Chinchilla Community Forums
Chinchillas => Q & A => Topic started by: Dex21 on November 28, 2015, 02:45:32 PM
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Hey guys, so lately I have been letting my chinchilla Dex out of his cage to play through the night while I sleep (because I do not have time to let him out for 1-2 hours every day around 10pm -- but don't worry I stay awake with him for at least 45 min when I let him out!) however last night he was not in his cage when I woke up (like he usually is). I spent all day looking for him in my bedroom and have just found him (it is now 3:34pm). He hid inside of my dresser drawers (I found poop in multiple drawers) and is now back in his cage, but looks scared. I examined him and he appears to have chafed his hind legs a little (they look red --> I'll attach a photo for a professional opinion). Is this something serious that I need to look into or will he be okay? I am getting rid of this dresser to avoid this from happening again but I want to make sure my little guy is going to be alright.
Side Question: I have noticed some missing fur at the base of Dex's tail. I first spotted this about 2 weeks ago and it doesn't seem to have spread, however the fur is not growing back. I am unsure how long is takes for a chinchillas fur to grow back fully however I wanted to attach a picture of this too for further examination.
Update: since I have been writing this he has started moving around his cage and is now eating some Oxbow pellets.
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I am unable to attach the two photos I wished to share because it says the maximum size of a post can't be greater than 192 kb, does anyone know how I could share these photos into this thread?
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Typically when I post pictures I'll reformat them to 600x800 and export to a .jpg format. If you would like any help please submit your picture to me (admin@chinchillaclub.com) and I'll make sure it gets posted.
It sounds like your chinchilla may have got trapped somewhere and panicked to get out. It may have slipped some tail hair in the process. Tail hair can take 3-4 months to fully grow back. I wouldn't be too concerned as long as the skin looks normal. As far as the hind feet I'm curious to see it. Make sure the redness isn't something that can be washed off. Maybe it was transferred red varnish or something.
It's not good for a chinchilla to be out to wander through things like dressers and finished furnishings as coatings like varnish and lacquer can be irritating to skin and poisonous to ingest. Also wood that is not safe for chinchillas such as cedar can be irritating and toxic as well.
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This is going to sound harsh but you should never let your chin loose in any area unsupervised. They are great at getting themselves into trouble and dangerous situations. All it takes is one chew on the wrong toxic paint, or an electric wire and you have a dead chin. If your cage is large enough (2ft cubed) he doesnt need play time. Thats a myth started by pet owners. Over exercise can actually lead to a lot of health problems including heat stroke, seizures, low blood sugar, injury and even death.
The bald spots are likely fur slips from close calls during his loose time in your room. Keep an eye on the area for any swelling or flaky skin.
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Totally agreed. A chinchilla should be left in the cage when you are not around. Something bad happened when you didn't see what was happening and you may have been able to prevent it if you'd have seen it. The next time the outcome might be deadly different.
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These photos were submitted to me so I could reformat them. At this time the image size is pretty limited for our forum. I'm planning on making some adjustments once we're moved to our new server. At the time they need to be re-sized and compressed to meet the maximum file size requirements.
Foot injury:
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These photos were submitted to me so I could reformat them. At this time the image size is pretty limited for our forum. I'm planning on making some adjustments once we're moved to our new server. At the time they need to be re-sized and compressed to meet the maximum file size requirements.
Tail injury:
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My opinion about the photos is there are no significant problems. The foot does a little chafed and dry but my chinchillas feet are actually worse than that from normal contact with their wood shelving. If there's something there I'm not seeing it. The tail is really a non-issue. The skin doesn't looked damaged at all. The fur apparently got scraped off, perhaps it was inside of a tight space and panicked. It should completely grow back but it may be a few weeks before you see new hair growth. You are blessed.
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Thank you very much for all your help guys I greatly appreciate it. I am going to wean down all-night playtime until I eventually stop it altogether asap, though I had a quick question regarding this.
