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[Mar Tilly snowy and raven]

Hi,

My Guinea pig Mar seems to have lost an unusual about of fur today. There’s no bite marks and sign of being attacked. It looks like the fur has just fallen out.

She is a white teddy and is 2 years old, she lives with 3 others

Any advice would be great.

Many thanks

 

[Qualcast&Flymo]

Welcome to the forum!
Has the hair fallen out in clumps or patches, or individual ones all over?
Can you post a photo of how it looks?

 

[Mar Tilly snowy and raven]

Welcome to the forum!
Has the hair fallen out in clumps or patches, or individual ones all over?
Can you post a photo of how it looks?

Not sure if it’s come out in clumps as wasn’t home.

 

[Piggies&buns]

Not sure if it’s come out in clumps as wasn’t home.

Please have her seen by a vet

 

[Wiebke]

Not sure if it’s come out in clumps as wasn’t home.

Hi

Please have her see by a vet next week. The hair loss on the sides of the belly could be hormonal (usually caused by small growing ovarian cysts and not the really large fluid filled ones). Your girl is now at the age when hormonal cysts are at their most active between 2-4 years.
However, we can only guess and cannot provide treatment. The hair will start grow back when the high hormone output stops.

More information about ovarian cysts and treatment options: Sows: Behaviour and female health problems (including ovarian cysts)

 

[Mar Tilly snowy and raven]

I have booked her in for Monday with our specialist vet. I have checked her out and no sign of lumps anywhere on her body. When my older piggy had ovarian cysts you could feel the cysts.

I will get her checked out though. Could she have pulled her own hair out due to stress?

 

[BabyBears]

Do you have a UV light/torch? Just wondering about the possibility of ringworm which can just look to the naked eye like bald patches, however ringworm glows under UV light -a specialist guinea vet taught me this when I had a baby pig who very quickly developed random bald patches (I thought she had been assaulted by the others - it was, as you describe - she lost patches of fur really quickly). If it is ringworm this vet told me that it can be a sign of a weakened immune system response sometimes brought on by stress. If it is ringworm, it is really easy to treat with prescribed medication (Sporanox suspension in the UK) - which, according to Poppy, tastes really nice - she would lap up her syringed dose - not like Baytril at all!

There is also the possibility of selnick mites which you can usually see around the belly area. I had a case of that years ago when I got some wood chips from a not very good pet store. Again, that is very treatable but you would probably see little dark/reddish dots in the bald patches.

Do you think that she is feeling stressed? In my experience when it comes to pulling their own fur out due to stress, they tend to pull it out on their wrists. I adopted two pigs from a very large herd last year (I wish I could’ve adopted more of them!). One had obviously been very badly bullied and thankfully she is not doing this anymore but it has taken her a while - piggie version of biting finger nails I guess.

Sorry for the waffle, I’m sure she will be fine after her trip to the vet

 

[Mar Tilly snowy and raven]

Do you have a UV light/torch? Just wondering about the possibility of ringworm which can just look to the naked eye like bald patches, however ringworm glows under UV light -a specialist guinea vet taught me this when I had a baby pig who very quickly developed random bald patches (I thought she had been assaulted by the others - it was, as you describe - she lost patches of fur really quickly). If it is ringworm this vet told me that it can be a sign of a weakened immune system response sometimes brought on by stress. If it is ringworm, it is really easy to treat with prescribed medication (Sporanox suspension in the UK) - which, according to Poppy, tastes really nice - she would lap up her syringed dose - not like Baytril at all!

There is also the possibility of selnick mites which you can usually see around the belly area. I had a case of that years ago when I got some wood chips from a not very good pet store. Again, that is very treatable but you would probably see little dark/reddish dots in the bald patches.

Do you think that she is feeling stressed? In my experience when it comes to pulling their own fur out due to stress, they tend to pull it out on their wrists. I adopted two pigs from a very large herd last year (I wish I could’ve adopted more of them!). One had obviously been very badly bullied and thankfully she is not doing this anymore but it has taken her a while - piggie version of biting finger nails I guess.

Sorry for the waffle, I’m sure she will be fine after her trip to the vet

Thank you so much for this information. I haven’t got a uv light but can easily get one. I treat my 4 pigs every 3 or 4 months for mange as they have had it twice before so do it as a precaution. I believe it also treats parasites and mites so shouldn’t be either of those. But ringworm is a possibility.

Basically because it’s been so cold outside we have brought them inside the garage for the winter which is still freezing but at least it’s not as cold and they are all wrapped up night with snuggle safes. It’s since being stuck inside that this has been happening.

Mar and Tilly are rescues we rescued them when they were 6 months old and they both get stressed easily. Mar gets very anxious and not sure what more I can do to help her with anxiety and fear.

She’s had a lot of TLC the last few days but she’s vibrating all the time unless she’s cuddled up in my blankets and on me. And then the hair loss.

 

[BabyBears]

Lots of things to chew on can help, my anxious ex-bullied Pebble is quite happy with an empty toilet roll tube. Make sure that they have at least two water bottles and pellet bowls to drink/feed from so that the dominant sow is not bullying her from drinking or feeding because that can actually (and has, in my experience led to urinary tract infections because a piggie has been prevented from drinking). BTW ringworm is a fungal skin condition - not a parasite.

