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[ymistry]

We have a senior chinchilla, she's about 15 years old. She always tended to have a spot at the tip of her tail but other than that she's never had any issues with her fur or signs of fur biting.  Two days ago I noticed fur biting near her backside. It's on both sides but more prominent on one side. She's acting normal. In fact she's currently out of her cage and bouncing off the walls right now!

Since she's older I'm not sure if this is a sign of stress related to some health issue. I know Chins are excellent at hiding their health issues until it  can be too late.  We've had a heat wave the last two weeks and even with our AC unit running full blast it's definitely been warm. This happens at some point every summer though and we've never seen fur biting before. We've also been traveling for work a lot and so she hasn't gotten to run around outside her cage as much as normal these past few months as our pet sitters never know how to get her back in the cage.  She does have a 5 story cage and a wheel but I'm wondering if she's just bored?

Based on other people's experience is this likely from heat / boredom etc. or do I need to take her in to a vet? We used to have a good exotics vet a long time ago but that was years ago and I haven't been able to find a good replacement since. I worry if this is stress related that a trip to a new vet would just make things worse but at the same time I know it can take 3 months for the fur to grow back normal and don't want to wait that long if there might be an issue. I'd love to hear any thoughts or suggestions.

Thanks so much!

[GrayRodent]

15 years is very old for a chinchilla so your chances of health related causes are a lot higher. You could take her to get a vet exam to attempt to rule out a physiological cause. Your biggest thing to is measure weight. If she's losing a lot of weight there is likely a problem. If you see drooling or a lot of wetness at the chewing sites you might want to ask about a tooth exam.

It's unusual for a chinchilla to just start chewing its fur but it's not unheard of. It's a judgment call.

[BLS Chins]

Fur chewing in one area is usually a sign of pain. If its both hips then its likely genetics or stress related.

[ymistry]

Thanks. I haven't been measuring weight all along so I don't have a benchmark to go by for weight. She's definitely eating and she doesn't look like she is losing weight but I know that visuals can be deceiving with all the fur. There's no drooling or wetness but the fur biting is very minimal on the right side and largely concentrated on her back left side. From the feedback above it sounds like there might be a source of pain there. I think I'm going to take her to vet this weekend and hope for the best.

Thanks for the feedback. Much appreciated.

[ymistry]

So I took our chin to the vet. The first "specialist" we found was terrible and didn't know anything about chins, she stressed everyone out and didn't give us any info, not even her weight! I found another option further away and this guy was great. He did a physical and oral exam as well as standard bloodwork. Everything came back great and he said she was in good shape (especially for her age), which is great news. The only issue is she's still fur biting. I thought it might be from boredom. She has a wheel, a wood house, wood chews etc. I sometimes stuff alfalfa in cardboard tubes for an added challenge.  She used to like pumice stones but got bored with them long ago. I recently added a tunnel made out of hay but she wasn't into that either. I was wondering if anyone could recommend some toys that I could try? I'm thinking she may need some more stimulus. Thanks!

[GrayRodent]

Sounds like you're doing everything right. I'm glad to hear your chin got a good health report. I expect she was found to not be underweight so write her current weight down as a healthy benchmark on your scale. (scales can differ by a few grams)

I would just chalk it up to changes related to aging and as long as she is active, at a healthy weight, and has a good quality of life I wouldn't be too concerned about it at this point.

Fur biters can cause extensive damage to their hair leaving the undercoat exposed. It is mostly cosmetic damage. If the skin becomes exposed that is not typical and may indicate some kind of skin infection. If you see damage or signs of self-mutilation to the skin it should be pretty obvious and you'll need to reassess. For typical fur biting this would be extremely rare.

[ymistry]

Thanks, I'll keep an eye out for that and just monitor things closely.