help. We dont know whats wrong with him

[chinchillalover0927]

Petey was caged with our chinchilla patch and he suddenly started getting a bald spot..Well we figured it was patch chewing on him so we waited to see and it began to get bigger..We pulled petey out and put him by himself because we thought thats what it was but brandon said that he is still loosing hair. He has been researching it and believes it is fungus. Do you all agree? What do you treat fungus with? He has lost all this hair within 2-3 weeks. IF THAT!!

please try to respond with what we need to do. I dont have a "chinchilla" knowledgable vet so i figured id ask here first hoping that you all know whats going on. Thank you

 

[aznmexaggie]

I can't see the pictures well since I'm on my phone. If it is fungus, the skin will often be scaly, pink or reddish colored and the bald spot generally spreads out along the periphery. I really can't see much in those pictures though other than a really thin looking chinchilla. If it's fungus, it can be treated with Blu Kote and Tinactin in the dust bath.

Why did you think the other chin was chewing him? Did the fur ever have a buzzed appearance? Chewing does not leave a bald area, just areas with short choppy fur. Also, if the cagemate was attacking him, he could have slipped fur.

 

[chinchillalover0927]

its not slipped fur i know what that looks like, certain parts are to the skin and certain parts are choppy as if they were chewed and we figured that because he was fine until we put him with patch then suddenly this happened...brandon has seen dry red spots on him... He isnt thin he is just very small and petite. He was like that when we got him.Thank you for the help. Can i purchase blue kote at a farm supply?

 

[alli713]

In that first picture it doesn't appear red at all. It looks like just a bunch of really short fur.

From what I have read, although not experienced, that would be an odd spot for fungus, generally it wouldn't be on the top of the back like that. But you may want to hear from other experienced chin owners too.

 

[AZChins]

It could be fungus, but I can't tell from the pictures either. Is he eating well and are his teeth nice and orange? The fur looks thinned out in the pictures, could he be suffering from malnutrition either from not absorbing nutrients properly or he's not eating? I've had malnourished chins come in looking pretty bad with very thin, sparse fur. They won't necessarily be thin, but they just aren't getting what they need and the fur falls out. I don't know if that's what it is, it's just a thought.

(It's hopefully just a touch of fungus, but the pictures are so blurry...)

 

[Riven]

I agree that it's hard to see in the pictures. The top looks chewed, the bottom ones it looks slipped ( you can slip an entire chinchilla's back btw, it is not always just one or two fluffs ). Do you have a photo of the cage? Are there small areas that he has to squeeze through that would be wearing the fur off? I have a female who did this on a house once. She was missing a big patch about 3 x 4" completely to the skin.

I do recommend not holding the chin in that fashion though, their ribs are smaller than tooth picks and they have a floating rib cage which increases the chance of breaking a rib or rupturing intestines. I only hold chins by the tail for fur and health reasons.

 

[RDZCRanch]

To me, it looks like an old injury with fur growing back in. I don't see any indication of fungus in the first picture and that would be a very odd area for fungus to start. Fungus also takes a larger amount of time to get to that point.

It looks like he was attacked by a cagemate about a month or two ago and the fur is growing back in. When fur grows back in from slippage or an attack it comes in patchy. On injuries, while the fur is growing back in, some of the new fur will continue to blow out if it's dead fur that just hadn't fallen out yet. Often times as the fur is growing back in the skin can have a "scaley" look to it, but it is just the skin being a bit flaky from the fur growing back in.

If it's not from an injury, I would change his food. The only other reason I could see him losing that much fur for any reason would be malnutrition.

 

[StevieP]

Try taking some pictures next to a window or in a well-lit room and use the macro mode to take a close & clear picture. I think a better pic will help everyone to see what we're dealing with.

 

[chinnychinchinchilla]

i agree the picture is too blurry and its hard to see. i dont have experience in this so im just saying this for those that are more experienced. but he does look thin. what food are you feeding him? whether he was that thin when you got him doesnt matter. an ideal chinchilla will look a bit chubby and round.

 

[Riven]

If the chin sits under a water bottle it could easily get fungus there.

It is likely though that it's friend is chewing it off. Do they pile up to sleep? Often that's the spot where the other chins head rests.

I don't think it's fur growing back because I'm pretty sure they'd have noticed a huge page of fur missing, they said it's started "disappearing" in the last couple weeks.

Do the chins have enough toys and things to chew on? Chewing can be hereditary, taught, due to boredom, or due to nutritional deficiencies. Basically to be of much help other than throwing out a bunch of suggestions we need to know the cage, food, hay, water bottle location, dusting habits, basically everything that goes on.

 

[chinchillalover0927]

thank you all for trying to help. I will try to get brandon to take some better pics when he gets home from work this afternoon.

AZchins-Brandon said that Petey eats very well for his size. So he is eating alot of food. Is this a sign that maybe he is needing more nutrients and thats why he is eating as much as he does for the size he is. He said he out eats some of his other chins. I still have a bag of Oxbow food left. Should we switch him to that?? We are feeding Purina advanced nutrition rabbit food.Its a royalish blue bag. Do we have the wrong food?? Should we switch all of them to something else? We were on oxbow but switched because of the prices..

