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[Socrates399]

One of my chinchillas, George, seems to have lost fur on his back, but also there is a new coat.  There is no place where skin is exposed, (and never was, as far as I am aware) but his coat is uneven.  Is there something wrong with him?  I have a dog, Arthur, and while Arthur rarely bothers them, I wonder if it could be stress-related.  Lennie, my second (and much more timid) chinchilla has a gorgeous, even coat, and I'd think if one of them were stressed, it would be him.

George is also very small, especially compared to Lennie, if that makes any difference.

[dianah]

they do sometimes molt - i've only ever seen this on one of my chinchillas and too thought there was something wrong. it tends to start on the neck and slowly goes downwards and the fur that's coming out is in sort of horse shoe shape across the back (if that makes sense). it takes a few weeks to get from top to bottom and i did find that mine had loose fur accumulated by his tail that didn't come off by itself and i had to pull it out.

what are your chins reactions to the dog? i have dogs too and while they're never allowed in the chin room, the chins can hear them bark and move etc and they're not bothered one bit. which is actually really good because when they go to the vets, they're absolutely oblivious to any barking sounds there and a lot less stressed.

you could try brushing him if he's keen - i bought a special chinchilla comb for mine but he didn't like it so instead i just used a cat wire brush (you know, one with soft bent wires) - it didn't get anywhere near his skin but it took off quite a lot of the loose fur off and he seemed to enjoy it!

it could be stress related and in that case he would have fur slips rather than what i described above. this could be from an event rather than from continuous stress. keep an eye!

[jmdebb]

yah some of mine molt too, but not all weird, how only some of them do..