So I live in a very small bedroom with Dex (my bed takes up at least half of my room) and when he is out of his cage he does not listen to me as much as when he is inside of his cage (commands like "come here" or merely his name). He hides under my bed most of the time when he is playing (I assume because of the darkness), so getting him back into his cage when he is under there is quite a pain. He will escape me if I try to pick him up when he is out playing, so is there a way to condition him to listen to me better when playing outside of his cage? One of the main reasons I started letting him play all night was because I merely couldn't get him back into his cage after he got out, so if I could get him to listen to me when I want him to enter his cage again that would help greatly.
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I doubt you'll be able to train your chinchilla to respond consistently to voice commands. I suspect it can be done but I don't think it's going to practical to anyone besides a professional animal trainer.
When my chinchilla gets away from me (unintentionally when he's not in his chinchilla safe place) and goes under a dresser I use a plastic shop grabber to chase him out. No, I don't grab my chin with it, but I like it because it's long, lightweight, and it's safer than something like a broom handle or a dowel rod. I usually chase him into the bathroom or another room where it's easy to reach down and pick him up and it's pretty straightforward. One thing I've done is conditioned my chinchillas to not jump off of me while I sit with them. I let them play in my bathroom which has been set up to be safe for them to run around in. That is also where they get dusted and Kulu, who likes to jump out of his cage, will gravitate towards that room.
This may be the exact one I use here. I think I paid $1.00 for it. https://www.dollartree.com/Tool-Bench-Easy-Reach-Plastic-Reacher-Grabber-Tool-33-/p321981/index.pro
(This does not consitute an endorsement for any particular business or tool. Always use good sense while poking around in the dark where your chinchilla might be).
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Your chin shouldn't be able to get to areas where your can't reach them. Your chin could be eating parts of your mattress and you wouldn't know it till your chin is dead. You should block off areas where your can't monitor him. You can try to use the dust bath to catch him. Many chins will willingly jump into there. But food for thought, if you can't catch your chin during play time what would you do in an emergency? You need to be able to catch/grab your chin quickly at all times.
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Hey guys, sorry to bring up this thread again but I had a quick question about Dex's tail. Lately (usually whenever he is waking up) he has been picking at his tail in the bare spot area. I will attach an updated picture (note: I was unable to upload the picture file again so I sent the pictures to admin@chinchillaclub.com) though I am wondering if this is an issue to look into. When looking very closely I can see some white flakes in the area, though since he has been picking at this spot part of his tail looks dry so I am wondering if this is merely dry skin. Thank you again for your help guys, I greatly appreciate all the advice.
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If the spot increases in size (and I mean obviously larger as opposed to you just suspect it might be but you're not sure) or if the skin starts to look red then you should probably have it checked out. Otherwise I suspect this has more to do with your pet sensing there is an anomalous texture there.
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With the flaky skin its likely he has a fungal infection. That can cause an itchy feeling causing him to bite at the area. If you can post pics it would help
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@GrayRodent did you happen to receive my pictures that I sent to the email address above?
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I took 2 new pictures of his tail roughly a week ago to examine the "flaky" substance in the bare spot as well as to compare the size of the missing fur. I will resend you those pictures now. Thank you again for taking the time to help me out!
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Here is one image.
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Here's the other image with some contrast enhancements.
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I'm not exactly sure what to make of it. These are good pictures. I'm not used to seeing bare chinchilla tails so I hope someone else with more experience will comment.
Based on my limited experiences I don't think you're dealing with an fungal infection but it certainly cannot be ruled out. The ones that I've seen get diagnosed typically appear more red and the skin appears damaged and crusty but it doesn't always work that way. It wouldn't hurt to treat with Desenex in the dust bath to see if that helps. I know many people who do that and I've done it myself. You can mix two tablespoons of Desenex foot powder in the normal dust bath and just use it normally. At this point I'd just stay with a normal dust schedule, (every other day) unless it becomes apparent there is an infection.
If redness occurs or if the site becomes larger I recommend getting a skin culture done to identify a culprit. There are measures you can take to treat an infection, usually topical medications, and very frequent cage cleaning and replacement of porous cage items. Until then my best guess is this is dry skin which would lead me to examine diet and climate. What is your chinchilla's diet and climate like? Also what kind of bedding are you using?
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Dex's diet consists of Oxbow pellets and Timothy hay. Regarding treats I use the red/green colored corn chips and mini fruit bites (bought from the nearby PetSmart --> I do not exceed more than 4 treats per day and only use them to train Dex).
