Staph Aureus Skin Infection in Chinchillas

Hello,

Does anyone have any advice for dealing with a Staph Aureus skin infections in chinchillas?

I have 2 male chins housed together in a double Ferret Nation cage.
The older male began to have whiskers & fur loss near nose. Skin was slightly pink. Also skin dry, flaky (later crusty). This happened very gradually (over a week perhaps) the first day I noticed his nose hair thinning/the pinkness, I thought it was just irritated from pushing through the bars to get hay. I had just recently started using a bass equipment hay feeder on outside of cage.
Then, the younger chin housed with him began to have hair thinning & pinkness. I made appointment with vet the next day. Younger chins became worse quickly and by the vet appointment the next day he had crusting behind ears and his nose was red. Since then have noticed redness and crusting on feet, inside ears, on base of tail, near genitals, and on skin of back (close to ears).

I have consulted two exotic vets and they basically both went through the same diagnosis process. Stated that the skin infection was likely either: 1) Fungal, 2) Bacterial, or 3) parasites (mites). Also possible to have a secondary bacterial infection caused from scratching at mites, fungus, etc.

Treatment process:
Clean cage as often as possible (every day or every other day). I've been nearly always cleaning cage daily using hospital-grade disinfecting wipes. Occasionally I have to work late & clean every other.
Fleece laundered daily. Wash twice (1st wash tide & 2nd wash health grade laundry cleaner). Run bleach through washer after.

Treated with ivermectin in case of mites. (2 injections, spaced 1 week apart)

Treated with sulfur in dust bath in case of fungus. (2 weeks)

Treated with antibiotics for bacteria. (SULFA for 1 week but little improvement, so switched to Cipro. They have been on the Cipro 2 weeks. Cipro is much harsher & they are getting supplemental feedings of Oxbow Critical Care & probiotics (BeneBac). Give probiotics twice a day, a minimum of 2 hours before/after antibiotic is given.

Initially, cause was unknown so treated for everything (treatments listed above).

Since then, culprit is believed to be Staph Aureus bacteria - supported by swab & cocci appearance under microscope. Do not have staph strain information because don't want to risk chins worsening if off of antibiotic for 3 days to get a sample for culture (if they are on antibiotics culture results won't be accurate). Suspected it's not MRSA because abscess on one chinchilla's chest has shown significant improvement in response to Cipro.

Problem is that this staph seems to predominately clings to hair follicles & is hard to get to with systemic antibiotic. Try to use topical treatment on feet, ears, etc. but it's difficult to get to their skin due to their dense fur. Also, they hate topical treatment and remove it as fast as I can apply it.
The topical items I have include: Blue Kote, Silvadene, Trichloro 4 wipes, and Tresaderm.

Any advice for treating skin infections in chins (particularly Staph)? Is there any antibacterial powders for dust baths?! My vet had not heard of any and said they would look into it. Hoping someone here may know?

Any advice would be appreciated!

Thanks!

This may sound harsh, but if its die or have fur, I would shave them and treat. I worked with a rescue group and one of our rescues was in as bad of shape as what you state and that is what we did to treat. The fur comes back albeit not show quality any more but the chin survived and thrived.

I agree with ticklechin, it's better to have them live without fur for awhile, than die with.

How did you shave the chin that your treated? Did you have to put it under anesthesia? Otherwise, I can't imagine getting my chins to hold still long enough to be shaved safely.

Did you shave their tail/whiskers too? On my chins, this seems to be the area that is the worst (most inflamed/red).

After shaving them, what kind of topical treatment did you use? Did you also give them a systemic antibiotic?

Thanks!