Fur Chewing Discussion

[Claire D]

Fur chewing is genetic, nothing you can do about it. She will stop and start for whatever reason.

Sorry but I disagree. Not all fur chewing is genetic. Whilst some chins can be genetically predisposed to chewing I do not believe it to always be the case.
Chinchillas can chew their fur due to stress, pain, or because they have a fungal infection, or due to poor diet (lack of essential minerals or fatty acids). Overcrowded cages, poor hygiene, poor diet, & a generally unhealthy/stressful environment can all be factors & contribute to a chinchilla chewing it's fur.

I have seen chins brought into rescue situations which, when given a clean, calm, uncluttered/uncrowded environment, with a good, balanced diet have stop chewing altogether.
I have also seen fur chewers stop when they have had a pain issue appropriately dealt with.
Kennedy discusses "cotton fur" which he suggests is a condition caused by Pantothenic acid deficiency & Richardson (Diseases of Small Domestic Rodents) discusses the effects of linoleic & arachidonic acid deficiency on hair growth & skin condition. Chins without plush fur will often chew because their skin is irritated & their fur does not feel "right" ...... it may be a secondary reaction to the lack of proper diet but it often shows as fur chewing.

Responsible breeders do not breed chewers.

Hear, hear! :yes:

 

[ticklechin]

There have been studies on stress induced chewing and that produced results that showed the epidermis of the chewed chins VS non chewer chins exposed to the same stress changed and was similar to cushings disease in other animals. The fur chewer chins have a trigger that is genetic, and whatever stress trips it, whether its dietary deficiency that stresses the body, pain which stresses the body, enviromental issues, pregnancy which stresses, its the stress of whatever the chinchilla feels triggers the bodies response. IMO from what I have been told by large ranchers who also had access to studies, breeders and my own research its genetic, and I will disagree with you with all due respect.

 

[ticklechin]

There have been studies on stress induced chewing and that produced results that showed the epidermis of the chewed chins VS non chewer chins exposed to the same stress changed and was similar to cushings disease in other animals. The fur chewer chins have a trigger that is genetic, and whatever stress trips it, whether its dietary deficiency that stresses the body, pain which stresses the body, enviromental issues, pregnancy which stresses, its the stress of whatever the chinchilla feels triggers the bodies response. IMO from what I have been told by large ranchers who also had access to studies, breeders and my own research its genetic, and I will disagree with you with all due respect.

Actually I missed the edit time, and I also wanted to point out how would you differentiate between a genetic chewer or a enviromental chewer, would it be something like malo, where there is genetic malo and enviromental malo, which IMO enviromental malo of far more common due to the feeding practices of pet owners? I think breeders should assume the worst and not breed either but if you open the door for exceptions such as assuming its enviromental on both conditions then there will be those that do it.

I am actually suprised the fur industy did not do more research on the subject. Anyway, its always good to listen to all sides when dealing with any chinchilla condition, there are always many opinions and many good points made!

 

[ticklechin]

After cruising around google, it seems the winds have changed on the subject since I last visited it a few years ago when the Croatia study came out about the cushings disease and genetic chewing, looks like alot of the breeder sites and question and answer sites now state its a habit, not genetic. HMMM.....still dont agree but it is interesting that the times changed on the subject.

 

[Claire D]

There have been studies on stress induced chewing and that produced results that showed the epidermis of the chewed chins VS non chewer chins exposed to the same stress changed and was similar to cushings disease in other animals. The fur chewer chins have a trigger that is genetic, and whatever stress trips it, whether its dietary deficiency that stresses the body, pain which stresses the body, enviromental issues, pregnancy which stresses, its the stress of whatever the chinchilla feels triggers the bodies response. IMO from what I have been told by large ranchers who also had access to studies, breeders and my own research its genetic, and I will disagree with you with all due respect.

