Large growth in chest area

[johnny]

Do flyer bodies concentrate their fat deposits in their chest area? That's what seems to have happened to Siggy. I overfed him when I was sick for months and after, overcompensating for lack of playtime. He is free to roam the house but stopped doing so around the time I got sick, which also coincided with late fall and the normal lethargic period, but he was unusually lethargic, apparently stopped exploring the house and kept to a small area. It has only been in the last 2 weeks that he has regained his former energy, concurrent with the bedding in his sleeping spot the past 12 months being changed because it had become a moth haven (food crumbs.)

The issue is that whatever the deposits are they are huge, but if it could simply be fat, he is exercising again and should in time shed some or all of the weight. Im hoping for reassurance that flyers can add their fat in their chest area. He doesn't seem to have added any major deposits anywhere else.

[Joan]

Can you post a picture? viewtopic.php?f=34&t=7666 They can get fat boobs. Does it feel like fatty tissue ... soft, not hard?

[johnny]

Probably fat boobs, then. Many thank yous for your reply. Impossible for me to examine him. He will readily sit on my hand or run around my body but he won't allow me to grasp him or even to poke him. He interprets a finger approaching as a challenge to play fight. Occasionally he will allow me to pet his back, but to try to touch his side or under area and he'll run or play attack instantly.

He also is never still in a lit area except if he comes out for water in the daytime. I'll see if I can manage to get a photo of them then. Because he was overfed with walnuts and almonds this past winter, and because of the possibility of amiodarone causing weight gain, it would fit that he is just fat. I've seen tumors in my pet rats and they are never as symmetrically placed as Siggy's "boobs"; given that you say it is common in flyers, I'm somewhat relieved.

Siggy is pretty much a 100% wild squirrel who happens to live in the house and is bonded to me because I raised him from 4.5 weeks. But he has never forgotten he is wild and follows a very particular set of rules.