New Here! Chin with a possible fungus

[Mama_Kim]

Hi. I am Kim and I am new here. I personally no longer own chinchillas or hedgies - I did for many years, but a friend of mine's daughter has chinchillas and contacted me for advice...So, here I am asking the experts!

I have not seen the chinchilla, as they live in another state, but I had her send me pictures. Here is what has occurred:

Simba is approximately 7 years old and Simba has been with them since he was a baby. His cagemate passed away, and he was lonely, so they got another buddy for him. (I cannot remember that ones name...) Simbas buddy is about 10 months and been with Simba for about 4 months. About a month after they got "friend" Simba started losing fur. I had them check for fur biting, pulling, aggression, stress, etc. Everything seemed in order. Simba and friend are both laid back chins. Simba got sores and I did some research for them and found out about ringworm, which is what it sounded like. They searched for Tinactin powder, but could not find it so they used spray. Simba seemingly cleared up and regrew the lost fur. Friend never showed any signs...Now, Simba is back to losing fur and his feet are even going bald! Simba does not appear to have sores on his body, and according to them, his skin looks normal, just bald. I will look for Tinactin powder in my area and ship it to them, but I wanted to see if anyone thinks it could be something else? Also, the local vet that treats chins mis-diagnosed the previous chin who was believed to be a male got pregnant without anyone knowing - got in trouble during birth (still not knowing he was a she), taken to the vet and they were told HE was fine and SHE died 3 hours later during birth...aparrantly the one baby was too large to be birthed. There is little trust between the vet and the family regarding chinchillas...

Anyway, here are the pics and any advice I can pass on would be awesome. Thanks so much in advance!

 

[tunes]

The pictures aren't super clear, but it could be fungus. If it is fungus, it's pretty advanced (especially on that foot) and I doubt Tinactin alone is going to clear it up.

He should really have a scraping done to be sure it's fungus and not an allergy or some other issue. Even if they have to drive a bit to get him checked, there must be another vet somewhere in the state where they live that can check for fungus. If you could give us the state, we might be able to help.

Give this FAQ a read, see if it helps at all: http://www.chins-n-hedgies.com/forums/showthread.php?t=37

 

[Mama_Kim]

Hi Tunes. Thanks for your quick response!

The pictures were sent from a cell phone so I think that is why the quality is poor...

I am in NH, and wish the Chin was here, cause I had a fantastic Chin vet! They live in Castle Rock, which is in Colorado. I looked at the list posted here for Colorado, but did not see anything. I will check out the link you posted and look again also. Thank you!

Do you, or anyone else know, if the new chin could be a carrier of something and not show signs? To me it seems awfully coincidental that the new one came in and the old one got whatever this is....

OK, off to check stuff out around here! Thanks again!

Oh, the foot was not showing signs before, when he grew his fur back. The foot is actually a new development. But, I agree, that foot looks awful!

 

[Mama_Kim]

Oh, I meant to mention - she does have a *regular* vet, that has in the past, helped her. It is a regular dog and cat vet, but has said that if she (?) knew what to do to help, she would do her best. Not the best option, but ringworm would look the same no matter what type of animal it is when scraped, shouldn't it? I wonder if that vet could prescribe medication if he/she could locate someone who knew the proper med and dosage? Would it be unethical to suggest that? I am thinking if there is not a local vet (other than the one that misdiagnosed the previous one) if the vets can communicate? I would assume the chin needs Ivermetcin(sp?) but I am not a vet, and only know that med because quite some time ago, I had a rat with itchies, who had symptoms of something (maybe fungus, but I dont remember) but the scrapings were clear. However, the rat kept itching and getting sores so they treated him. (It ended up being an allergy to just about every bedding! Had to use white paper towels...) Also, should both Chins be treated? This would be so much easier to treat if it were my chin! LOL!

Being here makes me miss my Chins...sniff!

 

[fluke]

For some reason, I keep thinking Ivermectin (or however its spelled) is for treatment of parasites, like mites. This may not be correct because I'm just remembering what the vet where i used to work did for small animals but i think ringworm can be treated with griseofulvin. and then there was a topical treatment as well. but it may not be ringworm so a skin scrape would be needed before trying to treat it.

just in my opinion i think its very possible the new chin brought something in especially if he's from a petstore. though it is strange that he doesn't show symptoms. in my experience, alot of small animals (that come into petstores) can carry things like ringworm for a while before showing symptoms however the stress of being in a new environment usually dampens the immune system a bit and allows the fungus or whatever to get to them. thats why i say i think its odd the new guy has no symptoms. or maybe he has just built up a defense to whatever it is and the older guy hasn't.

I really don't know I'm just throwing out some guesses there. Good luck

 

[Tanya]

This is what I found. Chinchilla vets in Colorado:
Colorado Springs Animal Emergency Care 719-260-7141
Colorado Springs Crossroads Animal Hospital 719-531-0531
Colorado Springs Dublin Animal Hospital 719-593-1336
Lakewood Alameda Animal Clinic 303-237-9232
Lakewood VCA Anderson Animal Hospital 303-922-1127
Good luck!

 

[tunes]

Any vet should be able to check for fungus on a chin. Kittens are particularly prone to it in between their toes and they have to check them. A blue light over the skin helps to show it, but a scraping is better. When I had a chin come in with particularly bad fungus, I used Itraconazole 2.5 mg/kg once a day for 21 days orally. Along with that, I used Tinactin in her dust dust bath and Blu-Kote topically affected areas.

Again though, I would want to be sure that was fungus first, and not some symptom of something more. Hopefully someone will see this post now that it's during the day, and recommend a better vet in that area.

BTW, ivermectin is for worms and parasites, not for fungus. I only know of one person in the chin world that uses ivermectin and it's topically once a year because he believes there is a reason in is area of the country, but he's also a vet.

 

[Mama_Kim]

You guys are awesome! Thanks!

Yes, as soon as I saw mites, I remembered that that is exactly what they were looking for on the rat I rescued. (Its been a while, and I think I have "oldtimers"! LOL!) I am glad I did not suggest that to them before checking here first! Whew.

I am not sure if the newbie came from a petstore or not. I think it did, but not 100% sure. I did suggest this morning that she call her vet and ask if they would scrape Simba and see if it is indeed a fungus.

Thanks for the vet list. I think Lakewood is close?!?! It seems like I have heard her say she was going to Lakewood before, and the area code is the same. I am going to forward all this information to her.

Again, you are all awesome! And thank you for being non-judgmental. It is nice to know that anyone (even a non/previous chin owner) can come on to the site and get great information and advice to help out a stranger to you all but a friend to me. Thank you!

 

[Cuddlebug]

Even though I am a California resident, I am a Colorado native. Lakewood is close. They may even be close enough to take the chin to Alameda East vet clinic in Aurora. Those people are awesome and worth the drive!