Eastern Grey: Fur Loss

[ABandNamed:Mumford&Crumbs]

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!

[SamtheSquirrel2018]

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!

Thanks so much for posting the issues and photos of Mumford. I'm sorry he is having this problem! I do not have any particular suggestions for you from my own lack of experience with Mumford's behavior and resulting condition. I know there is a huge experiential database on The Squirrel Board and I'm sure that one of the Admins, other Rehabbers or someone else will have some pertinent advice for you. I just wanted to put your post back in the view so to speak as it appears that there have been no replies to it as of yet. I wish you and Mumford the best!
Regards,
SamtheSquirrel

[Charley Chuckles]

www.joespetmeds.com
I'd give a drop or Revolution, either on the back of the neck or a drop on a half of pecan let it soak in for an hour.
Make sure you get the CAT formula up to 15 lbs.

[CritterMom]

https://www.wildagainrescue.com/post...kyard-wildlife

Dermatophytosis (which is actually the technical name for ringworm) is what this is caused, but it is not technically ringworm in squirrels. My Zeke has issues with this every year - his haunches are starting to thin out right now. He sometimes gets totally bald in places! In the fall, when the winter coat begins growing in, he goes from balding to absolutely PERFECT in about a month.

I have no idea why - his diet is perfect, nothing comes in from outside, etc. My one observation is that he has always had difficulty molting from winter to spring - like a lot of the old, ratty winter fur seems to want to stick around in the areas that eventually lose the fur.

If you notice in the article, it affects the hair shaft itself, not the skin, and the big sign of dermatophytosis is perfect baby skin under the thinning fur, not the red, crusty skin you get with mange.

It IS fungal, I suppose it is entirely possible that wiping the affected areas with diluted betadyne might help if he will let you. I will tell you that he looks EXACTLY like my guy does every summer.

[ABandNamed:Mumford&Crumbs]

Thanks so much for posting the issues and photos of Mumford. I'm sorry he is having this problem! I do not have any particular suggestions for you from my own lack of experience with Mumford's behavior and resulting condition. I know there is a huge experiential database on The Squirrel Board and I'm sure that one of the Admins, other Rehabbers or someone else will have some pertinent advice for you. I just wanted to put your post back in the view so to speak as it appears that there have been no replies to it as of yet. I wish you and Mumford the best!
Regards,
SamtheSquirrel

Thank you so much for helping bring attention to my post! This forum has been amazing and I have learned so much from browsing through the various topics. Thanks again for your assistance.

[ABandNamed:Mumford&Crumbs]

www.joespetmeds.com
I'd give a drop or Revolution, either on the back of the neck or a drop on a half of pecan let it soak in for an hour.
Make sure you get the CAT formula up to 15 lbs.

I did give him one drop of kitten revolution between the shoulder blades on Sunday. Was hoping to see improvement, but alas, I did not. Thank you for the suggestion!

[ABandNamed:Mumford&Crumbs]

https://www.wildagainrescue.com/post...kyard-wildlife

Dermatophytosis (which is actually the technical name for ringworm) is what this is caused, but it is not technically ringworm in squirrels. My Zeke has issues with this every year - his haunches are starting to thin out right now. He sometimes gets totally bald in places! In the fall, when the winter coat begins growing in, he goes from balding to absolutely PERFECT in about a month.

I have no idea why - his diet is perfect, nothing comes in from outside, etc. My one observation is that he has always had difficulty molting from winter to spring - like a lot of the old, ratty winter fur seems to want to stick around in the areas that eventually lose the fur.

If you notice in the article, it affects the hair shaft itself, not the skin, and the big sign of dermatophytosis is perfect baby skin under the thinning fur, not the red, crusty skin you get with mange.

It IS fungal, I suppose it is entirely possible that wiping the affected areas with diluted betadyne might help if he will let you. I will tell you that he looks EXACTLY like my guy does every summer.

Thank you CritterMom for the response and information; I greatly appreciate it. I had been reading prior to posting and had pretty much pinpointed it to dermatophytosis, but was hoping it wasn't this as I could never find any cures so to speak - more so just to let it play out and hope they become immune to it. In your experience with Zeke, do you see him pick or give attention to the areas where the skin is balding or thinning out? With Mumford, he constantly picks at his paws pulling the hair out and now I see him constantly trying to groom the other areas where the fur is thinning. I was just curious if his behavior is out of characteristic or normal for dermatophytosis. We put diluted betadine on his front paws a few times a day every day and when I tried putting it on his sides and thighs it was like I had just insulted him to his core - he was not happy haha. I read that this condition is often exacerbated by humid weather, which where we live, is ALWAYS humid. I feel relieved to know that Mumford is not alone and hope that this does not bother Zeke too much.

Thank you again for your time and help.