• Discussions taking place within this forum are intended for the purpose of assisting you in discussing options with your vet. Any other use of advice given here is done so at your risk, is solely your responsibility and not that of this forum or its owner. Before posting it is your responsibility you abide by this Statement

Does my GP look like it has mange or mites?

  • Thread starter Thread starter jyrenze
  • Start date Start date
Status
Not open for further replies.
J

jyrenze

Hi guys, I bought 2 guinea pigs from a petshop 2 weeks ago and one of them seems to be parasite infested all over. I gave her a bath, flea combed her and dusted her with some pyrethin flea powder. She has much less lice now but then I noticed her ears look a little funny.

Here are the pictures, notice anything strange with the skin on the ears? I went to the vet already, but the vet was unsure if there are any problems, he is a young vet and not too experienced with GPs and he did not do any tests. He told me to bring my piggy back for Ivermectin injection only if the skin problems spreads. Most probably I will go to another vet though as he seems to be better with dogs and cats than small animals.

204103.jpg


211224.jpg
 
jyrenze said:
Hi guys, I bought 2 guinea pigs from a petshop 2 weeks ago and one of them seems to be parasite infested all over. I gave her a bath, flea combed her and dusted her with some pyrethin flea powder. She has much less lice now but then I noticed her ears look a little funny.

Here are the pictures, notice anything strange with the skin on the ears? I went to the vet already, but the vet was unsure if there are any problems, he is a young vet and not too experienced with GPs and he did not do any tests. He told me to bring my piggy back for Ivermectin injection only if the skin problems spreads. Most probably I will go to another vet though as he seems to be better with dogs and cats than small animals.
Click to expand...

Welcome to the forum. Welcome to the world of buying from pet shops - they almost always have something wrong with them. PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE do not use pyrethin based products ever again. These have been found to cause all sorts of problems in rodents including seizures (resulting in death) in rats and skin irritation in guinea pigs. Flea combing won't get rid of any mites there might be as they are too small (microscopic).

Definitely get a second opinion from another vet. I would treat with ivermectin regardless as it's quite possible your new pig has a combination of problems. The white flaky skin on the ears suggests there might be a fungal problem - a bath in Nizoral shampoo can help with this and some anti-fungal cream (like Canesten) can be used on the ears.
 
Alright I will discontinue the flea powder, I used it because when I googled up, many sites say pyrethin products are ok for killing guinea pig lice. They dont sell Nizoral here, will Selsun do? If I go to the pharmacy would any type of fungal cream do or must it be Canesten because I do not live in the UK (I'm in Asia) and they might not sell Canesten here.
 
Okay, first thing....dont want to be patronising or anything :-\ But you do realise all guineas have the patch behind the ear right? :-\ However, yeah like has been said, you can use some like Canesten on the ears for the flakeyness...

And yes, I would get both piggies to the vet, as if you dont treat with ivermectin, anything else will not be as effective, and you could just end up in the same position in a few days time! If you try and treat by yourself, it will probably just get 10x worse in the long run.

I would contact and complain to the petstore, and ask them to foot any bills.

Hope it all gets sorted O0
 
Yes I know about the patch of skin behind the ear(but only recently because I am a new GP owner :) ) Topical ivomec is different from those they give via injection I suppose? I think the vets here only have the injectable type because when I call up they usually recommend the jab and not the topical one.

Its no use complaining to the petstore, this is not the UK, lol... the only refund you get is a replacement if it dies within 3 days of purchase (and only the large petstores have that policy, small ones dont give a hoot!)

Hopefully the vet hospital will be able to diagnose whatever it is. (I really hope its not ringworm, anything else I can live with)
 
yeah, i would pop off to the vets asap, hun. and yes, ivermectin is very very good for this and they should be ok after some good old tlc and ivermectin etc. i think they give ivermection through an injection and other ways aswell? sorry not quite sure, all i know is that ivermectin is really the best way to get rid of them and your vet will advise you, the thing is, as the others have said it is likely to get much worse, if you try and control it on your own. :) you may want to consider using some gorgeous guineas stuff to complement the other treatments. have a look on the website, and look at the before and after pics, they're amazing! products like coconeem melt and manuka and neem shampoo should help, and you could e-mail chrisse to see what products she would recommend using. however, bathing can stress some piggies and should not be a substitute for proper vetrinary care. so, it's up to you. :) WELCOME, BY THE WAY! :D (((((hugs and kisses))))) let us know how you get on. O0 and here is a link for gorgeous guineas. http://www.gorgeousguineas.com/index.html
 
One of my new arrivals has lice, he lives alone but we are still treating all my other pigs just in case. My vet recommended a new spot on product called Xeno 450 which is £27.98 a box and each box contains 6 pipette treatments it contains ivermectin. The stuff kills any lice on the skin and also soaks through the skin for internal parasites. They recommend you treat infested pigs two and four weeks after the first treatment just to be sure all eggs are killed. Xeno can be bought online (type it in Google) through a few different sites and sometimes its cheaper than buying from the vet. You could always ask your vet about it and see if they can order you any. I would say its well worth it seems to be doing a good job.
 
pimm said:
One of my new arrivals has lice, he lives alone but we are still treating all my other pigs just in case. My vet recommended a new spot on product called Xeno 450 which is £27.98 a box and each box contains 6 pipette treatments it contains ivermectin. The stuff kills any lice on the skin and also soaks through the skin for internal parasites. They recommend you treat infested pigs two and four weeks after the first treatment just to be sure all eggs are killed. Xeno can be bought online (type it in Google) through a few different sites and sometimes its cheaper than buying from the vet. You could always ask your vet about it and see if they can order you any. I would say its well worth it seems to be doing a good job.
Click to expand...