I have read the studies on chinchillas which try to make correlations between fur chewing & cushing's disease or other endocrine disorders. What is interesting is that the number of chins studied was small & the analyses were inconclusive.
For example:

Relationship of thyroid and adrenal function to “fur-chewing” in the chinchilla

W.J. Vanjonacka and H.D. Johnsona
aDepartment of Dairy Husbandry, University of Missouri-Columbia, Columbia, Missouri 65201, USA
Received 11 August 1972. Available online 19 December 2002.
Abstract
1. 1. The fur-chewing chincillas showed increased thyroid activity (P < 0·5), increased adrenalcortical function (P < 0·05) and decreased rectal temperature (P < 0·01).
2. 2. This study suggested that increased endocrine activity could be due to the loss of insulation over the fur-chewed areas.
3. 3. It is possible, however, that endocrine activity could be a stimulus for fur-chewing.
4. 4. It is also possible that fur-chewing can be initiated or its incidence increased by “non-specific stressors’.

In other words: which came first, the fur chewing or the thyroid & adrenal changes? The fact is research has not proven one way or another that fur chewing is directly attributable to genetics.

No-one has proved it one way or another IMHO.

I also think that many things get labelled as "genetic" as an umbrella term because we just don't know - it also appears to be a useful umbrella term which gets thrown around to prevent people from breeding possibly deficient (defective?) animals. Now I'm not wholly against that because no-one should be breeding suspect chinchillas & if it stops the BYB breeders then I'm all for it BUT I do think the word is overused.

Actually I missed the edit time, and I also wanted to point out how would you differentiate between a genetic chewer or a enviromental chewer, would it be something like malo, where there is genetic malo and enviromental malo, which IMO enviromental malo of far more common due to the feeding practices of pet owners? I think breeders should assume the worst and not breed either but if you open the door for exceptions such as assuming its enviromental on both conditions then there will be those that do it.

Sadly there will always be those unscrupulous breeders who continue to breed with maloccluding or fur chewing chinchillas regardless of what they see or read or are told.
As for the differentiation between genetic & environmental, hormonal, stress, nutritional - I think we are discovering more & accepting the old status quo less. We're better equipped (perhaps?) now to look at everything in a much more open & analytical manner. Breeders I have spoken to, rescues, pet owners don't necessarily subscribe to the genetics theories any more - I think we've moved on from using the blanket terms & people are more open to the possibilities that other things can make chins fur chew.

After cruising around google, it seems the winds have changed on the subject since I last visited it a few years ago when the Croatia study came out about the cushings disease and genetic chewing, looks like alot of the breeder sites and question and answer sites now state its a habit, not genetic. HMMM.....still dont agree but it is interesting that the times changed on the subject.

I think there are dangers inherent in both extremes TBH - I don't think either end of the spectrum (genetic .......... environmental) is particularly true. I think there is a mix & it's a continuum.
What bothers me, as you alluded above, are those people who take the opportunity to say "Oh good, it's not genetic, so I can keep breeding my maloccluding, fur chewing chinchillas". That's just a disaster for the chinchillas.

 

[ticklechin]

I also think that as the chinchilla becomes more of a main stream pet, the issues with health and husbandry are more out in the open then it was when they are just agricultural products, and frankly they fascinate me and encourage me to continue with all the research I can, pocket book gets a little empty when I pay 20-30 dollars for a article I just have to read but its worth it!

 

[ticklechin]

From the:

