Cracked dry ears.

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TmG

TmG

Well-known member
Joined
Oct 10, 2011
Messages
112
Carl's ears have been cracked looking, rough to the touch, and dry sense i had gotten him about 2-3 months ago. Hes six, and the former owner said hes never had a problem with him. However because hes more adjusted to being in my house and having me there with him i wanted to see what it was. I looked online and somebody said its a skin fungas and that id have to get fungal powder and put it in his dust bath. I wanted to see if anybody on here thought it was something else or could confirm this because i dont want to suddenly start adding something to his dust bath that could harm him.
 
I can try. Unfortunatly my camera sucks with quality, im burrowing a camera from my school tommrow and its really high quality so ill try and take a picture. His ears on the outside have cracks all over them and its just very dry.
 
Well it is very cool in my room. My room is the coldest in the house. Maybe. His ears look alittle red almost like a rash maybe not, near the base of his ear.
 
Chi had dry and cracked ears, so I put some coconut oil on her, and she looks fine now. Just needed some moisturizer. Coconut oil possesses potent antimicrobial agents, effective against fungi, viruses and many bacteria. It could help with your Chin, but double check that the oil is okay to put on her first. If it is, take a cotton swap and gently rub it on the outside of her ears once or twice a day.
 
Is it grayish, flaky and somewhat cracked? If so probably ringworm. On the ears you can use a light layer of silver sulfadiazine cream. Very light though as it is a somewhat greasy solution and may transfer to fur. If using a light base, it will take a bit longer to heal, I would estimate anywhere from 21- 36 days if done twice daily. If it has moved to the inner ear, be wary and do not self treat, see a vet in your area as an in person visit is the only way to be sure with extreme conditions.
 
When Chins have ringworm do they ever act diffrently?
 
After reading about the Ringworm and seeing pictures of it, Carl does not have Ringworm. But, what he DOES have is a slight case of Dry Skin on the outsides of his ears and along the top edges. Does anybody no how to treat that? Im cutting down his dust baths to twice a week instead of three. They suggested a Humidifier at a low setting but im not tempted to really try that. Does anybody no anything i can use that i could buy that could take away the dryness of his ears? this IS NOT a severe case! But its enough that his ears are as smooth as they should be. Im not against applying alittle bit of a topical cream to his ears as long as its for Dry Skin on chinchillas.
 
TmG said:
After reading about the Ringworm and seeing pictures of it, Carl does not have Ringworm. But, what he DOES have is a slight case of Dry Skin on the outsides of his ears and along the top edges. Does anybody no how to treat that? Im cutting down his dust baths to twice a week instead of three. They suggested a Humidifier at a low setting but im not tempted to really try that. Does anybody no anything i can use that i could buy that could take away the dryness of his ears? this IS NOT a severe case! But its enough that his ears are as smooth as they should be. Im not against applying alittle bit of a topical cream to his ears as long as its for Dry Skin on chinchillas.
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You could try rubbing some bag balm on them. It is a very simple and effective lotion. Or you could try popping a vitamin A caplet and rubbing the oil from that. Mainly, you want some kind of quickly absorbed oil that does not gave a good flavor (so he won't rub it and lick his paws) and does not take too long to dry.
 
Thanks so much! How many times do you think id have to do that? And does anybody no if i have to clip my chin's toe nails? His ledges/Levels arent a smooth material so i think get worn down from walking on them but i read that people clip them or file them. (If i have to id much rather file them) Is this necessary?
 
TmG said:
Thanks so much! How many times do you think id have to do that? And does anybody no if i have to clip my chin's toe nails? His ledges/Levels arent a smooth material so i think get worn down from walking on them but i read that people clip them or file them. (If i have to id much rather file them) Is this necessary?
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No, you don't have to clip his toe nails. Start off slow, try using the bag balm once every few days. If it doesn't improve increase, when it does get better decrease. You don't want to over do it.
 
Okay thanks so much. I give him smaller dust baths every 3 days now. I dont put in as much as i use to. Once his ears are okay ill increase it alittle but i think i had given him too much a couple time. He has a dust house that i put in his cage, I put dust in it and put it in there and then about an hour later i throw the dust out and put his house back in his cage. He likes sitting in it when its empty. xD i dont no how many times ive woken up in the morning to a little chinchilla head poking out of the house.
 
LongTimeLover said:
One of our chins has dry ears and I've rubbed some Eucerin on them a few times and it's helped. He likes to dust a lot though. haha
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Eucerin is not safe to use on chins, as it contains chemicals that could be dangerous to the chin if ingested. As other posters have mentioned, Bag Balm (http://bagbalm.com) and Vitamin E (http://www.amazon.com/Nature-Made-V...0C30/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1326141353&sr=8-3) are chin safe moisturizers. With the Vitamin E, you need to break open the softgel, and use what's inside as the moisturizer (don't feed your chin the softgel).
 
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