Hair Loss on Tail?

[gerbiefan]

It seems to me that my spotted burmese male, Smoke, is not doing so well. He had lost some hair on his tail, and at first, I thought it would grow back, but it hasn't. In fact, he has continued to lose hair on his tail. He has also lost hair on both sides of his middle, but the hair loss there seems to be very minimal. Could a tumor cause hair loss? The thought just struck me, and there does seem to be a small lump beneath the base of the tail. He also had some red gunk (not very much) near his eyes this morning. Despite all the various issues he seems to be having, he is acting completely normal and running around, digging, etc... Here are a couple of pictures of the hair loss, and my poor Smoke's overall condition.







Any ideas on what could have caused this, or what I should do to help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!

[whitmoregirl]

Are you sure he's not being over-groomed by his cagemate?
Or he may be bored and pulling it out... (I've heard of birds doing this when bored but whether gerbils do it or not I'm not sure )

[gerbiefan]

I'm pretty sure Pearl isn't overgrooming him. Of course, he and Pearl currently are housed with 5 pups (who will be weaned sometime this week), so maybe it has something to do with them. I'm not sure, but as long as he is acting like a normal gerbil, I'm not too worried.

[kirsty]

One of my girls had that. Everytime I looke din the cage she was been groomed by 3 other gerbils!She tryed to get away but they wouldn't let her. Her tail became red and sore so I took her out and managed to pair her back with her mum and she is alot better and a full fur of tail again! She also seems alotbrighter. I put it down to been at the bottom of the dominance ladder

[meganb52]

I can see a little lump on the underside of his tail there in the first picture. It may be that lump is irritating him so he's chewing at the base of his tail there. It's probably something beningn and nothing to worry about.

-Megan

[whitmoregirl]

meganb52 said:

I can see a little lump on the underside of his tail there in the first picture. It may be that lump is irritating him so he's chewing at the base of his tail there. It's probably something beningn and nothing to worry about.

-Megan

Wow eagle eyes ;D
I had to squint to see it, but you can definately just make it out

[gerbiefan]

Ok, thanks. I'm feeling much more relieved now.

[meganb52]

whitmoregirl said:

meganb52 said:

I can see a little lump on the underside of his tail there in the first picture. It may be that lump is irritating him so he's chewing at the base of his tail there. It's probably something beningn and nothing to worry about.

-Megan

Wow eagle eyes ;D
I had to squint to see it, but you can definately just make it out

That's why they let me into vet school ;D

-Megan