PHYSIOLOGY INSTITUTE - MEDICINE SCHOOL
NATIONAL UNIVERSITY OF CÓRDOBA
ARGENTINA 2007




FUR CHEWING INCIDENCE AND PHARMACOLOGICAL TREATMENT
Fur chewing has been the object for many investigations and various opinions are given to the probable cause of this condition. Factors that can induce fur chewing were supposed to be as diverse as nutritional, genetic, environmental and/or neurological. Yet there has never been a satisfactory explanation for this problem. Over the years, caring for Chinchillas have improved greatly which has helped to reduce fur chewing incidence.
From studying Chinchillas it is easy to notice that some are more nervous than others. These seem to be less likely to adjust to changes in their usual environment. Several factors such as the weaker appearance of the animal, nervous behavior, unsatisfactory breeding and playing with or wasting feed, all add to this animal being more susceptible to health and also chewing problems.
It has been widely described that captivity stress can compromise health and decrease reproductive function in many wild and domestic species. From all this observations, and from studies in other domestic animals, it is likely that stress can be the major cause of fur chewing in chinchillas. However, to our knowledge, no scientific studies have been conducted on this topic.
On the other hand, the fur-chewing behavior has recently received attention and it was described in many other domestic species such as mice, rat, guinea pig and hamster (were this behavior is called “hair and whisker trimming”), parrots (“feather picking”), cats and dogs (“obsessive compulsive disorder”). All this behaviors has been compared in their nature to the human pathology known as trichotilomania; they correspond to a general description as obsessive-compulsive spectrum disorders and in general are triggered by stress (i.e. physical, psychological, social, etc) in susceptible individuals.
Therefore, we will try to determine whether or not fur chewing is a condition associated with stress, what factors can induce the incidence of fur chewing, if the behavior is truly an obsessive-compulsive disorder, and if the individuals that present this problem have reproductive dysfunction.
On the other hand, we will apply a pharmacological treatment, employing drugs usually applied in veterinary science to alleviate and treat the above-mentioned behaviors in domestic and companion animals.
We are convinced that with the obtained results, the validated techniques and the fulfillment of the proposed objectives, we will conform a database on physiological aspects, essential for evaluating individual males and females with respect to stress, fur chewing, reproductive competence, and in the future for estrus cycles, ovulation timing, estrus length etc. Ultimately, all these aspects will be useful for the development of protocols for artificial insemination and ovulation induction.
Financial support from the Chinchilla Industry Council will significantly contribute to carry on with those ongoing projects.





I wonder where they are with this study? Drugs for fur chewers, HMMMMM

 

[caiti]

Some one needs to do a meta analysis of ranches or large populations of breeding chins. Ask rancher/breeders to keep their data on fur chewers and anonymously send it in. What we'd need to know is the frequency of fur chewing in males and females; what color they are and conditions they are all kept in; the age, health and location of the chins (all the demographic stuff); the frequency of fur chewing parents to have fur chewing offspring and what sex they are. This can generate a pedigree of fur chewing as the mutation. If certain subpopulations of chinchillas chew fur more, it may support a genetic hypothesis. Or if chins kept under certain conditions have a higher frequency of this trait, it could be environmental.

Of course, all ranchers/breeders would have to honestly report their data and keep conditions consistent. I don't know if that would work, but it would produce many data if people agreed to document it. An experiment could be done but it would take quite a while to get the results needed.

Generally, it seems to me most things are a little of column A, a little of column B. I find this especially true in the basics of science.

 

[Megan]

I have been told a few times now from different ranchers that fur chewing is both genetic and environmental. I've seen animals that chewed while in wire bottom cages, and were then put into solid bottom cages with access to the bedding and they no longer chewed (this was in younger animals).

 

[threewingedfury]

I agree with Megan. I have seen animals that would chew after put in breeding, and when taken out they would stop chewing. I have seen chins that were housed in larger cages stress out when moved to small cages like runs and start chewing. I've seen them start chewing after a long move, others start chewing right after a show. Now, something genetic could have been involved, but a lot of it I think is environmental. This is where we have to be responsible as breeders and know what is going on with our lines, and write down changes so that we can figure out if something is showing up directly in certain lines, whether it just happened after an event, or whether it was just random.

 

[ticklechin]

Twin studies of trichotillomania, hair pulling in people and animals, suggested that genetic factors played a significant role in the onset of trich but further research was needed to understand the non-genetic factors. Same with fur barbering in lab animals, some related strains of mice all fur barbered when stress induced, others that were related some did and some didn't, further research is needed to confirm or deny, these studies were from 2009-2010 so there is ongoing research on the subject and IMO you can apply that research when completed to chinchilla fur chewing-conclusion, there is no final answer yet.

 

[Essentia]

This is such an interesting thread. I have one of those chins that chews no matter what, and unfortunately it isn't a small amount of chewing. Basically every area of fur he can reach is chewed off. We tried everything. Wire bottom cage, chewed. Solid, chewed. Large cage, chewed. Smaller cage, chewed. In the living room by himself, chewed. In the room with the rest of the chinchillas, chewed. Wheel, chewed. No wheel, chewed. You get my drift. I truly believe his is genetic. He doesn't seem overly stressed, though he does run around his cage like a crazy nut all night long, and rarely comes out from under his liner during the day unless we call out to him.

 

[ticklechin]

Dante my 17 year old has chewed since he was a kit, chewed in every home he was in and I have had him for 10 years and he still chews and you know how stressful my chinchillas enviroment is!

