Will my chinchilla's coat ever grow back?

[Chinessa]

I've had my Abbey since early May, that's about 7 months. I got her from a girl who could no longer care for her and her coat was pretty gross. She was in need of a dust bath and I noticed that she had big patches of fur missing from her sides. I figured it would grow back eventually. Unfortunately, I do not have a clear picture of her sides when I first got her.

The picture below was taken last week. She is still missing huge chunks of fur. I give her a dust bath twice a week. Do you think her fur will ever grow back, or will it be like this permanently? She's 5-6 years old, if that matters. She eats Oxbow Chinchilla Deluxe pellets and a mix of orchard grass and timothy hay. I'm not sure what she was eating before I had her, the food the girl gave me didn't have anything but pellets, so I assumed it wasn't too junky. She gave it to me in a plastic bag. Could diet have something to do with this? The only other thing I could think of is maybe she was very stressed out at one point, which caused her to release a lot of hair? Does it usually take this long to grow back though?

 

[jags]

She is a fur chewer and probably always will be. Health wise will not be a problem just will not be a prom queen.

 

[Snickers]

She is a fur chewer. Her fur might come back if it does it might take along time. I rescued 3 chins a long time ago for a bad situation. This person had about 30 chins. They were fed chocolate chips and had no dust baths. I think they were chewing on each other maybe they were hungry. If there were hairless chins this was the place. There fur started to come back in but it took along time for that to happen.

 

[Lynn & The Chins]

She was probably stressed out from such a sad life. Make sure that you use either Blue Sparkle or Blue Cloud dust, not the "Chinchilla Bath Sand" available at the petstore. Check the suppliers list for vendors.

There is a outside chance that with enough love and attention that she may calm down and stop being so anxious and stop the fur chewing.

If not, then like jags said, she'll never be a Prom Queen.

 

[Chinessa]

Thanks, guys! I've always read about fur-chewers on here, but I guess I never made the connection. Good to know it's not something else. Hopefully one day she'll calm down. But until then, she'll always be beautiful to me!

I can't imagine someone feeding chocolate chips to chins...those poor babies!

 

[Dreamlite]

She is a fur chewer, she may or may not stop that. It won't hurt her, she just won't have a full coat like a nomal chin should.

 

[addictedtochins]

Is there any chance it could be fungus?

 

[Dreamlite]

Fungus wouldn't look like that. Fungus would be chunks of hair missing and you would see bald spots, not the shortened hair that's clearly shown.

 

[obcsed]

I have had a few fur chewers as fosters over the years. Most of mine have been stress chewers and came from bad situations. I have a few tips that may help her stop or at least slow it down.

First, I cover the top, back and part of the sides of the cage with a piece of fleece. It makes the cage cave like and lets the chin relax a bit since they don't have to worry about things moving all around them all the time. This also helps with timid chins who tend to hide all the time.

Second, I provide a quiet room with minimal distractions during the day.

Third, I stuff their cages with all kinds of chew toys and wood sticks to keep them busy chewing on something else besides themselves.

Fourth, I avoid stressing them out with minimal handling. I let them come out and go back into their cages on their own for play time. I provide a lot of time for them to play outside the cage on their own terms and without my interference. They usually end up spending a lot of that time playing around me but I don't touch unless they let me.

Finally, I establish a firm routine and stick to it. They soon learn when things are going to happen in their room and start to anticipate playtime, cage cleaning and feeding times.

These tips won't help much if she is a genetic chewer but will do wonders for a stress chewer.

 

[kerri101]

I think she is very unique and still beautiful!!!!

 

[JessieVictoria]

I have had a few fur chewers as fosters over the years. Most of mine have been stress chewers and came from bad situations. I have a few tips that may help her stop or at least slow it down.

First, I cover the top, back and part of the sides of the cage with a piece of fleece. It makes the cage cave like and lets the chin relax a bit since they don't have to worry about things moving all around them all the time. This also helps with timid chins who tend to hide all the time.

Second, I provide a quiet room with minimal distractions during the day.

Third, I stuff their cages with all kinds of chew toys and wood sticks to keep them busy chewing on something else besides themselves.

Fourth, I avoid stressing them out with minimal handling. I let them come out and go back into their cages on their own for play time. I provide a lot of time for them to play outside the cage on their own terms and without my interference. They usually end up spending a lot of that time playing around me but I don't touch unless they let me.

Finally, I establish a firm routine and stick to it. They soon learn when things are going to happen in their room and start to anticipate playtime, cage cleaning and feeding times.

These tips won't help much if she is a genetic chewer but will do wonders for a stress chewer.

I totally agree with all this! My Daisy is a stress chewer (She was from a pet store so I don't know if it's genetic) but when she started chewing it was because I was on reading week at school and was home all day. Once I realized, I started turning all the lights off for her during the day, letting her have lots of space so she could sleep and gave her a million chew toys.
Whenever we see her fur chewing now, we give her one of those loose loofa toys, I guess it's like chewing on fur to her, because it will completely distract her haha!

 

[Chinessa]

Thank you so much for the tips, Obcsed!

Your fourth point really describes her. She'll come up to me in her cage, but when she's out for play time she rarely comes near me. She plays all around me instead, so I leave her cage door open and she goes in on her own after awhile. Her fur does look better than when I first got her, though. I'll definitely try all of these tips!

Abbey really seems to like loofa too! Strange, I wonder if that is a common thing among fur chewers.

 

[Dreamlite]

Fur chewing is genetic, wheather they do it all the time or just when stressed doesn't matter.

 

[Chinessa]

Fur chewing is genetic, wheather they do it all the time or just when stressed doesn't matter.

But if I can lower the stress, I can lower the fur chewing. Right?

I'd say it's worth a shot either way. Less stress can never hurt.

 

[JessieVictoria]

She'll probably stop for a while with less stress, but at some point she'll almost definitely go at it again! Once a fur chewer, always a fur chewer. You gotta love them, even when they look messy haha.
I'm about to take in two babies whos mom is a fur chewer, they'll probably chew too =/

Daisy hasn't chewed in at least a month, her coat is looking better. She's a beige though, so it's less noticible

I'd suggest not giving your baby a cagemate, she might chew on them! My babies are gonna be messy looking haha!

 

[Chinessa]

It's definitely not as noticeable on your Daisy! I wasn't planning on giving Abbey a cagemate anytime soon, but that's a good thing to consider if I ever do.

Good luck with your new babies! Hopefully you'll get lucky and they won't chew, although the thought of two little scruffy chin babies does make me laugh.

 

[meiying]

Hi there, I have a fur chewer myself, Jeffy is almost 5 years old. I adopted him from his previous owner 7-8 months ago.He was badly negelected, no good chins pellets, no hay, no chew toys, he came in a filfy cage with all plastic shelves and toys, he also smelled like baby powder when i first got him. Anyway, he has not been chewing on his fur that much (maybe a little bit while i am not looking). I think he is a lot happier now and he is my chin's best buddy. He loves to cuddle with my chin, loves running on the chin spin, loves attention....etc.

So i think there is a chance that your chin would stop chewing on his fur or maybe chew less if you give him proper care, but again it really depends on your chin...

And I am very lucky that my fur chewr has not been chewing my other chin's fur, if he started doing that, i would have to seperate them.:hair:

I have attached Jeffy's before and after photo for you.

 

[Chinessa]

His little tail! It looks like he has a sock on it or something. Abbey hasn't gone that far back. It's mainly just her left side.

He does look a lot better though! I wonder if having a buddy calmed him down some. I hope that I can have a before and after picture of my Abbey-cakes too. Her fur does look better than it first did, but there is still a lot to go!