Riven-I do not have any pics of his cage but I can get brandon to take a pic of his caging also so that you all can see if anything might be wearing it down. He does have a house with the little side holes that they have chewed all up. Maybe that was it?? Brandon said he is CONSTANTLY going in and out of those holes.
Also he wasnt holding him down. He just had his hand placed over him to assure he didnt move. We pick up our chins by the base of the tale and handle them mainly that way if we arent cuddling them in our arms. Spoof showed me that a long time ago and explained about why to do it. Also he is very calm he just sits there when you hold him so thats how I know he wasnt really applying any pressure to him.

RDZCranch-We had caged him with our mosiac that we have with the deformed legs. They got along purfect. No issues at all except that patch humped petey for an entire day straight but it stopped after that. We had previously had him with an ebony male who fur chews... He had stopped chewing so we figured we would test things out and see how it went. They stayed together fine but we noticed a small chew spot on peteys back end and The ebony male started chewing again. Thats when we moved him to the cage with patch. After he was with patch for maybe about 2 weeks or so brandon noticed a bald spot on the back of peteys neck behind his head. It was not to the bare skin but very close. We figured maybe patch was now chewing on peteys fur so we watched him to see if it got worst or if it had been a fur slip from something. After another 2 weeks or so he looks like he does. We had seperated them in between because we thought patch was causing this but it seems to have still gotten worst ever since he has been caged alone. That is why we are concerned about what is going on... It looks like better in the pics than in person. It is from one side of his neck to the other and about 2" from behind his head to the back..some parts are thin hair some parts are short choppy hair and a few small spots are barely any hair. He said that it was red and kind of scabby looking but that it now doesnt look red or scabby. Just naked.

Riven-He is in the bottom half of a ferret nation by himself now. Brandon feeds his babies timothy hay, The water bottle is on the door of the ferret nation away from the house, food, hay, etc.He also has wooden ledges in his cage. Brandon also occasionally buys them toys for them to chew on. Hanging ones. Also had a unlimited supply of chew sticks. He said he gives his dust baths about 3 times per week. Hope that helped.

I went out and bought Tinactin today. I told him to hold off on it until we figure out whats going on since some of you all are starting to think that it may not be fungus after all.

 

[chinchillalover0927]

ok here are the pics you all requested.... they are allllot more visible lol

peteys house

here is what petey looks like

 

[chinchillalover0927]

i really hope this helps. Also if anyone knows if i need to switch to a different food. Id really appreciate it.

 

[Riven]

Much better pics. I'm going to say I don't think it's fungus. Do you know about how big of round the holes on the house is? I'm going to say either chewing, or rubbing it off on the house.

What kind of dust are you using? If it's not blue cloud you may want to give it a try, I'm sure he'd been handled a lot recently but his fur looks pretty sticky and bad dust can just make them not look their best.

 

[chinchillalover0927]

we use the sweet pdz dust to help eliminate some of the ridiculous dust pile up in our rooms lol.. I was told its ok to use as long as your not showing which im not doing at the moment. He doesnt have the best coat even with a regular dust bath of blue cloud. We do have some but use it sparingly.. He is just a pet only. The big hole is big enough for him to easily just walk through it but the smaller hole he does have to squeeze through it. Should we take the house out to see if this seems to solve the problem??

The only thing i dont understand about the "chewing" if he is chewing his own fur...Is it possible for him to be able to chew the back of his neck like that??? It looks really hard to reach.

 

[chinchillalover0927]

anyone else?

 

[AZChins]

If the other chins are doing alright on the food, it should be alright. And, he's eating well...hopefully producing droppings at the normal rate.

It looks like another chins was chewing on him. I had a mother chin one time that would chew all the fur off the backs of her kits necks for no reason or so it seemed.

 

[Brittany_Lynn]

Mork is also a mosaic, and his fur looked a lot like Petey's when I first got him--kind of patchy, always looked dirty--(never the bald spot problem you have, though), and he is/was also very small compared to everyone else. He is still my smallest guy; a month ago he weighed 425 g, now he's gone up by about 30-35 grams, but he's still tiny. His fur, however, has improved exponentially. It is almost as thick as everyone else's, and it doesn't look dirty anymore.
I have him on the PANR like you have your chinchillas on, although I just switched 3 weeks ago. He was on Oxbow; before that, when I first got him (for about 2 months) he was on Kaytee (just pellets, nothing with crap in it). I noticed that his fur started to change for the better when I gave him a small amount (half of a handful) of Alfalfa every other day. (This was my vet's recommendation for all my chinchillas. Alfalfa is not necessary/is not recommended for chinchillas in those amounts, but it did wonders for Mork). He no longer recieves the alfalfa, but his coat keeps getting stronger. I think he had a calcium deficiency maybe (or something like that).

 

[mishellyshel]

Snickers, my beige has fur like that. it is kinda airy not very thick and he slips fur a lot, he does well with the blue cloud & PRSC (PANR).

Have you ever seen clumps of fur on the wood of the house? I would remove it just to play it safe. you can get a new house pretty cheap OR switch to a fleece den or hammock or tube. I think with him you need to go for the Blue Cloud. I use the PDZ on Klinger because of his eye but he is a sapphire with nice dense fur so it doesnt affect him.

Maybe a nice variety of hay and if you can afford a supplement?? I know a few members sell them. www.fuzzieskingdom & www.qualitymutationchinchillas.com are two that i know of that sell a nice variety. both are members here, maybe you could contact them for a sample bag.

 

[chinchillalover0927]

ok thank you all. we will be removing the wooden house from his cage and look into something fleece.