Fur ring

[Ippo456]

I noticed that one of my non-breeding male chins gets fur ring literally every other day. After I clean it, he gets another one. If I don't check up on him for a week, his fur ring is so thick.
Why is this happening & what can I do to prevent it?
He hates me cleaning his part & I almost have to squeeze him (because he would not stop moving) to hold him down .. by the end of it, I'm covered in his fur.

ps: I have another non-breeding male who never has any problem with fur rings.

 

[alli713]

Does he have a lot of fleece in his cage? Some males have a problem with getting the fleece fuzz wrapped around themselves.

 

[Kansas City Chinchillas]

Some chins don't know how to clean themselves very well. There isn't much you can do to prevent fur rings.

 

[aznmexaggie]

Are both of your males in the same cage? Perhaps your boy is dominance-mounting his cagemate which is resulting in the hair rings. A lot of chins are blowing their coats right now and growing in a thicker winter coat so there may be a lot of loose hair to get stuck to him and cause hair rings.

You can't really do anything to prevent the rings from occuring. A chin will try to remove them by himself, but if they are bad or he is not very skilled at removing them, you will have to assist. Some chins get them all the time, and some never get them.

 

[Ippo456]

Thanks for the quick replies!

He lives by himself & the only fleece in his cage is the one covering his cardboard tube.

I guess he's just not as skilled as my other chin at cleaning himself

It's just that I notice the end of his penis is quite red (redder than the rest of his penis) & I'm thinking if this is because he's been trying many times to clean the fur ring himself but can't, so he made himself sore? ... If that question makes any sense at all ...

 

[AZChins]

The only thing that I can think of is to give him more dust baths to help remove the dead fur or to comb him a little. I seem to have that problem with males that have blown their coats and have a little more loose fur around. Also, when you remove the rings you may want to use something that is a little lubricating to get the ring off of him. Frequent fur rings can be very drying to a chin's penis.

He definitely could be making himself a little raw down there because he keeps trying to clean himself. Poor little guy.

 

[Brittney]

One of my boys gets them a lot. I check him every other day and there is always something there. It's just normal routine now. As said above, mine gets them because he dominance mounts every now and then. My other, younger boy gets them quite a bit also, but I never see him check himself, so that explains it.