Pooki is hurting herself?!?!

[pookichinlove]

(Sorry if my english is not perfect i'm a french canadian) i have a problem with my chinchilla i hope that you can help me...
I have a chinchilla for a year now and i feed her well, with timoty hay and the right food for her that i take from the veterinary and i give her a dust bath every day. She seems to be very healthy.
The problem is, sometimes she is scratching her skin a lot and when i touch that place it's like if the skin was folded...? or maybe i feel a little bump... it's probably itchy and at the end, she is cutting her skin really deeply by scratching it so much, and it ends up bleeding. The first time, i brought her to the veterinary and he said that she was hurting herself against something, but I know it's false, because before she begins to scratch her skin, it wasn't open. I know she did that herself. Anyway, the veterinary gave me a cream and an oral antibiotic to give her twice a day. Each time it worked but she feels bad for two weeks after that she doesn't eat a lot and she doesn't want us to touch her. I feel bad for her because she is suffering... I found a way to stop her scratching herself by wrapping her with a piece of fabric but the weird thing on her skin always come back and i don't want my pet to live like that and me neither..
It's weird and i don't know what to do because the veterinary and the product he give me is really expensive and makes her feel bad. I love my chinchilla and i'm extremely worried about that.
I know that chinchillas are prone to skin diseases. Does she have one? or do you have an advice for avoid these ''injuries''?

 

[Stackie]

Chins aren't really prone to skin diseases. They can easily get ringworm, however. It is extremely itchy and very hard to get rid of. The medications could have been taming down the infection, but once she was off of them, it flared up again. It is a fungus and can be spread to us as well.

Chins can also get dry skin from dusting too much, but I doubt it would get this bad.

Can you take a picture of the affected area and post it here?

 

[Dragonflye]

Chinchillas can get a condition called ringworm which is caused by a fungus. You may notice scratching, hair loss in the area and flaky skin. Do you know for sure that there is some kind of lump or maybe an abscess? Has the vet looked for fungus?

I am wondering if maybe she is scratching because she gets dust baths daily. This can tend to dry their skin out, especially in the winter months when the air is dry already. I would try giving her fewer dust baths to start, maybe once per week, to let her skin heal.

 

[javachin]

My guesses would be possible fungus or maybe too much dusting like everyone was saying. See if you can get pictures for us and it may be easier to tell.