# Paprika's Thinning Belly Fur :(



## firephoenixla (Sep 13, 2010)

So Paprika has been losing hairs off her belly continuously pretty much since the day she came home back toward the end of September.. I remember thinking it was odd but that some shedding was probably normal.. before she came home, when she was about 3 or so weeks old the breeder found some mites on the hoglets so she brought them to the vets for a revolution treatment, and she claimed that she did two rounds of the treatment before sending her home with me at 6 weeks old, and I trust her on that.. I brought her to the vet at about 8 weeks old and asked if loosing some belly fur was normal and she said if the breeder had done two rounds of revolution then it probably wasn't mites and that it might just be stress or something.. so I brought her home and she's been loosing dozens of hairs a day since then.. so that today when I was looking at her I couldn't help but think how bare her stomach looks.. she doesn't have any bald patches on her quills and she doesn't appear to have any mites moving around on her.. but she has had bad dry skin on her back and stomach, so I've been covering her back in jojoba oil and that made her dry back skin go away, and it did make the dandruff on her stomach less crusty, but it hasn't help her grow back her hair yet from what I can see.. 
tonight I switched out all her fleece liners with liners that I've washed with a fragrance free sensitive skin laundry detergent, I've turned her heat lamp down to 72-74ish, and I've bathed just her stomach with just a bit of aveeno oatmeal bath but not her back, hoping to take any excess oil of her stomach that might be hurting her hair growth.. I use palmolive dishwashing soap to wash her wheel twice a day and she uses paper towels in her litter box, and other than that I have no idea what she could be allergic to if that is indeed what is causing her hair loss.. so here's to hoping all this works, I'm giving her another week or so and then I'll bring her to the vet since she has no open sores, no red patches, no cuts, and her skin doesn't seem as crusty.. what do you think? am I being a bad parent not taking her in sooner?...I just want her to finally feel better!


----------



## firephoenixla (Sep 13, 2010)

Here are just a few more from a different angle...my poor pink tummied hedgehog


----------



## shaelikestaquitos (Feb 2, 2010)

Awe, poor Paprika 
A thought occurs – maybe she has some sort of dermatitis?
I would suggest putting on some cortisone cream, but I have no idea if that is safe for hedgies, so you should probably wait for a second opinion!


----------



## shetland (Sep 2, 2008)

I hope your baby is well soon. Maybe Nancy, Kalandra, HedgeMom or Lizard Girl (some that I know of) will have some ideas.


----------



## Nancy (Aug 22, 2008)

Is she loosing any quills? Mites usually cause quill loss and any of the ones I've read about that have lost fur from mites it has been after massive quill loss to the balding stage. I've not experienced mites that caused fur loss so can only say what others I know have experienced. 

The massive dry skin would concern me that either she still has mites or has some type of skin infection that is causing the balding. 

I did have a baby that lost all her belly fur but she did it over a 2 week period and then she started growing it back. This was during her 5-6 week quilling and her skin was not dry. 

I would change the laundry detergent and do a vinegar rinse to make sure there is no soap residue. Also use vinegar and water to clean her wheel just in case she could be allergic to the dish soap or laundry detergent. 

What food is she eating? Food can also cause allergic reactions but try the above first. 

Bath her with water only just in case it could be the aveeno. Unlikely but who knows. 

Try what I mentioned and see if there is any improvement and if not I'd take Paprika back to the vet to be checked again and have a skin scrapping done for infection. Really all they need to do it pick some of the dry flakes of skin off her to check.


----------



## smhufflepuff (Aug 28, 2008)

Agreeing with Nancy's ideas & adding another: I don't suppose she has an under-cage heater/heating pad/other warm thing that she's laying on top of that could be too warm if she's on it for an extended period of time (eg, sleeping)? Wondering if it's a burn...


----------



## firephoenixla (Sep 13, 2010)

well she has been losing baby quills the past couple of weeks, but as far as her adult sized ones she only loses 2 or 3 of those a day so I'm not sure if that it too abnormal for her age.. she doesn't appear to have bald patches on her back and she does have one or two new quills that are only half way up through the skin on her back.. I rub jojoba oil on her back every few days and that clears up her dry skin just fine.. but I don't think she 100% likes having oil on her because she shakes her body like a dog when it gets its fur wet every once in awhile.. she must think the oil is water or something...

She used to sit on her but and itch itch itch with her back foot about a week or two ago but she hasn't much this week so I think the oil might be helping to take down some of the itchyness on her belly, at least I hope it is..

I changed the laundry detergent yesterday and put all new freshly washed liners into her cage/pigloo.. I didn't rinse them with vinegar though because I thought the fragrance free detergent would do the trick.. the next time I wash them I'll rinse them with vinegar too.. and I'll start using a different soap on her wheel, she has very stinky poo still and I'm worried that the vinegar won't take down the smell well enough on its own :/

She is eating Chicken Soup for the Cat Lover's Soul Light Chicken flavor, Natural Balance Original Ultra Reduced Calorie cat food, and Professional Adult Cat Complete Formula.. I just added the Professional into the mix last week because I thought maybe a higher fat food would help with her skin, and also she is a skinny hedgie because she's constantly running on her wheel so more fat couldn't hurt her.. I also put 500-600mg of flax seed oil on her food every 3-4 days...

I'll try this new course of action for a week or so and if things don't improve then I'll take Paprika back to the vet to be checked again and have a skin scrapping done for infection and mites.. I hope that it'll clear up in the meantime!

How long does it take for fur to grow back in ?? How will I know if what I am doing is working ??

