Fur Loss! Help!

[anue118]

I picked up two new chin girls today from an absolute idiot on Craig's List. One of my new wonderful girls is missing a LOT of hair around her neck and on her forehead. The bald areas are very clean cut, and it almost looks as if they were shaven. When I asked the owner about it, she said that she had no idea what was up with this, and she had only noticed it a couple of days ago.

Have you guys ever experienced anything like this? I know they lose hair when they're under stress (and both girls recently lost a cage mate to another rescuer). However, this is a lot of missing hair. I also thought maybe she could be a chewer, but some of the missing hair is on her forehead.

Any help or suggestions will be very much appreciated. I'm currently a very nervous chin mommy.

 

[Laurie]

Oh good lord! That poor darlie chin! I don't have experience with hair loss, but I've had chins slip fur when they were frightened. This looks like more than that. Hopefully someone with more experience can give you some insight! Thank's for taking this chin in!

 

[searchand_dstry]

To me, it just looks like fur slip since it's so bald. It doesn't look scaly, red, or irritated from the pictures so I am assuming it's not a fungus. It almost looks like someone tired to scruff him and he slipped the fur like that.

If he was in with a cage mate though, I'd check all over for wounds. I'm not sure if that's the same balding on his face, but from the pictures it looks scarred. He could have been attacked and slipped mass amounts of fur that way.

Good luck & I am glad you rescued him!

 

[Sugarmama]

Another chin may have chewed the hair off, too. Definitely check for hidden wounds. Poor baby!

 

[Rickman]

If you've room, separate them!! As she can't reach those areas herself, it's the other doing it! Keep them next to one another, so you don't cause more stress, but let them calm down before putting them in together again! A week or two with some good food, hay, and a secure environment and hopefully they''ll be O.K.
Keep us posted, please!
ETA - Some dusting is also in order - looks like it's been awhile!
If they've been on some crap food, just do a cold switch - they'll be better off!

 

[anue118]

Thank you all for the responses!! I feel a lot better. I had it in my head that it was some horrible parasite or something. It's just so much loss and I couldn't imagine it could all be from hair slippage or chewing.

The house she came from also had five screaming and very young kids. I can easily imagine little hands grabbing at her.

There are no wounds or scarring that I can see. However, I can easily separate the girls. I have a FN 142 cage and can divide the two levels into separate cages.

Their previous owner had them both on on bargain rabbit feed, but I have done a cold switch. They've also taken a dust bath since arriving this morning, and I spent some time combing the other chin's matted hair. Both girls still look pretty raggedy, but better than when they arrived.

 

[searchand_dstry]

I'm not sure if I would separate them.. Depending on how long they were together it might just cause more stress for her & if she was being chewed she probably wouldn't be bald there, just have very short hairs.

She does look VERY skinny though! Hopefully some good feed would help that! Don't forget to give her lots of hay too! :] What did you end up switching her to (sorry if I missed this)?

If I were you, I'd take out the ramps in the FN (if you haven't already) so they don't hurt themselves. The spacing is too wide and toes/legs can easily get caught and broken in them. Almost all chins get along fine without ramps!

 

[addictedtochins]

I would wait to separate them also, maybe it was that other chin who did it. I'm pretty sure it was all the stress in their old household that caused it and hopefully it will stop now. Why don't you watch them first and make sure that's what happened. Thank you for rescuing them. With a little time and love they will be great pets for you.

 

[Anne-Lise]

Looks like fur chewing, from the other chin.

 

[anue118]

Good! I haven't separated the girls yet because I was waiting to run out and grab another water bottle today. I was worried about it stressing them out also, so I'm relieved that you guys think it would be better to leave them. However, I'll watch very carefully for chewing between them.

Yep, FN ramps are already removed. I kept the plastic shelves but will remove them at the first sign of chewing and replace them with wooden ones.

I have them on Mazuri and they love it. I think they must not have been fed very much with the previous owners. When I switch my other girl to a new food brand, she's horrified and has to do it gradually (she's currently quarantined, no worries!). I cut them off last night after they inhaled a bowl and a half. I'm worried about them getting sick from immediately eating too much food after being malnourished for so long. Any suggestions for this? I'm a bit concerned that they're used to competing for what has been given them. Maybe that's also responsible for immediately inhaling the bowl when I put it in the cage.

 

[Sugarmama]

With a cold food switch, they're going to need acidophilus and simethicone to help their bellies. That will help them with the transition of not enough food to plenty, also. They can have 3 dropperfuls of gas drops per day.

You can free feed it, as long as they're eating plenty of hay also.

I agree with keeping them together, and watching their behavior. However, if one of them has GI issues--pointy poos, irregular shaped poos, or air pockets in them, it will be hard to tell which one it is. If you see any of that, you may want to separate them for a bit so that you can see which one is having problems.

 

[anue118]

Can you explain more about this? Where I get each one and how I give it to them?

Are others in agreement with this? I'm out of my realm.

 

[Sugarmama]

You can get them both at Walmart, or any drugstore. Walmart will just be the least expensive.

Baby gas drops are simethecone. You can find them in the antacids aisle. They will help prevent gas from getting into the intestines. A brand name would be Mylicon; I use walmart brand; it's the same thing and costs half as much. You can't overdose it, and can give 3 dropperfuls a day.

Acidophilus is a probiotic that aids digestion. You can find it in the vitamin aisle. You'll want the highest count you can get--in the billions. You can't overdose this, either. You can get chewables, which chins really seem to love, or capsule form. You can open up a capsule and sprinkle it on the food, or break a mini shredded wheat in half, and sprinkle it inside, and then give it to the chin.

These are common and very recommended for chinchillas during food switches, and for malnourished chins.

 

[Riven]

I would do the acidophilus but not worry about the simethicone unless they show signs of bloat personally.

How do their teeth look? They should be bright orange, if not you might want to supplement them a little calcium to get them back to where they should be.

I personally would keep them together. That is not a typical fur chew spot, I would look more into what was in their cage. Did they have a dust house, or other hiding place that was too small that it could've been constantly rubbed on? I can't really see the skin in the photos, but most strains of fungus/ringworm show up under a black light if you have one.

Glad you took them in!

 

[Essentia]

Another chin may have chewed the hair off, too. Definitely check for hidden wounds. Poor baby!

I agree completely. One of the chins I took in looked just like this because its cage mate was chewing on him.

 

[Classic Chinchillas]

I don't think it's fur chewing if it's smooth and to the skin. Usually the fur chewing leaves the fur looking all choppy and uneven length of fur not bald. Looks more like fur slip to me. I'd keep them together and if the fur doesn't come in smooth around 3 months then I'd try separating them then.

 

[Newt]

I dont have anything to add, but just wanted to say well done for taking them in. They really sound like they need lots of love and care :thumbsup:

 

[Gimmick]

Alfalfa hay does wonders for the fur, try that. It should grow back to normal in a couple of months.