Tail Issues

[kitty gal]

I tried looking it up in the search, but I had a hard time finding anything.

This is my first year/starting second of being with my flyer. We're doing wonderfully and she's in a great mood all the time. Never has bitten me at all. Very friendly. My only worry lately has been her tail. She barely has any fur on the half end of it down the middle and the rest is fine. This has been going on for a month or longer. I've just been hoping that it has been a molt, but I'm starting to get a little worried. Does anyone have any advice?

-Branwen

[Joan]

Post a picture if you can ... likely, it's a molt.

[kitty gal]

i hope its just a molt!


this is my cutest picture of her:
http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=3 ... =102700366

[Joan]

Both my flyers look just like that now.

[flyer_1]

How old do flyers show this tail problem.

[kitty gal]

thank you! how long do molts usually last? o.o

[Joan]

Til it growns back in. No set time.

[Joan]

How old do flyers show this tail problem.

According to Nancy Wells-Gosling, the wild, NFS usually have their first molt by 12 weeks and the juvenile pelt is completely replaced with the tail being last. A partial molt of the head and neck occurs in April/May. Lactating females begin their molt after their spring litter is 3-6 weeks old. Molting begins at the nose and proceeds up the face and along the cheeks. This molt takes 4-6 weeks and is complete when it reaches the base of the neck.
Adult NFS full molts begin in midsummer... July/August. This molt starts at the nose and procedes up and over the head, but does not stop at the neck. It continues down the back in irregular patterns. Lactating females experience this molt later, when the summer litter is close to weaning.

[flyer_1]

Thanks Joan it's nice to know what's coming so I don't freak out thinking she's losing hair for no reason.

[lucy10177]

WOW!!!! is that a real cat that close to your fs??????????????

[flyer_1]

It's a stuffed animal couger, look at the face,that or it's trying to commit suicide

[kitty gal]

i'm staying at my mom's house for the summer while working and doing other things. i usually use the bathroom as a safe place. sometimes i'll sit in the green room though and watch her. we have two cats here who have no idea what to make of her. they're declawed never learned to hunt. they're pretty much really harmless. if she jumps off of me they'll just follow her and watch her while i'm going to get her. in this picture i picked her up outta teh cage and sat down infront of the laptop to take a picture. tiger jumped down next to me and is kinda sniffing. they're curious of her, but its okay. i guess i just know that nothing bad will happen. i don't have this mentallity toward all cats. at my apartment i always have my bedroom door closed. my boyfriend has a cat who is clawed and was an outdoor cat. i think she's bad news. >.>

[Chippy]

i'm staying at my mom's house for the summer while working and doing other things. i usually use the bathroom as a safe place. sometimes i'll sit in the green room though and watch her. we have two cats here who have no idea what to make of her. they're declawed never learned to hunt. they're pretty much really harmless. if she jumps off of me they'll just follow her and watch her while i'm going to get her. in this picture i picked her up outta teh cage and sat down infront of the laptop to take a picture. tiger jumped down next to me and is kinda sniffing. they're curious of her, but its okay. i guess i just know that nothing bad will happen. i don't have this mentallity toward all cats. at my apartment i always have my bedroom door closed. my boyfriend has a cat who is clawed and was an outdoor cat. i think she's bad news. >.>

Don't get too comfortable. My two declawed, never learned to hunt cats are the first two to jump at a cage when they know the flyer is in there. I have a 15 year old declawed cat who got out of the house for a few minutes on day and caught a mouse! Instinct will kick in; this I have learned.

[lynn]

I'd be very protective not to let the cats get close to the flyers. I love cats - used to breed them, and owned 23 at one time; we're down to our last two elderely boys. Just because they have never shown aggression doesn't mean the urge can't come over them once in their lifetime, and they still have teeth!

[kitty gal]

girly just recently got a purple marking on her tail that wasn't there before. i was wondering if there was anything i could do to help.

[Joan]

Looks like a bruise. As long as it doesn't get bigger, it should disappear soom.