*oh and also, I almost forgot, I don't have an under the cage heater pad I just have a CHE.. she sleeps curled up in an extra fleece cage liner that I put into her pigloo so she has about 2 feet of blanket to sleep with each night/day and she sleeps ontop of the fleece liner on the bottom too so that's a fleece sandwich under her CHE


----------



## Immortalia (Jan 24, 2009)

firephoenixla said:


> I also put 500-600mg of flax seed oil on her food every 3-4 days...


Are you using flax seed oil in a bottle? Or capsules? If bottle, how long have you had it for? Have you been keeping it in the fridge? Bottled oil goes rancid within a few weeks, I think 3 weeks is the maximum.

Most people here use capsules, as they last practically forever, and just pop open once capsule per feeding.


----------



## firephoenixla (Sep 13, 2010)

I use the capsule form, I got them at my local CVS and they say their made to be organic.. I usually pop them with a pin and squirt about half onto her dry food.. I let her eat as much as she can in one night, then dump it the next morning and do 2 or so days of plain dry food.. I used to put a full 1000mg capsule onto her food every other night, but I backed off to half that amount ever few days instead.. her poo is still pretty stinky though, so I'm not sure if I should go back to every other night again with them :/


----------



## CoxMD (Apr 30, 2010)

Would oatmeal baths soothe her skin or dry it out more?


----------



## firephoenixla (Sep 13, 2010)

I think I read once that oatmeal baths dry out the skin more.. I just wanted to wash off any extra oil or detergent residue that she might have had on her stomach... she seems to be doing a bit better, but when I held her last night her belly fur still came off all over my hands.. so it's still a work in progress.. I wonder how long it will take her fur to grow back in if it is an allergy though?


----------



## firephoenixla (Sep 13, 2010)

**Update* on Paprika's Thinning Belly Fur*

Just wanted to give you a quick update on Paprika's belly fur situation incase anyone else is having similar problems.. I brought Paprika to the vet this past weekend and was so happy to see her being social with the vets in the office.. she walked all over the counter tops and examination table and was being very social with the vet, completely unrolling and letting her pick her up and such which was good to see.. the vet took a sample of some dandruff/quills/belly fur that had fallen off onto the table top during her exploration of the table and brought them in back to look at them under a microscope.. she said she didn't see any mites or egg shells or anything, so she didn't think it was mites.. and the dandruff and quill roots looked fairly normal.. so her solution was to act on the two main potential issues that it could be and we'll see how Paprika is doing in another 3 weeks.. so she gave me a bottle of anti-fungal shampoo called GlenHaven F3/S and I'm supposed to bath her with it once a week or so.. and she also gave me Bene-Bac gel to put onto her food every night.. and finally she gave me 4 doses of kitten formula Revolution all measured out into tiny syringes that I can put onto her skin once every 2 weeks for the next month or two.. I think I'll follow the forum advice though and do 3 treatments spaced out over a 3 week time period.. and save the fourth dose for the future perhaps??
I also invested in white vinegar and fragrance free detergent for cleaning her liners.. and I stopped putting flaxseed oil on her skin/in her food for the time being.. so now its a waiting game, my next appointment with the vet is on Dec.18th, hopefully all her hair will grow back in by then and she'll be soft and fluffy again! I'm beginning to get belly-fur-envy when I look at other hedgie's tummy fur on the forum, so I need to get her back up to par as soon as possible!


----------



## tie-dye hedgie (Dec 19, 2009)

Sounds like you are doing an awesome job with Paprika!  
Thank you for the update and I hope she gets all better very soon!


----------



## CoxMD (Apr 30, 2010)

I'm glad to hear that there's nothing wrong with Miss Paprika, and it sounds like you've got a good vet. I hope she regains her belly fur soon!


----------



## firephoenixla (Sep 13, 2010)

Thank you! yeah, I've been trying my hardest to get her to feel better, and I honestly do think that she is already improving.. so it must have been one of the practically 10 things I have changed for her in the past two weeks to correct her situation! 
The vet is really great though, she's at the PetSmart in Clifton Park, NY if anyone lives near this area.. her name is Dr. Jennifer Steeves and she specializes in exotic animals.. mainly birds and reptiles, but she seems to know her way around hedgehogs too


----------



## firephoenixla (Sep 13, 2010)

**two week update!* Paprika's Thinning Belly Fur*

So it appears that one of the 6 things that I've done to improve Paprika's fur loss situation in the last two weeks has worked! Of course I have no idea which one it was, but the good news is her fur appears to be growing back in! Yay! It's so nice to see her fluffy and furry again! Thanks everyone for your help! 
[attachment=2:4uj2fzkh]SAM_0723.JPG[/attachment:4uj2fzkh]
[attachment=1:4uj2fzkh]SAM_0729.JPG[/attachment:4uj2fzkh]
[attachment=0:4uj2fzkh]SAM_0699.JPG[/attachment:4uj2fzkh]


----------



## susanaproenca (Aug 14, 2010)

That's awesome! You're a great hedgie mommy!


----------



## hedgehog3333 (Nov 7, 2010)

Hooray! Its great to see healthy happy hedgehogs


----------



## PJM (May 7, 2010)

Wow! She's looking great! So glad that she's doing better.


----------



## hedgielovero9 (Mar 10, 2016)

I am having the same problem. I am new to owning hedgehogs, i have had Piglet for about two weeks. I just introduced meal worms. Today when i got her out I noticed her belly was less furry. The breeder is amazing and didn't say anything was every wrong. But I am super worried.


----------



## teddythehedgie (Nov 22, 2015)

Hey hedgielovero9, this is an old thread but welcome to the forum! Just as a quick tip, people will be more likely to notice your question if you make a new thread. 

As for Piglet's fur, how old is she? Is she losing quills too? Any change in activity? What food are you giving her?


----------



## nikki (Aug 28, 2008)

This thread is from 2010, please check the dates before posting on a thread.


----------

