Hair Loss

[LilPaige]

Hi all, I wrote last week on the grey squirrel forum that I have a 6 mo. old male grey that seems to have some hair loss. Everyone said that it is probably due to shedding, but I'm starting to get a little worried. He's starting to look scruffy! He doesn't have any scabbiness or anything like that, but it still seems like alot of hair loss to me. I was reading some other threads about hair loss and I got a little freaked out. (I probably shouldn't read some of them because if Alvin has one symptom I always think that he's probably got some crazy disease or something. I'm that way with my kids too unfortunately.) Anyway I want to give a list of foods he eats and all of that and see if it's really shedding or if he does has something really wrong with him.
Dried fruits and nuts:
raisins, apples, banana chips, figs, apricots, almonds, walnuts, brazil nuts, hazelnuts.
Fresh fruits and vegies:
turnip greens, radishes, cabbage, carrots, pumpkin, avacado, broccoli, apples, bananas. (Those things are just the basics I try to switch it up all the time.)
I also give him cheerios and mazuri rodent block, but he seems to not love them all that much. I try to give him calcium carbonate to nibble on and he does for a little bit and then drops it down. I also leave his full spectrum light in his room on ALL day long. I only turn it off at night.
So am I freaking out over nothing? Is he eating okay? Is it probably shedding?
I will try to get a picture of hinm on here if he will stay still long enough to take one that actually shows anything. Thanks for any help!

[LilPaige]

Okay here are a few pics of Alvin's hair loss. I had to bribe him with pumpkin seeds!

[hazel]

Is the hair loss only in the bald area we can see on the pictures?
Does he rub that area against objects?
*Does the exposed skin look normal?*
Is he scratching excessively, particularly in that area?
How does the rest of his fur look to you? (That's hard for us to judge from photos.)

There is no way that a balding area like that can be considered normal, however that does NOT mean that there is some horrible health problem! No need for you to be scraped off the floor! LOL, my husband is positive he has any and every medical condition he reads about. Luckily, reading medical literature is not a hobby of his. :shakehead

[LilPaige]

Hey I have been out of town and didn't have a computer to reply with. So to answer hazel's questions. His skin looks fine where he's losing the hair. He doesn't seem to be scratching any more than usual, and he's just as active as he usually is. The only thing I can think of that he might be rubbing against is what he sleeps in. He sleeps in a beaver puppet. When he was a baby I gave it to him to cuddle with, because the fur was fuzzy and I thought it might help him sleep better. Anyway he has always slept in it, but now he has hollowed it out completely and it is kinda scratchy inside. I wash it, so I know it's clean. So I don't know, any other ideas?

[4skwerlz]

Hi Lilpaige,

The diet sounds pretty good. Without knowing what quantities of each thing you are giving, it's hard to tell. He could POSSIBLY be a little deficient in fat and/or protein. Try him with a hard-boiled egg still in the shell, for protein and calcium. How many nuts per day is he getting?

[LilPaige]

I really don't know how many he actually eats, but I don't give him that much. They are also nuts in the shell. I make him work for them. I am trying to get the little guy ready for release, so I'm trying to not spoil him much anymore. I will try the egg, but he's really weird about new foods. I am also going to try to get him to eat more greens. I hope it's not mange, but I just don't see how it actually could be. And if it is, I'm pretty sure there isn't a vet around here that is going to treat him for it.