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The
good new is, ringworm is not fatal. The bad news is, its really annoying and can
be difficult to get rid of.
Contrary to what the name suggests, ringworm is not a
worm or a parasite of any kind. It is a highly contagious fungal infection,
which affects the skin of chinchillas. The name actually comes from the ring it
forms when it appears on humans.
Ringworm can affect any animal or human, which means you
can catch this from your chin. It is rare that a chin does infect a human, but
its better to be safe then sorry. For this reason, it is imperative that
if you know you have ringworm in your herd, you follow a VERY strict routine of
washing and rewashing hands and any equipment that may be moved between cages.
In fact, NO equipment should be shared between cages until the infection is
under control.
Ringworm can be airborne, especially given the amount of
dust flying around most chin rooms. For this reason, it is extremely important
that any chin that definitely has ringworm be moved to another room from the
rest of the herd. Do not ever share dust between known ringworm chins and other
chins.
Because ringworm affects the skin, it may not show on a
chin for a very long time. This is just one of the reasons that quarantining new
chins to your herd is so very important.
Once it does start to show, it will show as dry, flaky
skin and missing fur, usually starting around the mouth, ears, feet and genital
areas.
The two treatments that I have seen suggested most often
for ringworm are:
Treat the area with Lamisil AT in cream form for 10 to
20 days.
Putting 1 teaspoon of Tinactin foot powder per cup of
dust in the chin’s dust bath. Do this for 6 weeks to be certain all spores are
gone.
In fact, I treat any new chins coming into our home with
dust that has Tinactin foot powder in it for the duration of their quarantine
period, just to be safe. I feel that prevention is definitely the best medicine
in this case.
In either case, throw the dust out regularly and WASH
YOUR HANDS.
Remember to clean the cage with a
10/90 bleach/water solution, throw out any wood that has been exposed to the
affected chins, and vacuum the area daily.
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