I have 2 chinchillas who live together, however recently the female one has started losing clumps of fur. :headvswal Does anyone know what causes this, how to prevent it or any changes to make to help the fur grow back? I know stress causes this to happen, any ideas what could be stressing her out (yes i know its a female - nuff said ;))

 

The first pic is her from one side, and this is how the fur is meant to be:

 

 

And this one shows her other side where the clumps of fur are missing :(

 

 

All help greatfully received!

bump:D

It may be changing from summer fur to vinter fur, animals do this automatically and doesen't even know it's happing. Not sure about the chinchillas though.

 

Ken

It may be changing from summer fur to vinter fur, animals do this automatically and doesen't even know it's happing. Not sure about the chinchillas though.

 

Ken

Yup this is always a possibility, although i would have thought fur would grow back in it's place? I don't really want to have to take her to the vet and pay £60 to find out it is nothing wrong, but internet searches haven't proved to be very helpful ad I want to make sure she is ok! Cheers for the info though Ken, didn't really think of that!!

You could also make sure her skin isn't dry, and that she doesen't got fur chewers

my dad keeps greyhounds, and when his dogs do that it usually means that the dogs are scratching and biting an itch

 

usually happens when he used to use straw cause the straw (even clean has ticks in it, he stopped using it problem solved

Ah that could be it, as i give them a handful of straw every day, so you reckon steam clean the cage, and stop puttin straw in might stop her from itching and thus could prevent hair loss ? Will give it a go!

How old is she? I take it she is a grey one?

Is it getting correct vitamin - vitamin deficiency major cause.

Is the skin bumpy and possibly red, like elephant skin texture?

Check for mites and consider mite powder.

Make sure they get a regular dust bath.

This is by no mean an exhaustive list but these are just a few considerations froma Chinchilla owner and former pet sales person.

HTH

http://groups.msn.com/KingdomChinchillas/yourwebpage13.msnw

 

Have a look here mate, there's a bit about missing fur patches

 

Vijay

http://www.chins-n-quills.com/forums/ I thínk thats a quite big Chinchilla forum