Tail hair loss / inflamation / dryness

[sgtpeppers]

Hello forum,

A couple of weeks ago we noticed that one of our degus had a white spot on the tip of her tail. At first, we didn't pay too much attention since it was really small and she seemed to have nothing wrong. But the decolouring got bigger and she started losing hair, and now her tail looks like that (see attachments). We have rubbed her tail with olive oil every day, but it doesn't seem to work. She doesn't seem to care about it, but we're afraid it will only get worse. Has anyone ever had this problem before?


EDIT FROM 08/06/2014
Today we noticed that the middle of the tail was all swollen, reddish and hairless in more places.

In the past few weeks we have been rubbing her tail with olive oil and today we put Betadine when we noticed that it was swollen.

You can see more clearly in the pictures we just attached.

Please let us know if you have any idea of what might have caused this and what can we do further on. Probably some of you have experienced this already, but any piece of advice is more than welcome !



We are looking forward to your answers !

[moletteuk]

My first thought is that it could be being overgroomed, possibly by a cagemate, have you seen her or a cagemate fussing with it? The fact that the hair is stripped back further than the sore area is what makes me think overgrooming.

Keep an eye on it to see if you can see anything going on in their behaviour, also keep an eye out for infection and if you have any concerns get it looked at by a vet.

[yasmin]

My goo Lilac has a tail like this, and one of her daughter's tails is following suit. Don't know if it is over grooming or just a hereditary balding.

[jenowuk]

Both of our current goos tails are like this, have been since we got them. No problems though!

[sgtpeppers]

Today we noticed that the middle of the tail was all swollen, reddish and hairless in more places.

In the past few weeks we have been rubbing her tail with olive oil and today we put Betadine when we noticed that it was swollen.

You can see more clearly in the pictures we just attached.

Please let us know if you have any idea of what might have caused this and what can we do further on. Probably some of you have experienced this already, but any piece of advice is more than welcome !

We are looking forward to your answers !

[moletteuk]

With the new photos, I think there is something more serious going on now, there looks to be damage along the tail. Have you noticed another degu or her chewing it, or it getting trapped or banged on something?

I think I would take her to the vet at this point, you want to nip it in the bud if there is any infection.

[ntg]

Odd question but is the tip of the tail cold? With a tail wound further down, it could be that the end of the tail is "dying off", as it can lose it's blood supply.

I would take the little one to see a vet. It might be that a course of ABs and some metacam will do thw trick, but a lot more can be seen in person that might be missed in a photo

[sgtpeppers]

I didn't feel it cold really..
We started today the antibiotics & anti inflammatory treatment and I hope her tail will heal up soon. But I do not know what has caused this?!

[saddlers]

One of ours had a small tail wound from a bite that looked clean and dry, but he kept nibbling at it and made it larger, eventually he had to have half his tail amputated. The vet advised that it was likely that the degu knew there was an infection possibly in the bone so had been trying to remove the tail himself.

[sgtpeppers]

hello, there are no visible signs of wounds and she does not seem to be bothered by it, when we apply cream on her tail she leaves it there, doesnt even try to take it off. i hope it's nothing more serious though!