Chinchilla Community Forums
Chinchillas => Health => Topic started by: Jackiehawk87 on March 12, 2014, 08:50:44 AM
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I just came home yesterday and went to check on Kimber our 8 month old chin. When I got to her cage I saw that it looked as if she had rubbed all the fur off around her nose. It doesn't look red or inflamed but I am still concerned. I sat with her for a couple hours last night and she ran and played and seemed to eat like normal. I never saw her rub her nose again but, I am really worried that I should take her to get checked out. What should I do?
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This is a very common sign of ringworm infection or some kind of skin fungus. It is quite common in chinchillas. It usually starts on the nose or around the tail and spreads outward resulting in fur loss in a pattern that is easy to recognize. Having it checked by a vet is not a bad idea so you can get a positive diagnosis.
Ringworm is curable but is also highly contagious including to people so be careful. It usually gets worse before it gets better during treatment. A common cure for this is to put two tablespoons of desenex in your pet's dust bath and bathe it 10 minutes every day until the fur starts growing back. Then go back to a regular bath and normal dust bath schedule. It helps to scrub the cage about every other day to prevent re-infection. If you have other chinchillas in the same room, and it is ringworm, you should treat them as well because it is so contagious.
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it is also a sign of a bar chewer I have on of my girls that chronically has a bald nose from sticking it through the cage wire it simply rubbed off. if you chinchillas skin is not dry and scally it is likely a fur slip or rubbed off