thinning of tail fur? molting? or nutrition problem?

[tanja]

My six month old gray's tail fur appears to be thinning in one spot, towards the tip of the tail. she does get a variety of veggies, fruit, nuts and a vitamin nutball (that she does not always eat!). she is however picky. anyway, there is no fur loss anywhere else and she does not itch more than usual. her fur looks real healthy otherwise. i noticed quite a bit of hair as i was changing out her blankies in her box. as if she is shedding. is this something i need to worry about? she had a wonderful fluffy tail. is there something missing in her food? i do give one of my dog a supplement w/vit.d, e and fish oils that can be given to dogs and kittens. it starts with low dosages for animals as light as a pound. should i try that?

[Mars]

First, is the skin discolored or scaby? Does she dig at that one spot? They do shed in the spring normally from the head down and in the fall from the tail up.

[tanja]

no, there are no bad spots in her fur and she is not digging or biting or scratching in one particular spot. just the usual show off squirrel scratch here and there. there is no mange or mite infestation going on (i think - i mean i know what that looks like). like i said the rest of her looks healthy.i guess she is shedding, just does not look like her. just confused, because when cats or dogs shed, they do not have a sparse haircoat in one area. at least mine don't. they just lose more hair than usual. her tail is just not as bushy up on top, as if she is losing hair and it is not growing back as well. looks okay in the bottom. how long does the shedding in squirrels usually last?

[Gabe]

I have just seen something posted in another thread that veggies can lead to thinning of tail fur. What if you were to try to cut back on them and see where that leads.

[tanja]

so feed more fruit? thanks i'll try that. don't think she gets many more veggies than fruit pieces. try to keep a healthy balance, but she is ignoring certain things lately. so i have filled up her plate even more, scared she is not getting what she needs. she is just getting picky. not interested in her yoghurt lately either. who knows? us human girls we are picky too.:) ought to try chocolate. HA HA. just kidding. maybe i need to reduce my daily offers and leave her no choice in eating certain fruit and veggies. maybe she is having an attitude about the little two orphans we took in? heck, maybe i worry too much. :)

[TexanSquirrel]

My sugar gliders would go through phases where they would like something, then ignore it, then like it, then ignore it....Maybe that's what she's doing.

[tanja]

now she is not cracking her pecans! checked her mouth and teeth as far as i could. nothing seems to be wrong as far as i can tell. she did chew on her branch and cracked an acorn and is eating all her "good" food. just takes her pecan snack from me and goes to dig it down in her sand box. strange!

[webld4u2]

I have 3 doing the same thing. I think it may be due to overwintering them. Not sure though. And as far as their food, they eat much better than me!:D

[thundersquirrel]

if she has become too loving of vegetables, then only give them to her every other day. also, if you want to pump up her nutrients (in case she doesn't like some food thats good for her) look for avitron bird vitamins at the pet store. a drop of that stuff in their water helps balance deficiencies. just make sure you change the water out daily after that, cause the avitron can get moldy if left out a couple days.

[muffinsquirrel]

Another good one is L&M Farms Liquid Vitamins. You can get it for hamsters, rabbits, ferrets, guinea pigs, etc. The only difference in them is the amount to give. I have used it for years for my flying squirrels - one drop per ounce of water - and am very satisfied with it.

muffinsquirrel