fungus or..?

Hi all! I'm sure this question was answered many times over in CnQ, so I'm sorry for how obvious this is going to be.

Our younger girl, Mishti, suddenly has a bald patch on her head, right above her nose. It's small (less than a cm long, maybe a quarter cm wide?), and it's very cleanly shaped, like a flower petal. The skin is healthy looking and pink. The hair surrounding the bald patch is firmly attached and not coming loose with a gentle pull. I initially thought that it was fur slip, given how clean it looks and how healthy the skin is, but some sites are making me question my first reaction. She isn't bonded with any other chins - she has the cage to herself.

Is there a way I can tell if it is ringworm fungus? Is this something I need to make a vet appointment for?

Thanks so much!

The only way to know for sure would be for the vet to do a scraping and look at it under a lamp for you. You could try posting a picture and we could see if it looks like fungus to us, but the only way to know for sure is a vet visit.

I would also check with the vet just in case. But if it's not fungus, does she rub her nose on the cage bars? I have a chin who incessantly sticks his nose through the bars and it leaves a little indentation on his nose there and a little bald spot. It could just be fur loss from cage biting/gumming.

I'll call the vet and see what she thinks, just in case. We got a blacklight and looked at the bald area under it, and it didn't glow, but it's kind of a weak blacklight, too.

It looks like the hair is actually growing back (tiny little hairs all over the surface of the "bald" spot). We use Neat Idea Cube panels as fencing for when she plays outside the cage, and she always sticks her head into the little squares bite the edges, so that might be it, too.

Thanks so much!

If the fur is growing back, the fungus (if there ever was any) is going away/gone from that spot. If could just be a fur slip or from rubbing on the cage bars.

Personally, since its not life threatening, I'd skip the vet, treat it like a fungus just to be safe (BluKote on the bald spot and Tinactin in the dust bath and quaranteen from other animals), and save your money for an emergency.