Fur missing from tops of hands.

[yasmin]

Noticed this weekend that my 3-year old degu Gi has no fur on the tops of her hands – they both look totally naked. Her cage-partner/sister Rei's hands look normal. Both Rei and Gi are the two degus who have tattered ears possibly due to them both being born with some sort of vasculitis (causing the tips of their ears to slough off).

Only thing that has changed of late is that I found a cheaper paper/pulp litter and have been mixing it in with the usual white Carefresh. However, the hands of all of my other goos (other than Lilac, whose tops of hands are somewhat naked probably from wiping her aching jaw and nose) look normal.

Haven't been noticing Gi wiping herself with the backs of her hands either. Any idea what this might be?

[saddlers]

One of ours has always had hairless front paws, which I have always assumed to be overgrooming. I hoped that when we put them in the monster cage it would subside, but she still does it now. As long as the skin beneath is clean and does not look sore or irritated I wouldn't be too concerned.

[moletteuk]

Just keep an eye on it for now and see what you can observe. A couple of mine look a bit scruffy sometimes, Molly tends to get a bit bare under her chin, and Alice has a little patch behind one ear and a definite overgrooming rough patch on her back, I try not to worry if the skin looks healthy as I know mine have the tendency to overgroom each other occasionally.

[deguconvert]

A couple of ours have groomed their front feet naked as well. Don't know why, but they do. Sometimes they let them grow back for a brief span, but then they make them naked again. Beginning to think they just prefer them like that.

[klbishop]

jose does this, as long as it looks clean don't fret to much but keep an eye.

[yasmin]

The tops of her hands look clean and she is otherwise A-1.

Thanks for the replies; won't worry about it but will keep an eye on her.