Xeno is an absolute rip-off. The only reason your vet is recommending it is because it's the only ivermectin product "officially" licenced for use on guinea pigs. Vets have used Ivomec/Panomec for years and for half the price of a box of Xeno you can get enough to do 100 doses.
 
Being that anything bought from online petshops are usually sold in US pounds, I doubt it would be cheaper than the price from the local vets here, lol.... Will be taking the piggies to the vet hospital most probably on Friday morning as it is a holiday. I hope an more senior vet is on duty on that day as they have quite a few vets working there.
 
Welcome!

Darn petshops :tickedoff: !

Right the bald patch behind the ear is normal if you are worried about that- its common for people to think there is a problem there.

The flakey skin does indicate more of a fungal problem.. does the hair come out easily if you gentle pull it? and if so does it have white scurf like dandruffed on it?
This would almost certainly indicate fungal problems which are common-
Gorgeous guineas Chrissie is the best person to speak too as she can give you all the info, it will take me ages to type it all!

Her shampoos are avaliable at www.gorgeousguineas.co.uk or www.pamperedpiggies.co.uk her website also has info about mites and the signs for that lilke balding in one area, bobbling feel under the skin etc

Whether it is mites or fungal you do need to get it sorted asap as they can cause more problems which i wont scare you with now ;)
Which area are you in? we may be able to send you in the direction of a good vet near by.

Good luck
 
Yes there is dandruff on the pig's head. I didnt try tugging on her fur yet, will try it later this evening when I get home. I have gone through the Gorgeous guineas website, the products look good but once again everything is in UK pounds, lol. I live in South East Asia. Vet visit is tomorrow morning, will see what the vet has to say :)
 
jyrenze said:
Yes there is dandruff on the pig's head. I didnt try tugging on her fur yet, will try it later this evening when I get home. I have gone through the Gorgeous guineas website, the products look good but once again everything is in UK pounds, lol. I live in South East Asia. Vet visit is tomorrow morning, will see what the vet has to say :)
Click to expand...

Gorgeous Guineas ship abroad for very reasonable postage costs.
 
I'm back from the vet. The vet looked at my pigs ear and said it doesnt seem to be fungus or mange, he said to monitor it for any changes.

As for the lice, yes my pig does have lice and at first he recommended flea powder. I highlighted the concerns that flea powder might not be safe and asked if they could be given topical Ivermectin. The vet said my pigs might be a little young for that as they are around 2 months old and weighing a little over 200 grams. Anyhow he did give me a syringe of undiluted Ivermectin, now I need some help from you guys who have administered Ivermectin topically to your piggies as my vet actually has never done this before, and his textbook said to administer 1:100 of Ivermection to propylene Glycol (to dilute it) and put a few drops on the head of the pig.

I read up from http://www.guinealynx.com/ivermectin_treatment.html and it says to administer 0.5 mg ivermectin/kilo of pig for topical treatments. So since for about 200 grams of guinea pig it should be 0.1 mg of Ivermectin for each pig. I weighted my pigs again using a cake scale and they are actually around 260 grams (not 200 as the vet said since he was using the large scale for dogs and cats). However the website also says it is advised that a cavy weigh at least 12 ounces (340 grams) before treating with ivermectin. So are my pigs too young/ underweight for this?

The vet has given 0.1 ml of Ivermectin and 10 ml of propylene Glycol, so according to him I'm supposed to mix it together to make it 1:100 then administer a drop or 2 behind the piggies ears. I will measure 0.1 mg of the diluted stuff for each pig then.

What do you guys think? I'm worried that they are too young for the Ivermectin treatment.
 
Bumping this up for you so that one of our experienced gp owners can help you with the dosage. Never heard of a vet giving medicines and letting you work it out for yourself :-\ Dont administer any until someone experienced tells you O0
I would highly recommend you get some melts and shampoos from gorgeousguineas, to have just incase. They are truly amazing and all the rescues use them for their guineas. Email Chrissie through her website and she will advise which ones are best to keep in your GP medicine box. As you are in Asia, I would imagine fungal infections would be more likely as your weather is humid? so best to have some in. Her postage is very very reasonable and she is all about helping piggies, not profit.
 
Giving Ivermectin orally won't help get rid of lice. Have never given topically because I use Lice N Easy from Gorgeous Guineas. I wouldn't put flea powder on mine. I don't give Ivermectin to pigs under 3 months but then I have access to other stuff which can help till they reach that stage...
 
I am not certain of my Gps age as the pet shop just gave an approximate age, but judging by their weight they don't really quality for topical Ivermectin yet. I'm thinking to order the Gorgeous guineas products, but it will take a while since I don't have pay pal or a UK bank account, and shipping takes around 7 days. Hm...
 
Lice eat the skin debris etc off the surface of the skin, they are not blood suckers so giving them injections wont help.

Lice n easy is the best option but maybe if you could bath them with a pet shampoo and use a flea comb to get them out that would be a start until you can get some lice n easy? I dont think flea powder will help :( may just irritate their sensitive skin.
 
It is very quick and easy to set up a paypal account and free for you. It would be worthwhile doing this. Just go to the paypal website to set it up :)
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top