Hi Everyone!
Recently we had to put our little boy (Marshmallow - winter white) to sleep, he lived to just a shave over 2 years old, after facing nearly lifelong health issues related to ear infections, and eventually a growth on his abdomen, I think eventually he just got tired of all the vet trips and wanted to rest, seeing that he decided to stop taking his meds - may he rest in piece.
Anyway, two days ago we adopted a rescue, a 6 - 8 month old syrian male, by the name of Harold - I also didn't know you could get white fur syrians?
I noticed after we got home, a patch of hair loss on his back, and his coat seems rather thin, but no other patchy hair loss.
The conditions he was in were not ideal, and I am seeking some reassurance that my opinion is correct and his hair loss could be attributed to any of the following:
His habitat didn't appear to have been cleaned within the last couple of months, it was smelly, dusty, had some cat hair in it, we found some small spiders and spider webs in it, and the corner that he was going to the toilet in had started rotting and had a real bad stench.
The bedding was just wood shavings, and the "sand bath" looked like it had some sort of fine dusty sand in it, not the usual scentless slightly more coarse sand we had for our winter whites.
His food looked like some pellet food, almost looked like cat pellets or some rat food.
his wheel is not big enough for him, and his back rubs against the middle part that holds it to the side of the cage, its not sharp or anything, but it is rubbing on his back when he sprints on it.
The place his habitat was in was also very hot and humid, no real airflow to keep him cool.
So I am guessing that it could be a result of almost any of these conditions?
To this end, we immediately stripped the habitat, disinfected, cleaned, sanded & painted the habitat. we threw away all the other cardboard tubes and that piece of wood he was sleeping under and using the toilet on. Replaced the bedding with Kaytee Clean & Cozy (unscented) and he is now on the same food as our winter whites were (the tiny friends farm mix). He has a new sand bath and potty with what I believe is the correct sand to use. I haven't been able to get a new wheel yet, I will be ordering it tomorrow, it will be a 29cm wooden wheel with a cork lining so it will be easy on his feet.
We havent taken him to a vet yet, as these last couple of days have been incredibly stressful for him, not to mention we had to get him into a clean environment ASAP!
Anyway I have attached a pic of his back, and a cheeky pic of him hiding in the corner - he is a bit anti-social at the moment due to the lack of human interaction he has had thus far - but I am sure we will change that very quickly
Syrian - Hair Loss
Linear Mode