Note: I do not give Dex 4 complete corn chip rods per day, I break off a small piece (roughly the size of one of his front paws) and give him that.
Do you know where I could purchase Desenex and which brand (if there are multiple) would be safest for Dex? And I currently have about half of a "Blue Cloud Dust" (that is the brand name) dust bath so just to clarify should I only add 1 tablespoon of Desenex to the remaining container and then just mix it together?
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Hey
Is your chin chewing his tail alot? When one of my chins is bored, stressed she has a terrible habit of pulling out her fur :-\
Try to keep him entertained new toys etc and make sure he isn't stressed.
Hope it clears up asap!
Natalie x
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Dex chews his tail when he wakes up every night around 9:30pm (along with some other parts of his body), though his tail is the area that he chews more than anything else. Would you recommend any certain toys to use for entertainment?
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Your diet is very good. I feed oxbow pellets myself and you probably won't find much better. If you can avoid treats maybe you should and see if that has any effect. If it's dried fruit limit it to two pea sized servings per day. I'd stop feeding corn based products but that is my opinion. I think it's doubtful those treats are the cause though.
I think 2 tablespoons to a half a jar of Blue Cloud (4 lb jar) is fine. I use regular Desenex powder (2% miconazole nitrate). I don't think they make another product but adding things probably wouldn't be good.
As far as toys my chinchillas play with mostly wooden things. They really like to chew on their scatter guards which are 1" firring strips mounted to the bars. They have treat-k-bobs with wood on them. They also like pumice. You can find that at a pet store pretty easily.
I'm suspecting this is behavioral. Try two weeks on desenex. If it gets worse or doesn't improve by then I recommend having a vet exam just to rule out a physiological cause. Also make sure you are keeping track of your pet's weight. If you see a 10% decrease in weight over the norm don't hesitate to get an exam.
As always we are not a replacement for an experienced veterinarian. If in doubt see a vet.
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The fruit treats should be stopped asap. They are extremely unhealthy for your chin and can cause other issues down the road. They can not digest the sugar in the fruit which can lead to stasis, bloat, seizures...
The skin looks fine so its safe to assume its just a fur slip and the hair will grow back eventually. Tails can take up to 6 months to fully come back in. If the area gets larger or becomes inflamed then he may have gotten fungus.
Any medicated athletes foot powder is good to use. Just read the ingredients. Some are just for itch which wont solve anything. You can find it at any drug store (walgreens, cvs, walmart...)
You mentioned chewing of the fur. Is the chin grooming or actually pulling hair out/biting it off?
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Dex chews his tail when he wakes up every night around 9:30pm (along with some other parts of his body), though his tail is the area that he chews more than anything else. Would you recommend any certain toys to use for entertainment?
We give our chins bark bridges which they love to chew. Chew blocks, pieces of untreated wood, cardboard boxes which they love to shred and hide in. We try to interact with her as much as possible and get her out for a run every evening. We try to stick to a routine to give her a stress free environment which does help. It does help it never properly goes away she can so chewing for a while then she goes back to it whenever she is bored. We try to add a new toy once a month.
Natalie
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I apologize for my late response; I did not have internet for over a week. I will add the desenex immediately and see if that has any effect. Regarding his weight, Dex has actually gained 6g over the past couple of weeks (his weight hasn't dropped at all).
@BLS Chins: I looked up a video of a chinchilla grooming themselves and that is exactly what Dex does. He does not pull out any hair during this process.
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Has there been any change with the missing hair? Is it growing back? I suspect you should see some signs of new growth by now.
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I have not noticed a significant change in the amount of hair on his tail, though maybe a very slight improvement. Is this a bad sign?
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Bring him to the vet or to a shelter, this could possibly be mites, ringworm and/or over grooming. Be careful with that kind of stuff.
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If it were my chinchilla I'd wait a couple of more weeks and monitor for any changes. If anything gets worse or hair starts missing from the nose see a vet immediately. It's your call. Tail hair takes a long time to grow back and if your chin is grooming it until the hair comes out it could be very difficult to definitively identify a cause. If you have an exam I highly recommend a skin culture.