Advice to cure a ringworm/fungus

[abianchetti]

Hi everyone,

This is my first time having a chinchilla. He has 4 months now and a couple of days ago I noticed a bald patch on his nose. He was constantly scratching it. A vet told us he has fungus and gave us the drops to cure it.

I would appreciate any additional advice on how to deal with this, if you had experience with it?
Thank you!

 

[Amethyst]

I've never had the misfortune to deal with it, but I can give you info I've read/heard.
Make sure you wash after handling the chin, changing cloths is not a bad idea either if you handle the chin, ringworm is very contagious and can easily spread to humans. Also make sure you clean the cage with a bleach/water mix to kill the ringworm, and it's best to just throw out any wood items, it is hard to fully sanitize them since the ringworm spores can get into wood. Recently I have heard people say you can bleach and then bake the wood at about 200F for several hours to kill the ringworm, but honestly I don't know how effective that is (most things I've read say to just toss all wood). Once they no longer have any signs of ringworm then you can put wood back into the cage, until then you can use metal and ceramic pans and things for the chin to hop on and sleep in, as well as fleece items if you chin doesn't chew fleece, since they can easily be cleaned. If you have a smaller cage you can use temporarially that can help too, that way you can clean the normal cage and have it clean and ready for when the chin is better, and smaller cage would be easier to keep clean daily.

When giving dust baths it's best to just toss the dust after each bath to prevent the chin from getting reinfected. You can also use a teaspoon of athletes foot powder (like Tinactin, Lamisil, or Desenex) in the dust to help kill the ringworm as well.

 

[abianchetti]

Thank you!

It means a lot to me. I’ve started doing all of these and even though we’re on day four of treatment I think his skin is getting a little better.

Unfortunately, in the country where I live there is no any sort of anti-fungus medicine in dust form.
Breaks me to give him these drops (he also hates it because their smell is sooo hard, even for me) but I can’t wait for him to get better.

Thanks a lot.

 

[Amethyst]

If that pic is of her cage and the food she is eating... Just a heads up, plastic is not safe, if they chew on it and swallow it it can cause a blockage or even cut up their gut as it goes though. The food is not appropriate chinchilla food, the food should be low in grains and not have any fruit, vegetables, seeds, nuts, sugars, or animal products in it. I'm not sure what country you are in so I don't know what you have for foods there, but you want a alfalfa based pellet only diet (no junk food or treats mixed in), along with unlimited timothy hay (or at least a grass hay). Examples of good chinchilla food are, Oxbow Essentials (just to Essentials formula the other ones are not safe), Mazuri, and Science Selective. You can also go with certain rabbit foods, but personally I would stick with a species specific food, but that's just me.

 

[JamaisVu]

Thank you!

It means a lot to me. I’ve started doing all of these and even though we’re on day four of treatment I think his skin is getting a little better.

Unfortunately, in the country where I live there is no any sort of anti-fungus medicine in dust form.
Breaks me to give him these drops (he also hates it because their smell is sooo hard, even for me) but I can’t wait for him to get better.

Thanks a lot.❤

I'm pretty sure the powder is available in most countries but it may not be called the same.

In the US it is found near other medications, but in my home country you would've found it near other shower products.

If there is any foot powder, you can check the active ingredients and compare it to the brands Amethyst mentioned (Tinactin, Lamisil, or Desenex).

If the drops are working, then you could just keep using them, but fungal infections can be stubborn and hard to treat, so dust should be easier in the long run since most chinchillas can't resist a bath.

 

[abianchetti]

If that pic is of her cage and the food she is eating... Just a heads up, plastic is not safe, if they chew on it and swallow it it can cause a blockage or even cut up their gut as it goes though. The food is not appropriate chinchilla food, the food should be low in grains and not have any fruit, vegetables, seeds, nuts, sugars, or animal products in it. I'm not sure what country you are in so I don't know what you have for foods there, but you want a alfalfa based pellet only diet (no junk food or treats mixed in), along with unlimited timothy hay (or at least a grass hay). Examples of good chinchilla food are, Oxbow Essentials (just to Essentials formula the other ones are not safe), Mazuri, and Science Selective. You can also go with certain rabbit foods, but personally I would stick with a species specific food, but that's just me.

Yes, this is him and the cage. He’s now chewing the plastics at all, as if he knows this is where the food is. He has things to chew (with minerals) for his teeth.
But, I see you mentioned the food. I’m from Montenegro and this is the food they sell in pet stores for chinchillas. Didn’t know that it should be totally different. Oh……..
Thank you! I’ll go today to seek for the food you mentioned. We gave him grass hay but stopped with it for now until the fungus is gone.

 

[Amethyst]

Yes, this is him and the cage. He’s now chewing the plastics at all, as if he knows this is where the food is. He has things to chew (with minerals) for his teeth.
But, I see you mentioned the food. I’m from Montenegro and this is the food they sell in pet stores for chinchillas. Didn’t know that it should be totally different. Oh……..
Thank you! I’ll go today to seek for the food you mentioned. We gave him grass hay but stopped with it for now until the fungus is gone.

I have no idea what kind of food they sell there, but you can also just look at the ingredients of the ones I mentioned and see if you can find one close, or at least one without all the junk food.
Hay is actually a very important part of their diet, long strand hay helps wear down the molars as well as provides fiber in the diet for proper digestion, so I wouldn't stop giving hay maybe just give smaller amounts so there is less waste each day. Also since he is is only 4 months he should also be getting alfalfa hay in addition to the grass hay, it has more calcium and protein needed for proper growth. Also mineral chews are not good for chins, most are made of calcium which can lead to bladder stones, or salt which can cause dehydration and seizures. Pumice rock chews are safe though, as well as plenty of wood chews.

Once the ringworm is cleared up I would look into getting non plastic items for his cage, just because he hasn't chewed them yet doesn't mean he wont. It's very common for chins to have things in their cage for months or even years, then decide one day that it's time to destroy it.

 

[abianchetti]

I have no idea what kind of food they sell there, but you can also just look at the ingredients of the ones I mentioned and see if you can find one close, or at least one without all the junk food.
Hay is actually a very important part of their diet, long strand hay helps wear down the molars as well as provides fiber in the diet for proper digestion, so I wouldn't stop giving hay maybe just give smaller amounts so there is less waste each day. Also since he is is only 4 months he should also be getting alfalfa hay in addition to the grass hay, it has more calcium and protein needed for proper growth. Also mineral chews are not good for chins, most are made of calcium which can lead to bladder stones, or salt which can cause dehydration and seizures. Pumice rock chews are safe though, as well as plenty of wood chews.

Once the ringworm is cleared up I would look into getting non plastic items for his cage, just because he hasn't chewed them yet doesn't mean he wont. It's very common for chins to have things in their cage for months or even years, then decide one day that it's time to destroy it.

Hi, thank you so much for the advice!

Just wanted to let everyone know that after two weeks of treating ringworm on his nose - his hair started growing back.

For anyone who might deal with this, I did this:
-Give him prescribed drops (Canesten) 3x a day one drop on the nose
-Removed wood shavings from the cage and put fleece (i think it’s called like that) fiber on the cage floor
-Clean cage every day and change fleece every day
-Removed hay temporary from his diet
-Always moved his cage out of our living room whenever we turned the AC on to heat (moved him to a colder room that is more suitable because I read that ringworm is becoming worse if the chinchilla is in warmer room)
-Whenever he had to take a bath I changed the powder so that he always baths in the new one.

However, we’ll take him to the vet to check if now everything’s fine.
Hope this helps anyone and huge thanks to all replies to this thread. ❤