Losing tufts of fur???

[krintz.m]

I just recently got two chins, one 9wk boy & one 2 yr old girl. The boy was from a respected breeder with many national champions, but the girl was from a friend who wants to get rid of many of her chins. She's black velvet & fairly friendly. When I let her run on the ground and then try to pick her up after play time, she starts losing a ton of fur, and my boy has never done this. At first I just blew it off but now she's getting bald spots where all of the fur has come out. I've read that in the wild they do this to slip away from predators. Has anyone else experienced this? Does anyone have any advice other than to just not let her out of my arms? And should I avoid breeding because of this? My boyfriend has bred them before, so he knows what he's doing, but he's never experienced this loss of fur before.

 

[MNChinLover]

You could try alternative ways than picking her up. Such as making a chin safe spot around the cage where she has access to go back in on her own. Or putting down the dust house and when she goes in blocking the entrance, pick up the dust house to get her back in the cage. Or gently luring her or making her space smaller until she goes in the cage.

I think I have also heard of people throwing a piece of fleece on them and then picking them up gently.

As for breeding, you bred the 9week old male to the female already? Do they both have pedigrees? What color is the male?

 

[e.murphy518]

Breeding them is not advised if you do not know the pedigrees of both animals because there could be genetic health issues that aren't necessarily apparent in the individual chin.

As for slipping fur, she is probably just scared when you pick her up. Instead of grabbing her you could try moving her in a dust bath until you get her used to being handled

 

[krintz.m]

No, I have not bred them yet nor do I plan to for a long time.

Thank you for your input! I'll try to alternate throwing fleece down and using a dust bath because I know dust baths everyday can be harmful for their skin and fur.