ABandNamed:Mumford&Crumbs
06-28-2022, 10:02 PM
Hey Y'all,
I'm going to try to make this as detailed as possible. Mumford is a 10 month old Eastern Grey squirrel. He eats 2-3 HHBs a day, sometimes more, and gets a wide variety of vegetables including arugula, bok choy, mushrooms, sugar snap peas, brussels sprouts, broccoli, avocado, various lettuces, carrots, and an occasional tomato. He typically eats one piece of fruit a day; this could be either watermelon, peach, strawberry, banana, coconut flakes, or blueberry. He gets 3 in-shell nuts a day - hazelnut, pecan, and almond. We give him these when we are outside getting his daily 1 hour of sun as kind of a distraction since he does not love being outside. We try to very much stick close to the Henry's Healthy Pet food pyramid. He has lots of toys to play with, lots of sticks and flowers (approved on Henry's pyramid) to chew on and eat, and has obstacle courses, ropes, and towers to play on. He also had one single drop of Revolution (first time) about one week ago. He eats and drinks well, teeth look in good shape, and he is very playful. I am not certain of his exact weight as he refuses to sit still on the kitchen scale, but if that information is needed I will be more than happy to get it done. He sleeps in my closet, literally in t-shirts that he has created a sort of nest out of. We do not use any strong air fresheners, soaps, detergents, etc. that he would or can come in contact with. His food and water bowls are cleaned daily with baking soda and water. He has free roam of our house so he is not in cage that has 'bedding', but he does have boxes that he hides stuff in that have Full Cheeks Unscented Paper Bedding in the bottom of them and some of the boxes do have leaves from outside.
For the past few months we have noticed that Mumford will essentially 'chew' on his paws, pulling the fur out. He basically has no fur on his fingers or arms. We tried putting diluted betadine on the area several times a day thinking maybe he had a small cut or something that we could not see that was bothering him. We thought it had helped, but that was not the case. Now he is starting to lose fur on his sides around his tummy, his shoulders, and his thighs. Sometimes I actually see (not often though, more so just falling out on its own) him pulling the fur out with his teeth. We are at a lost as to what this could be. Possibly fungus? Or molting? Mumford is the first squirrel we have ever had - we found him in an open parking lot after a storm - so we are not familiar with the molting process to be able to pinpoint that this is what this is. It is just concerning that he pulls the fur out on his own. As previously mention, I bought kitten Revolution thinking it was perhaps mites. I administered one drop between his shoulder blades on Sunday and no improvement. The skin in the balding areas is very soft, smooth, and light pink. There is no thickening. In the bald patches there is an almost very short thin "buzzy fuzz" growing.
I have attached pictures that show him chewing on his paws and show the parts of his body where his fur is 'balding'. Is this just molting? Or is this a possible fungus? Or is this something else? I am starting to stress out as I do not want him to be irritated and bald.
Lots of photos attached for reference.
Please help, thank you!
I'm going to try to make this as detailed as possible. Mumford is a 10 month old Eastern Grey squirrel. He eats 2-3 HHBs a day, sometimes more, and gets a wide variety of vegetables including arugula, bok choy, mushrooms, sugar snap peas, brussels sprouts, broccoli, avocado, various lettuces, carrots, and an occasional tomato. He typically eats one piece of fruit a day; this could be either watermelon, peach, strawberry, banana, coconut flakes, or blueberry. He gets 3 in-shell nuts a day - hazelnut, pecan, and almond. We give him these when we are outside getting his daily 1 hour of sun as kind of a distraction since he does not love being outside. We try to very much stick close to the Henry's Healthy Pet food pyramid. He has lots of toys to play with, lots of sticks and flowers (approved on Henry's pyramid) to chew on and eat, and has obstacle courses, ropes, and towers to play on. He also had one single drop of Revolution (first time) about one week ago. He eats and drinks well, teeth look in good shape, and he is very playful. I am not certain of his exact weight as he refuses to sit still on the kitchen scale, but if that information is needed I will be more than happy to get it done. He sleeps in my closet, literally in t-shirts that he has created a sort of nest out of. We do not use any strong air fresheners, soaps, detergents, etc. that he would or can come in contact with. His food and water bowls are cleaned daily with baking soda and water. He has free roam of our house so he is not in cage that has 'bedding', but he does have boxes that he hides stuff in that have Full Cheeks Unscented Paper Bedding in the bottom of them and some of the boxes do have leaves from outside.
For the past few months we have noticed that Mumford will essentially 'chew' on his paws, pulling the fur out. He basically has no fur on his fingers or arms. We tried putting diluted betadine on the area several times a day thinking maybe he had a small cut or something that we could not see that was bothering him. We thought it had helped, but that was not the case. Now he is starting to lose fur on his sides around his tummy, his shoulders, and his thighs. Sometimes I actually see (not often though, more so just falling out on its own) him pulling the fur out with his teeth. We are at a lost as to what this could be. Possibly fungus? Or molting? Mumford is the first squirrel we have ever had - we found him in an open parking lot after a storm - so we are not familiar with the molting process to be able to pinpoint that this is what this is. It is just concerning that he pulls the fur out on his own. As previously mention, I bought kitten Revolution thinking it was perhaps mites. I administered one drop between his shoulder blades on Sunday and no improvement. The skin in the balding areas is very soft, smooth, and light pink. There is no thickening. In the bald patches there is an almost very short thin "buzzy fuzz" growing.
I have attached pictures that show him chewing on his paws and show the parts of his body where his fur is 'balding'. Is this just molting? Or is this a possible fungus? Or is this something else? I am starting to stress out as I do not want him to be irritated and bald.
Lots of photos attached for reference.
Please help, thank you!