# Biting, grumpy and massive quill loss



## ktdid (Aug 7, 2012)

So Fitz has been doing great, he has been done with his baby quilling for a few weeks (just losing about 5ish or so a day which I have read is normal) and has been a great, happy little boy. This afternoon (4ish) I took him out of his cage and literally 5 minutes into holding him he bit me. Hard. I thought I might have smelled like food or something so I washed my hands wrapped him a flannel and moved on. He seemed grumpy and didn't want to play but instead burrowed in the flannel and popped and huffed whenever I touched him. I just figured he was extra tired or something and left him alone in my lap. Well like 10 minutes ago I pulled him out of the flannel to put him back in his cage and he bit me again! This time even harder and wouldn't let go. He didn't draw blood but the end of my finger is turning purple and it really hurts. I started looking at the flannel he is in and there are just quills everywhere. Several dozen in just the hour he was laying here. His skin is maybe a little dry because I haven't put coconut oil on him in about two weeks but, it doesn't look bad by any means. I don't think it could be mites because he is on fleece liners and paper towels for litter.

He was perfectly fine last night and stayed out cuddling and playing with me for a few hours. He ran on his wheel and ate and drank normal. I don't know what is wrong. He will be 4 months old in a few days.


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## ktdid (Aug 7, 2012)

I gave him a long warm bath this evening and he seems much calmer and relaxed now. Is it possible for him to be quilling this long? He started at about 9-10 weeks old and I definitely thought it was over. He had calmed down and the amount of quills he lost did too. Even if he is still quilling, why did he drop so may quills so randomly and quickly like that? Anyone have an opinion?


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## Shell (Aug 23, 2012)

My Percy is 16 weeks old and just last week lost tons of quills like crazy for a couple of days, and I mean alot, then the next day there wasn't one to be found. It was weird and he was major cranky that entire week. This week he's back to normal so I think hejust stopped quilling. I wonder if Fritz too just went through a normal quilling then bang, a huge one, and he's almost done. I'm sure he bit you because he was pretty sore from losing all the quills. I was freaking out when I saw all the quills in his cage. They were everywhere and I thought I'd have to rush him to the vet! As I said though, he's been fine since.


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## ktdid (Aug 7, 2012)

Hopefully that is the case and he will be better in a few days. He is much calmer after his bath last night but he lost 25 quills alone last night. Those are just the ones I found around his bed in his cage because I didn't bother looking everywhere. He hasn't lost that many at one time since the height of his quilling. He isn't looking bald or patchy at all and all the quills are little ones, so hopefully this is just the last big push before the end like you said.


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## Shell (Aug 23, 2012)

Yep, it sounds just like what we went through. Percy's bag was filled with small quills, he had no bald spots, and a major grump.I thought by the end of the day he'd be bald! Nope, no more quills anywhere. I'm sure you'll be just fine.


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## msredhead (Sep 28, 2012)

Same thing is happening with Auri right now, and the same age!! I hope it's just quilling, but we made a vet appointment just in case!


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## Shell (Aug 23, 2012)

Let us know how he does at the vet.


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