Rivendell ChinchillasPlease note this page is not intended for replacement of professional medical advice or treatment for you animal. It is here for educational purposes only!
By reading or using any of the information on this page the site owner or author(s) are not responsible for you animal(s)! If your animal is sick please take it to the vet, this guide is to help educate on potential problems and symptoms as well as help offer tips on care before getting them to the vet, and after getting them home from the vet. It is in no way, shape, or form a substitute!
| Fur Chewing - Fur chewing, also known as barbering, can be either environmental or genetic. In some cases it can be stopped. |
| Symptoms: Missing patches of fur, may be various lengths or to the skin. No fluffs of fur will be found in the cage. Chewing most often starts on the hip area, but may be anywhere. Fur often is just missing the "tips" like someone trimmed it with the scissors. |
| Treatment options: Some people use Tinactin in their chins dust bath to help with chewing, but this is not a fix for the problem, only a temporary "band aid" to cover the underlying issues. There is no known medical treatment for fur chewing, the only way to really "cure" chewing is to help remove any stressful situations and watch for signs of fur growing back. |
| Cause: Chewing may be genetic, if the cause of it is unknown then chewers should not be bred. Environmental conditions can also prompt fur chewing. Chewing often starts at about 9 months, but can start at any time in life. Breeders may begin chewing when introduced to another mate or when a female litters. Stress can be a factor as well as genetic links. Stress can include loud noises, harassment by people or other pets, breeding and birthing, new cages mates, or a variety of other stressful situations. Many chins go through stressful situations without chewing if you're looking for a breeding animal it's best to rule out any animal that has chewed and find something more hardy. Chewing can also be a learned condition from parents or cage mates. Sometimes when an animal may be chewed it may be a cagemate doing the chewing, not the animal itself as some animals have been known to chew others, but no themselves. Possibly a sign of dominance similar to whiskey barbering. |
| Prevention: The best prevention is to look for animals with no signs of chewing in their lines, and to buy from a responsible breeder. |
Minor Chewing on hip
Severe fur chewing over body
Fur chewing/pulling after a fight.
Extreme case of fur chewing
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| Hair Rings- Hair rings can be a serious be easily preventable problem in male chinchillas. Hair rings form when fur gets wrapped around the chinchillas penis, if left un-treated it can cause pain and swelling, problems urinating, leading to UTI and even lead to fatalities. |
| Symptoms: Penis partially hanging out of sheath, vigorous and frequent cleaning of penis by male, general un-comfortableness, often checking the pubic area. |
| Treatment options: Carefully remove the penis from the sheath but gently pulling it back then grabbing the end of the penis, slowly and gently pull the penis out to it's full extension, checking for fur wrapped around it on the way out. Carefully remove any fur, on sever cases blunt end scissors may need to be used. Use extreme caution and care as not to injury the chin or his special "man parts". If you are uncomfortable with this process or feel the situation is to extreme for you to handle call your vet for an appointment. Remember that sever hair rings can lead to other problems and even death. |
| Cause: Fur gets wrapped around the chinchillas penis, often during breeding. If your chin has fleece stuffies it may pick up some fleece fibers as well. All males can get hair rings, whether in breeding or not. |
| Prevention: Frequent hair ring checks can prevent serious issues with hair rings (see Treatment Options) |