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Posted by: Nette, funk88@swbell.net
Subject: balding on head - please help
When: 12:21 PM, 02 Dec 2000
IP: 208.191.164.243
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I have a 2 year old sugar glider, female, Jinx. She has been losing hair on the crown of her head. It began about a year ago and I took her to the vet at that time to see if it was a vitamin deficiency. The vet informed me that Jinx was quite a bit overweight and suggested that this might be the cause of the hair loss as she didn't note any vitamin deficiency. She recommended a diet and some vitamins (Lanitone) which I give her in a leadbeaters mix. It seems as though Jinx put on additional weight when I put her on the diet, but her hair was growing back. However, her hair would grow back, then she would lose it, it would grow back again - and this pattern has been occurring for quite some time now. I was wondering if anyone else has had a similar problem with their sugar glider. I have tried to get Jinx to run on a wheel - hoping that the hair loss was related to her weight - but Jinx doesn't run on the wheel. I let her play outside her cage everynight, but don't think she's getting enough exercise. I'm very worried about her, but I don't know how serious this might be. I spoke to the vet about her (she needs to get her annual check up pretty soon now), but the vet wants to run tests since it doesn't seem to be related to any deficiencies. I'm not sure what to do. If anyone can give me some advice I would greatly appreciate it.
Thanks.
A worried mother





Follow Ups:

Posted by: Barb, blooprints@yahoo.com
Subject: none
When: 2:35 PM, 02 Dec 2000
IP: 63.180.48.15

Are you sure Jinx is a female? What do you feed her?



Posted by: Tessa, TeMaGa@aol.com
Subject: none
When: 8:31 PM, 03 Dec 2000
IP: 152.163.205.56

I would get a gammat of tests done to make sure it's not cancer related. I had seen animals that lost hair due to that. Otherwise you don't really know. Don't mean to scare you or anything but sometimes regular blood test aren't enough. I know this personally with what I had gone through in the past though I didn't lose my hair but when I was sick, the doctors must have run hundreds of tests on me before they discovered almost by accident that I had a cancerous tumor in me. I had surgery and am currently cancer free but it just had me concerned. If you really care about your baby, you'd make sure you'd know what's going on. Good luck! smile



Posted by: Mary/Beck, intr01dc@frank.mtsu.edu
Subject: none
When: 8:14 PM, 04 Dec 2000
IP: 12.77.82.205

What diet do you use?

Hair loss is generally related to bad diets or stress.

Please tell us whatr diet plan you use. Has she been under any stress? Can you see any patterns of when she looses her hair?