Why is Jasmine loosing fur?

[Jazzis Mom]

I have had her since she was 2 weeks old. Never been outside since 2 weeks. She is now about 7 months old. Eats Henry healthy blocks. Veggies and 1 fruit daily. Limited nuts. She has slowly been loosing the fur on her back right leg. I noticed a small area around front leg that looks like fur is getting thin. It doesn’t look like mange or inflamed. Just like she wore the fur off but it is scaring me. I got calcium in case it was that but she won’t eat food with it in there. She is very picky. Is this mites? Is it a spring molt?

[redwuff]

Jazzi is a very pretty girl. You have done a good job with her. Is there a spot on her knee that could possibly be a spider bite? I am totally guessing here. You have her on a good diet. A mite issue would not present like that.

Would you take a closer picture of that back leg?

[Jazzis Mom]

Her other back knee is starting to loose fur now. I have seen photos on here of a few others that had this kind of hair loss pattern. Is she just shedding? Should I worry? Recently I am having fits with her eating her Henry picky bits. She takes a few bites and throws it down. We are really limiting her veggies and nuts because of this. Not sure if this could cause her hair loss? Some people tell me to release her but she is such a pet I don’t know if she could survive. But she loves looking outside. I take her out in a little cage so she can get used to smells and sounds and sights. But so torn as what to do. We love her as our child.

[CritterMom]

They develop all sorts of weird molt patterns indoors and this is likely what is happening here. Does she get any sun at all when you have her out?

[Jazzis Mom]

Occasionally we go outside in a small cage and I sit her in the sun. Otherwise as of a month ago we put full spectrum light in the corner of her cage. So she gets some light but when the problem began she was not getting much light. Her cage is a huge 6 ft by 6ft corner cage. So it doesn’t shine on the whole cage. Should I get another for the other side?

[TimmySquirrel]

I realize this thread is several months old, but I wanted to ask if you’ve found the cause yet? We have a squirrel, Timmy, that’s been losing hair for at least a year. He’ll lose it fairly symmetrically on both sides, and it tries to grow back in patches, but he’s losing more than he’s gaining. I call him our patchwork squirrel. From internet research I think he may have a type of dermatophytosis (not ringworm) that breaks the hair off at the base, but doesn’t mar the skin. I recently got a vet to talk to me about it and he thinks I feed too many veggies. Something about causing hormonal changes that leads to hair loss. I have the recipe for Henry’s blocks, which we’ve been feeding regularly. I thought your issue with your cutie might be similar. (How do I post a picture?)

[LanSeaAir]

From my experience.... All squirrels indoors or in outside cages need at least 1 to 2 drops of a flea, mite preventative FRONTLINE PLUS FOR CATS. We have seen were people bring squirrels to an outside cage or just outside. They can catch things from grass or just a stick we bring into house. Paper causes mites. Or if you have other animals. However you can see huge turn arounds using this treatment every 2 months or so. If the squirrel is older then 6 months and has it bad then a whole does will not hurt them. I had a squirrel Candy loose tail hair then leg hair, treated and after a few weeks I never could tell she had a problem. Also try not to wash bedding in any smelly detergent just hot water helps also. We have all beautiful coats on all our squirrels. Even if a release squirrel treat b4 going in the wild. Attached is the picture. WE USE THIS ON ANY small animal prairie dog too since he plays in paper. Hope this helps everyone :-) :sqrrl11:sqrrl11