Help, black gerbil has white spot on cheek

[jjsyoshiandsooti]

Hi! First post I’m making on here. I could use some advise. So my gerbil; Soot who is a black gerbil with white patterns (the typically pattern black gerbils have), white markings on paws and chin and a bit on chest. He has a brother who also has these markings. However, Soot has a white spot on his cheek.. hopefully the pic I added works. This white spot started first as being like barely noticeable, a tiny white fleck, one hair. Now, it’s noticeably expanded, especially recently. It’s a lot of white on one side of his cheek now. I was unsure if this was because of aging, or because he could be sick? He also has a tiny white fleck (one strand of fur like the part on his cheek started out as), and a tiny dot of white on one ear. He is not that old, I got he and his brother from a chain petstore in February last year. So he’s under a year and a half. A have also heard that this could be from an injury when he was a pup before he even grew fur (like his mother biting too hard), or an injury in adulthood that’s not severe or even enough for me to notice smth has happened, but just damages the follicle, causing it to grow back white. His brother and him get along great though. Could this fur thing be true? Again, there has been a tiny white fleck barely noticable, until recently. His fur also looks a bit.. odd? At his back where his back hunches, his fur seems to growing weird. I have heard of molting, but I don’t know much about that. I just hope he’s not sick. A previous gerbil of mine also had the patchy back fur thing, and he passed before getting really old (he wasn’t a black gerbil though), so it’s got me concerned and confused. Added pics at the end, it’s an icloud link so it should just load and pop up. First pic shows his back fur and second shows his cheek.

share.icloud.com/photos/055SUDIQ7oJxUAH0jk9YIgn6w

share.icloud.com/photos/0dcN7VaU0x2nBTJZA1DSZGtRg

[LilyandDaisy]

Hello,

You are correct that both aging and injury (at birth or later in life) can cause white hairs.

Gerbils don't necessarily need to be old to start getting white hairs, and it happens younger in some gerbils than others. The cheek and neck area are typical locations for these age-related white hairs.

In terms of injury, hairs grow to a certain point and then fall out and a new one grows from the follicle. If he had an injury on his cheek a few weeks ago, you would expect the new white hairs to come in gradually as the old ones fall out, rather than all at once. So that is a possibility.

I'm not aware of any illnesses that cause white hairs like this, which is not to say that's not a possibility. Nutritional deficiencies can often affect fur, though they aren't common in gerbils. What is your gerbils' diet like?

When gerbils have patchy looking fur, most often it's because they're moulting and when their fur is puffed up for some reason (e.g cold), you can see the moulted areas. It can look very strange. Gerbils that are sick often puff their fur up to keep warm, and if they happen to be moulting at the same time, you would then see the patchy appearance although it's not directly related to the illness. If he's moulting, the patchy area should be gone in a week or two. Gerbils moult periodically throughout their lives.

[tanzanyte]

Hi,

I agree with LilyandDaisy in that the white is most likely part of the aging process. I think some or more prone to it than others. We've had this noticeably with our black gerbils and our slate one got a tiny bit. I never noticed it at all on Max who was nutmeg, and the others have all been lighter colours so spots wouldn't be visible. Although Pepsi lost all of his pied markings when he got older and became white.
Hattie's was by her ear and she started getting more stray ones on her nose/head. Hers were more prominent than the others.
As for the fur on the back of your gerbil, this looks puffed up if I'm seeing it correctly? Our gerbils have all had this happen at various points. It can be down to weather, a bit like when our hairs stand up to attract heat when we are feeling colder.