Hair loss - fungal?

[CNF]

Three females came in today.
One has hair loss around nose.
All have hair loss on tails and legs/feet.
Does this look like ringworm/fungal/mites?

[CNF]

Jan 26, 2015 5:01:01 GMT CNF said:

Three females came in today.
One has hair loss around nose.
All have hair loss on tails and legs/feet.
Does this look like ringworm/fungal/mites?

[ntg]

Well the skin doesn't look like it's a normal colour or smooth from that photo. I couldn't say what it is though, only a vet can do that for you.

[moletteuk]

I agree, I would get a vet opinion on that as the skin looks darker and redder than normal and a slightly inflamed or scaly on the feet. It's not a usual place for mites, it could be fungal or even bacterial with the skin abnormality. The vet may be able to get an idea by looking and decide to treat and work out if they judged correctly by response, or they may do a skin scrape.

Welcome to the forum Are you with a rescue?

[CNF]

Sorry about that, I was on a mobile last night.
Yes, I run an exotic animal rescue in KY. They will be visiting the vet, but we had horrible weather last night and there is now ice on the roads. Since it's not an emergency, we will be waiting until it clears up.

Was looking for opinions until then. I will snap a few more photos.

[CNF]

Attached

[ilikedegus]

I'm glad you are going to get the vet to see them.

I personally have no experience with mites or fungus in degus, and obviously the condition of the skin is relevant.

But all you are seeing MAY be due to "mechanical" reasons; "barbering" or overgrooming of each other or themselves, and the lady with the balding nose may have been, for example, repeatedly pushing at the cage wire with it; watch her and see if there is anything in her behaviour that would do that.

As they're rescues, do you think they were in a stressed environment? That could be a factor in chewing fur off.

Also, if not cared for properly before rescued, do they have some mineral, vitamin or perhaps Omega 3 deficiency that could have contributed?

I'm sure your vet will sort them out - I hope the roads are safe enough soon.

[CNF]

As I have not noticed them scratch, but have noticed grooming, I'm going to hope it is just rubbing or barbering. I do believe they were in a stressful environment. The girl mentioned her dog getting ahold of one's tail, which is apparent on one.

They were on Wild Harvest guinea pig food, but have been switched to a quality guinea pig feed. They are eating timothy hay, vegetables, and chewing well. Cooing and chirping. Really are sweet girls.

This is our care guide for degus, which explains how they're being cared for now: chinsnfriends.wix.com/home#!blank/cxmn

[ilikedegus]

You look like a caring rescue ;-)

I hope you don't fall too much in love with the ladies and they find a new loving home soon.

[moletteuk]

Kudos to you for running a rescue

Barbering is very common, especially legs and feet, and we have seen strange hair loss patterns on faces on the forum with no apparent explanation, but from what I can see in the photos the skin doesn't look quite right to me, the skin also looks kind of speckled on the ear pic. There is such a thing as ear mites, but I've never seen a case.

I understand food options are limited in USA, but you might find our commercial food chart of interest deguworld.proboards.com/thread/17365/commercial-food-chart and the nutrition charts contain some useful information deguworld.proboards.com/thread/15602/vegetable-seed-nut-nutrition-charts The main diet improvement we recommend is to offer as much varied forage as possible, things like grasses, wild plants, tree leaves, flowers, herbs and so on. Also attention to calcium content of diet and addition of high calcium seeds is recommended and minimising grains/ carbs.