 

[Essentia]

No one is home at my house during the day for it to be stressful. The most stress the chins get is the small TV that stays on in the room which is constantly on the Disney channel. I guess that could be stressful depending on who is on that day. Haha.

 

[starleomach]

No one is home at my house during the day for it to be stressful. The most stress the chins get is the small TV that stays on in the room which is constantly on the Disney channel. I guess that could be stressful depending on who is on that day. Haha.

I don't know when my nephew visits and I have to watch the disney channel it makes me want to chew.....


I think everything is a mix of genetics and evnvironment
Genetics makes you pre-disposed to certain behaviors and the environment brings it out. Sad thing is I know many people who say oh well it was environmental so it is ok if I breed them

 

[Claire D]

This is such an interesting thread. I have one of those chins that chews no matter what, and unfortunately it isn't a small amount of chewing. Basically every area of fur he can reach is chewed off. We tried everything. Wire bottom cage, chewed. Solid, chewed. Large cage, chewed. Smaller cage, chewed. In the living room by himself, chewed. In the room with the rest of the chinchillas, chewed. Wheel, chewed. No wheel, chewed. You get my drift.

I had a chin like that - chewed his fur right down to the pink skin underneath everywhere except the lion's mane on the back of his neck that he could not physically reach. They look so odd when they do that, don't they?
It took some time but I got him to stop fur chewing completely - some people did not recognise him with his beautiful plush fur.
IME it is a case of working through many, many options to see what works - I have not (yet!) failed to cure any fur chewing chins who have ended up at Monty's Manor.


I firmly believe that, like malocclusion in chinchillas, fur chewing is a complex, multi-facteted issue with no simple definitive answer. I think that research has & is bearing that out - genetics may play a part but other factors are also involved. I do not believe a simplistic catch-all answer will be found, regardless of how much research is carried out - since even in animal studies we cannot separate anatomy & physiology, psychology, neurology, & environment etc.
One example of studies being carried out is this one - an interesting read & an even more interesting conclusion:
http://www.kaluefflab.com/pdfs/chapters/TransNeuroAdvAnimalResearchEthics(Hart&AVK).pdf

 

[Nef]

Thank you Menagerie for posting my question into this separate thread. It is very interesting and I know much more information now. Thank you everyone. I really appreciate it.

For those of you that have fur-chewing chinchillas, do they need any supplement/other food since they have so much fur in their stomach? I've heard of papaya/papaya supplement but I've also heard some say it's not necessary. What do you guys think?

 

[ticklechin]

Another article, this points back to genetics and a certain gene.


http://cellnews-blog.blogspot.com/2010/05/obsessive-compulsive-behaviour-in-mice.html

 

[tunes]

I have always maintained that fur chewing can be environmental OR genetic, but was shot down so many times I just gave up. I have a couple females here that came from large, well known breeders. In their barns, they chewed. I was hesitant to bring them home because of that, but was assured that with a change of environment the chewing would most likely stop. It did. They are both females, were never bred in their previous barns, and have been bred in mine. They have never chewed a single spot on their bodies since they have been here and it's been over 6 years. They don't chew with kits, without kits, with a male, without a male.

So I firmly believe that not ALL chewing is genetic. I think it can be stress from their environment and that once you remove them from that environment, it can change. Keep in mind, these were not horrific chewers (down to bare skin all over). These girls both chewed about a 50 cent piece sized bit of fur from either or both sides and have never done it again. I waited a full year after bringing them home and put them in a group cage environment to see what would happen, and after they had absolutely no evidence of chewing, I put them into breeding because they are excellent animals otherwise.

That said, I think once a chin reaches the point where they are more barbered than normal fur, even if it started out as environmental it has become a habit and I don't believe it will ever stop (nor have I ever seen evidence of it with various rescues who have asked me about it).

ETA: None of the offspring have ever chewed either. Several of them are in homes of folks here on the forum and I have kept close tabs on them. Not a one of them have ever shown the slighest evidence of chewing.

 

[Essentia]

Claire, that is exactly what he looks like. I will take a picture when I get off work so you can see the awfulness. I wish I could figure out what his tic is. I would LOVE to get him to stop. It feels like I've literally tried everything, and I feel so bad for him.