Well I hope that no chinchilla owner ever has to go through this, but most have at some point or another. I am speaking of Fur Fungus/Ringworm in chinchillas.

Fur Fungus/Ringworm can sometimes be hard to diagnose in chins. There are a couple reasons why. First off, when you take your chin to the vet to get a diagnosis the only true way of finding out if it is fungus is for the vet to take a fur follicle sample. In most animals ringworm will glow if exposed to a UV/black light. In chinchillas it doesn’t always glow. The other reason is due to there is a lot of false information out there regarding what ringworm/fungus looks like, and where it begins. Truth is, there is no guide how each case of ringworm/fungus will manifest or where it’ll start. It is said that it typically starts on the nose, ears, and facial area. Yes, this is the more typical places it starts but definitely not always! Ringworm/Fungus can manifest in very odd ways, and start in odd places. I have seen it start on the chest, tail, toes, feet, hind quarters, back, and even on genitalia. Some people say, that it’ll be scaly dry patches of skin etc. Yes, this is also sometimes true. But not always! I have seen it where the skin was totally exposed but appeared to be healthy skin, not red, irritated, or scaly. I have also seen it form into horrid sores that bleed and have puss coming out, I have seen raised lumps that appeared to be cancer or a growth. All of these examples were Ringworm/Fungus!

Bottom line is that it can start anywhere, and look many different ways. Never ever say, “well that isn’t what ringworm/fungus looks like” and pass it off.

Ok, so now you have a chinchilla with ringworm… what do you do now? First thing you need to do is remove the chinchilla from any nearby cages. If the chinchilla is housed with another and the ill chin has already shown signs of ringworm, you can pretty much guarantee the other one has it too. I recommend putting them in a completely separate room from any other animals or chins. Wash you hands after every encounter with the ill chin or anything it has touched. Ringworm/Fungus is highly contagious and can be passed to humans or if you touch an infected chin, then touch another it can spread that way. The reason I suggest a different room is because ringworm can practically become an airborne infection due to chins taking dust baths. Dust baths can spread the spores all over a room and to other animals very quickly. Also remove all wood items from cage and discard them. Wood can absorb the spores and hold them and re-contaminate your chins at any given time. Fungus/Ringworm spores can live without a host for a very long time, and can live on anything the infected chin touches. Once they have found a host it takes normally 3 weeks for the infection to start showing signs. Thoroughly disinfect and clean their cage from top to bottom once a week. Do this for 4-6 weeks. This is the best method to keep your chinchilla from getting it again.

There are a couple methods of treatment for ringworm. I recommend to try first an anti-fungal powder added to their dust baths. PLEASE do not let uninfected chins EVER share a dust bath container! Each cage should have it’s own dust bath container. I have tried several different athletes foot/fungal powders and haven’t found any that work well except for Tinactinã . The reason Tinactin works so well is because it’s active ingredient is 1% Tolfanate, which is a preventative and treatment of fungus. Put one teaspoon per cup of dust bath and bathe the chins every day for 6 weeks. I recommend using this powder in their dust bath as long as you have chins to prevent ringworm/fungus, and put the powder in all your chins dust baths. This may prevent the spread also. If given daily baths once ringworm/fungus has shown and you have not seen an improvement in the chins condition by 2 weeks, take the chin to the vet for further treatment. If it DOES cure the fungus after 6 weeks of daily baths then drop the baths to about 3 times a week.

For further treatment of ringworm/fungus make sure that the vet knows about chins. Sometimes fungus can get so bad that it becomes an internal infection and needs to be treated orally. A very commonly used drug is Griseofluvin. This works very well and fast. But, needs to be administered in the proper dosage. A dosage too high could result in illness or death due to it being so strong. So make sure your vet prescribes it measured by your chins weight, and that he/she is aware that there have been cases of too much being prescribed per dosage and it could prove fatal to your chin. Administer any and all fungus treatments (ie: fungus powder baths and/or oral) for the full 6 weeks and every day. One missed day and the fungus can become stronger and get out of hand quickly. Just because all fur has grown back does NOT mean that the fungal infection is still not present in the body.

I do not recommend topical treatments for fungus other than the dust baths. Most of them that are safe for animal prescribed by a vet are greasy and sticky solutions and make the chin very miserable. Do not use any over the counter fungal creams. These tend to be recommended for human use, and if the chinchilla were to lick the cream it could make them very ill or also prove fatal. Tinactin comes in a cream also, but as already stated, I do not recommend “made for humans” topical creams.

Be sure to keep infected chins quarantined until all medication is fully administered (6 weeks +) and there are no signs of fungus.

I hope that this helps some chinchilla owners out there, I went through some hard times with fungus, but learned a lot and studied a lot to find the best solution and preventatives! Good Luck!