losing whiskers

I found two whiskers on the shelf this morning. Yesterday I didn't notice any hair missing around the nose or loss of patches of fur. They seem to be eating well and are still playful. A couple day ago I also found a whisker on the shelf. I looked it up and people said that it's normal to have them shed once in a while.

they do shed once in a while a wisker or two, like cats and dogs and every other species. Nothing to worry about

I'm not a pro, but i have heard that too.

Jean

UPDATE:
I found another two whiskers. Altogether 4! 2 of them are shedded from the roots and the other 2 seemed to have broken. Is it safe to use anti fungal powder in their dust bath even though they might not have fungus?

Sometimes chins chew each others whiskers as a sign of dominance. It is safe to use anti fungal powder in their dust bath.

Kansas City Chinchillas said:

Sometimes chins chew each others whiskers as a sign of dominance. It is safe to use anti fungal powder in their dust bath.

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I ditto that. Watch the other chin in the cage for signs of dominance. illowfight:

Where do I get anti fungal powder? Thanks for the help. One chin has always been more dominant and they would hump each other and sometimes they would chase each other but I don't see them fighting all that much or pulling each other's fur away.

<3chinbaby said:

UPDATE:
I found another two whiskers. Altogether 4! 2 of them are shedded from the roots and the other 2 seemed to have broken. Is it safe to use anti fungal powder in their dust bath even though they might not have fungus?

Click to expand...

Just don't put alot of the anti-fungal stuff in their bath. Again, not having chins as long as most of these other people on the forum, I forget how much they say to use, but I know it's not alot because if I can remember correclty, that can harm them.

ALso if you have one that is really dominant over the other, try cutting the whiskers, worked for me. Not easy to do though, just to let you know, they tend to move them back into their face when they see you coming lose to the whiskers. So be careful (not that you wouldn't be).

And i have heard you can use Tinactin (if spelled correctly --sorry) and Desinex are okay to use. There could be others, but I'm not aware of what they might be.

Good luck.

Jean
Jean.

I wouldn't cut their whiskers. They need them,

Whisker cutting is to be used when another chin is being aggressive towards another due to dominance.

Who's whiskars are you cutting? I have never heard of that. I don't think i would do it. What does it proove?

The dominant chinchilla will chew the less dominant chinchillas whiskers, therefore- the more dominant they are, the longer whiskers they will have. Cutting the more dominant one's whiskers will level out the playing field and the more dominant chinchilla will be less dominant and aggressive.

Why wouldn't you do it? Their whiskers will grow back.

Well I wouldn't do it cause chinchillas use their whiskers just as a cat would use theirs. I would simply seperate the chinchillas if they are not getting along. if the more dominant chin has no whiskers who's to say he won't use more aggresive ways of showing his dominance. just not worth it to me.

ann1 said:

Well I wouldn't do it cause chinchillas use their whiskers just as a cat would use theirs. I would simply seperate the chinchillas if they are not getting along. if the more dominant chin has no whiskers who's to say he won't use more aggresive ways of showing his dominance. just not worth it to me.

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It is a very safe way to help with agressive chins. Not only do they grow back, but this way if they are just agressive and not fighting, you can get them to (sometimes) get along better. I have used this method several times before and I know many people on here that swear by it (If I remember correctly Peggy is a big fan of this). You don't cut all their whiskers off, just trim them to lower their dominance level. It isn't a cure for fighting but a helping hand with agression etc.

By a cat using theirs, do you mean to test the spaces they are crawling into? (making sure that their whiskers-which are as long as the widest part of their body- can fit first?) If so, I don't see why it would be an issue anyways. A chinchilla shouldn't be around things it can get stuck in...so why would they need the whiskers?

Well i'm sure there are a lot of people who do it and i'm not saying it couldn't work. i'm just saying i wouldn't do it. i've had plenty of chins who like to show dominance and had to seperate before one got hurt. yeah i don't think cats should be fitting into small spaces either but it is there sense of feeling their surroundings. if you ever noticed if you touch your chins whiskers they always move. they think they are hitting something or something is to close to their heads.

ann1 said:

Well i'm sure there are a lot of people who do it and i'm not saying it couldn't work. i'm just saying i wouldn't do it. i've had plenty of chins who like to show dominance and had to seperate before one got hurt. yeah i don't think cats should be fitting into small spaces either but it is there sense of feeling their surroundings. if you ever noticed if you touch your chins whiskers they always move. they think they are hitting something or something is to close to their heads.

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If you really want a pair to work, why would you just separate them without trying everything first? Your chin won't die from a whisker trimming, and he/she won't be emotionally scarred.

Second, whenever I touch my chinchilla's whiskers he moves because it is bothering him. Once I touched his whisker and he barked.
Have you ever seen how small of a space a chinchilla can squeeze into? I don't see how those whiskers would benefit them by testing out spaces. Cats and chinchillas are two different animals. I have seen chins squeeze into things so small you'd think they would have to be flattened to get into.