of sticks to chew on in hopes that they will stop chewing on themselves. It's going pretty well I think, but they are pretty bad fur chewers. Never to a bald spot, but their entire sides and hind ends are chewed. I will attach a picture of one of them so that you can see what I mean. She is a beige, but her undercoat is white.

 

[Essentia]

My chin's chewing was triggered by bringing in another chin. He isn't his cage mate, or anything, just housed in the same room. After I realized that's what caused it I tried to move the other chin into the other room and the chewing continued. I've dealt with it for about a year now, and he's gotten pretty bad about it. He looks like he has a bad haircut along the lower half of his body. He no longer seems stressed, gets chewies, playtime, and has a TV constantly on that he loves watching, and he still chews. I've learned to just love him for who he is, bad haircut and all.

 

[Brittney]

ok, here is Bryson's booty and tail.

Here is the area he is "chewing"

Here is the white hair I am talking about

And here is his tail

 

[TammyC]

lol. Yeah... I've heard that it's really hard to break the habit once they start. I will love my girls always and forever..... even if they never give up their habit of chewing.

 

[Brittney]

I hope I can figure out what's wrong. I put pics up.

 

[TammyC]

Aww. He's a cutie. It doesn't look too bad. Try to cut out anything stressful. Make sure you wash your hands and arms really well after you touch your new chinnie, before you go near Bryson. Even though they're not in the same room, he will still be able to smell him on you. Keep him occupied with lots of chew sticks and toys and hopefully he will forget about the chewing and stop. Wish you the best of luck with it.

 

[Essentia]

Tammy, your chin is actually pretty good int he chewing department. You should see mine when you come to pick up your chinnies. He has everything in the world and still chews away.

 

[Tanya]

I think it can be stopped, you just need to think of every little thing that can possibly cause it.
Just sitting in the cage all night maybe too boring for some chins, even when they have lots of toys, perches, a wheel etc .Moving the cage so that they can look out the window can help to solve the problem( no direct sunlight, of course). One of my chins wakes up several times a day just to to survey the goings-on outside and to make sure everything is ok. He is so busy doing this that he does not have time for peeing everywhere anymore! He is like a dog lol. He would trade all his cage accessories for it! I am not saying that this is what will help your chin, it's just the possibility.
I remember that you have dogs, right?
Barking can make a chin nervous. Also, if your chinnie is really attached to you , he maybe just jealous of you. One of my chins just will not share me! Simply keeping dogs in another room may not help.Washing hands after touching the dog and changing clothes may help. Playing area should be free of dogs scent and chin should not see them at all. One of my chins does not even like when I talk to the other chin! When my chins were housed together, I could not get them both out for playtime. Chippy will not let Lola to be around us. Crazy boy! Just some ideas.
Hope your chin will stop chewing his fur!
Good luck!

 

[TammyC]

Tammy, your chin is actually pretty good int he chewing department. You should see mine when you come to pick up your chinnies. He has everything in the world and still chews away.

Awww. I would love to see your chinnies. My little girlie is doing much better now. You should have seen her when I first got her. Was a bit worse. Her cagemate that I adopted her with is much worse too. She's a violet though, so her fur isn't white at the roots like the beiges are.

 

[Brittney]

The dogs could be an issue, because I do own a beagle mix, and she loves to howl, but I doubt it. I never let my dogs in my room (which is where he is now) cause I have mild allergies to them, but he has seen the dogs, and has shown one that he means business.

I can't put him near the window, sadly, because I'm in Phoenix and every open window is direct sunlight , even though I'm sure he would love it.

He's out of his cage from the time I wake up and take a shower and get ready for class, and gets put up when I'm at class which is only 3 hours. Then I come home for 3 hours and he's out all that time and then he goes back in when I go to work and is in there for 6 hours. Then I come home and he plays around while I shower and then goes back into his cage before I go to sleep. All this happens at the same time every day, he's my little alarm clock. Barking to wake me up. Don't think it's a playtime thing, probably just boredom while I'm sleeping which is why, hopefully, his new buddy can help him in that area.

Also wanted to add, the new chin is doing his quarantine at my vet office just so I don't miss anything too serious. Bryson is my pride and joy and I wouldn't want to miss even a single thing wrong with the new chin and introduce him to Bry and get him sick. That would just break my heart. I know I don't smell like the new chin, but maybe he smells others from work along with other animals? Not sure. It never seems to really bother him. He will smell my hand when I get home and go along with his grooming and licking me routine and get a few scratches then he is out jumping around my room for the rest of the time.

 

[TammyC]

Too much playtime. Chins are nocturnal and need to sleep during the day. This can be very stressful. It's fun to have them out and about for playtime, but it really should be limited to only a couple hours per day, if that. I only let mine out for 1 hr per day for playtime. They can also get very overheated and possibly stroke with playtime that often and for that long. This could be the cause of the stress which is causing the fur chewing. I have 2 very large dogs also that bark at every noise they hear. I only let them into the room when I go to bed and they sleep on the opposite side of the room. None of the chins seem to mind them at all so I don't really think the dog would cause all that much stress if he's never really in your room.

 

[Brittney]

Would it stress him more if I take away his playtime and limit it to an hour? I leave the door open and he comes in and out of his cage when he likes. Some of the time he just sleeps in his tube and the door is open the he doesn't care.

 

[TammyC]

I don't think it would stress him more, but if you wanted to be on the safe side and it made you feel more comfortable you could just start to cut it back a little at a time until you got it lowered down. You will see that he will love his sleepy time, and I think you will see great improvement in him. Just watch him closely without disturbing his sleep time. Watch him while he's awake and out for playtime.