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Thread: Losing tail hair

  1. #1
    Join Date
    Feb 2019
    Location
    Kansas
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    Default Losing tail hair

    Dozer had a nice bushy squirrel tail but he's lost most of his hair, but only on his tail (not on his body at all). What could it be?

    My boys are nearly 4 months old. Super close to being released but we planned to keep them a little extra bc Dozer was a bit slow, plus we've had nothing but rain here for weeks with no sign of stopping so we haven't been in any rush. And now I need him to be healthy before he goes.

    So about 2 weeks ago I was out of town and my sister took care of the boys for me for 4 days. They've known her since they were 1 week old, but she's not their mom so it was a bit tough for them. She called and told me that Dozer was having soft smelly poop. Not quite diarrhea but not normal either. He had broken a tooth so I'm sure that wasn't helping and I figured she was just giving them too many treats so I said nothing extra from then on: only blocks, milk, and veggies. When we got home a couple days later he had lost weight (they wouldn't eat as much as normal for her) and he was losing his tail hair. Dash has been perfectly fine all along.

    Dozer has been acting totally fine since I got home: playing, eating, normal poop, putting weight back on, getting the zoomies, tooth grew back in, etc. So I thought he was fine but his tail is pretty pathetic now.

    Is it just going to take more time? Is there anything I can do or that I can give him to help grow it back faster?

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  2. #2
    Join Date
    Feb 2019
    Location
    Kansas
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    Default Re: Losing tail hair

    I was able to get a better picture of the two of them so it's easier to compare their tails.
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  3. #3
    Join Date
    Oct 2011
    Location
    Florida
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    Default Re: Losing tail hair

    Oh wow! That’s pretty dramatic.
    Actually the tail thing is pretty much a mystery to all of us. We see this all the time. Even experienced rehabbers have had their share of naked or wispy tailed squirrels. We have no idea why. They will be fed the same things and one will look like that or even a group will have those wispy tails.

    I received a pair for release a couple months ago. The girl had a beautiful tail. The boy had half of a beautiful tail. The other half looked like Dozer. He has been released and I saw him this week and the tail has still not completely filled in. I wish I could give you a reason for this but I really can’t. I have noticed that it is a phenomenon also seen in the wilds. No idea why but it doesn’t seem to affect them in any way.

  4. 3 TSBers pass along the fuzzy thanks to HRT4SQRLS:

    gunpackingrandma (06-14-2019), Mel1959 (05-24-2019), Sunflower47 (05-26-2019)

  5. #4
    Join Date
    Feb 2019
    Location
    Kansas
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    Thanked: 2

    Default Re: Losing tail hair

    Thanks so much for your response. It really made me feel better!

    He seems to have stopped actively losing more hair so hopefully his sad little tail starts to fill back in soon!

  6. #5
    Join Date
    Feb 2019
    Location
    Kansas
    Posts
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    Thanked: 2

    Default Re: Losing tail hair

    My boys moved out of my office and into their outdoor release cage earlier this week. (This must be what parents feel like when their kids go off to college lol)

    Dozer has been doing much better than I expected him to outside. He loves being outside so he hasn't been very stressed at all in the cage and this morning I noticed that he even has some fuzz starting to grow in on his tail!

    The tail thing is a mystery, but I'm so glad it was nothing serious!

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