[lynn]

Dixie got the same kind of mark. It spread up the tail, and when it began to heal new fur grew. She had a ratty, V-shaped tail last spring, but it is now full and beautiful. I remember one other post like this one; this must be part of the molting/healing process.

[pos3idon]

my flyer Eeyore has the same bruised tail bit going on but her bruise is a little bigger. I'll see if I can grab a photo of it to post here, it looks a little more extreme and I'm a tad concerned.

[Joan]

I wouldn't worry about any of these ... Mishi split the tip of Chuck's tail once and his was forked for awhile. lol It grew back together just fine ... and he learned not to mess with a PMS female again.

[pos3idon]

I wasn't too worried about Eeyore's tail until it started to bruise and then the bruise got darker. Take a look at the picture and let me know what you think. Thanks!

Also normally Eeyore's urine does not smell however I switched her brand of bird seed recently (a few days ago) and all of a sudden her urine smells awful. I'm gonna switch her to a different seed tonight and see if that fixes it but I'm a little worried. Has anyone else experienced this?


thanks for the advice.

IMG_9561.jpg (44.72 KiB) Viewed 15078 times

[flyer_1]

I don't know as much about flyers on here as Joan,Judy and others but your not supost to feed them bird seed , try fresh veggies,suger snap pees,and the Henry's Healthy Blocks for flyers. apple and yogurt work well to. At least I don't think it's recommended.

[pos3idon]

lolz,
I don't just feed her bird seed. Usually her daily meal consists of a serving of bird seed (formerly Wild Nut & Berry but I can't seem to find that anymore so I switched to a different brand) a dish of fresh veggies which varies day by day but usually includes some form of mushroom and two forms of green veggies plus a nut and sometimes a small piece of fruit plus a small piece of anything I think she might like (corn tortilla, bread, yogurt, ect.) Two water dishes one with vitamin enhanced water and the other with plain so that she can self regulate. Sometimes I give her Reptocal (a powdered calcium vitamin supplement) but it makes her sneeze so she doesn't like it very much.

[Joan]

I wasn't too worried about Eeyore's tail until it started to bruise and then the bruise got darker. Take a look at the picture and let me know what you think.

It'll be OK ... mine have had worse.

[flyer_1]

That sounds good I haven't heard of bird seed but that sounds very balanced

[pos3idon]

thanks for the advice guy's Eeyore's tail seems to be looking better now

[kitty gal]

i'm still worried as usual about my squirrlies tail. just been hoping that it'll go away, but it's been going up her tail.

[flyer_1]

Kobie's tale is starting to bald out a little at the base, how long does the molt last and how many so they have, It's my first time so I don't know.

[rover]

My female flying squirrel has a tail that looks just like the one in the picture it is thinning hair along the end half of the tail. Is this normal???? Or do I need to be concerned??? How long will it be like that? Thanks

[Joan]

It's a molt and will come back in.

[rover]

Thanks for the information! I didn't know about molts.

[Flora]

I have been having similar tail balding in my little flyer, Hickory, for the past couple of months - started off small and just sort of grew. I looked on here and assumed it was just a tail molt, but in the past couple of days the baldness has started to darken and needless to say I'm worried! I did recently (about a week and a half ago) introduce him to our older flyer but haven't seen any signs of aggression at all between them, if anything he's the spunky younger guy bugging her! He also does exhibit some backflipping behavior which I've read on here can be attributed to him being a young guy with lots of energy, but now I'm worried that this could be causing his tail issues. I'd love to get some opinions on if this looks like a normal molt or if it's something more serious that I should have checked out.

[Joan]

... He also does exhibit some backflipping behavior which I've read on here can be attributed to him being a young guy with lots of energy, but now I'm worried that this could be causing his tail issues.

Back flipping could cause it if he's rubbing the tail against something when he flips, but it does look similar to molts that others have posted pictures on.

[Flora]

Thanks for the input! Last night I took away some branches from where he usually does his little back flips, hopefully that will leave less stuff for him to possibly rub his tail on. Our vet also suggested the possibility of a hormonal cause for the hair loss, but I guess I will just have to keep a close eye on it and wait it out!