I adopted Strawberry and Pebble last year, they came from a herd of 14. Strawberry is much smaller than Pebble who is probably the biggest guinea I’ve ever had - usually weighs in at around 1.6kg. But she is a scaredy cat. Strawberry is like a little doggie who follows me around and is extremely dominant and vocal. I also have Primrose who is a re-homed ex brood sow and my calculations put her at almost 8yrs old! And she is Queen Pigtastic - probably eats and poos more than the other two put together!

You just have to have patience and lots of cuddles. It is only in the past couple of weeks that Pebble has taken food from my hand in an open room space and I’ve had her and Strawberry since July 2022.


Vibrating can happen for loads of reasons: excited, scared, randy, dominant - I know when Pebble is happy because she starts making a creaking sound and my husband and I joke that she is rusty and needs some oil.

In my experience of rescue/adopted/rehomes - however you want to term it, all guineas are beautiful, intelligent, complex little critters with diverse personalities and whilst Strawberry might have fitted in immediately in my home, Pebble didn’t for a long time. Love and patience is always the way. And Queen Primrose lets her cuddle up to her

 

[Qualcast&Flymo]

Thank you so much for this information. I haven’t got a uv light but can easily get one. I treat my 4 pigs every 3 or 4 months for mange as they have had it twice before so do it as a precaution. I believe it also treats parasites and mites so shouldn’t be either of those. But ringworm is a possibility.

Basically because it’s been so cold outside we have brought them inside the garage for the winter which is still freezing but at least it’s not as cold and they are all wrapped up night with snuggle safes. It’s since being stuck inside that this has been happening.

Mar and Tilly are rescues we rescued them when they were 6 months old and they both get stressed easily. Mar gets very anxious and not sure what more I can do to help her with anxiety and fear.

She’s had a lot of TLC the last few days but she’s vibrating all the time unless she’s cuddled up in my blankets and on me. And then the hair loss.

Glad you've got a vet appointment for her on Monday, I hope the vet can diagnose what's wrong and give you the right treatment for it. As @Wiebke said, you might not be able to feel cysts if they were the small hormonal ones.
It's not generally recommended to try preventative treatment for mites, it doesn't work that way and can lead to the mites becoming resistant to the medicine used. The type of mites that live under the skin are usually kept in Check by a healthy immune system, but can become more irritatingly active if a pig is ill or stressed (eg by a change in environment). They all need treatment 3x with vet-strength ivermectin to clear the problem.

Best of luck at the vets.

 

[lauryn1289]

Just want to add to what everyone else said, I’m not 100% sure how common/if this even happens in pigs (I assume it does) but my cat’s tummy is balding recently and since she’s already spayed and all her urine samples have come back normal the vets think she’s overgrooming from stress/“barbering” they call it. Just wanted to mention this incase it’s a possible option for your girl! Good luck with her appointment

 

[Wiebke]

I have booked her in for Monday with our specialist vet. I have checked her out and no sign of lumps anywhere on her body. When my older piggy had ovarian cysts you could feel the cysts.

I will get her checked out though. Could she have pulled her own hair out due to stress?

According to the very experienced guinea pig vet I have been seeing, it is generally small cysts that cause the hormonal symptoms most typically between age 2-4 years and not the large fluid-filled non-hormonal cysts that become more common in older age but that do not cause any symptoms like hair loss.

Please do not treat your guinea pigs on spec as a prevention; it will not work in an acute outbreak since it is too low dosed but it can build up resistance in any mange mite egg reservoirs in the skin that are usually kept under control by a fully working immune system. It is much more effective to treat skin parasites properly will a full three rounds vet grade product when you are really dealing with them.

The hair loss pattern your guinea pig is showing is much more consistent with hormonal ovarian cysts, even if you cannot feel them.

All the best for Monday.

 

[BabyBears]

According to the very experienced guinea pig vet I have been seeing, it is generally small cysts that cause the hormonal symptoms most typically between age 2-4 years and not the large fluid-filled non-hormonal cysts that become more common in older age but that do not cause any symptoms like hair loss.

Please do not treat your guinea pigs on spec as a prevention; it will not work in an acute outbreak since it is too low dosed but it can build up resistance in any mange mite egg reservoirs in the skin that are usually kept under control by a fully working immune system. It is much more effective to treat skin parasites properly will a full three rounds vet grade product when you are really dealing with them.

The hair loss pattern your guinea pig is showing is much more consistent with hormonal ovarian cysts, even if you cannot feel them.

All the best for Monday.

I think it is up for the vet to decide and hopefully she has a good guinea vet - they are as rare as hens’ teeth.

 

[Wiebke]

I think it is up for the vet to decide and hopefully she has a good guinea vet - they are as rare as hens’ teeth.

I think it is up for the vet to decide and hopefully she has a good guinea vet - they are as rare as hens’ teeth.

My post has been intended to encourage the poster of this thread to keep an open mind after ruling out ovarian cysts before even a vet visit by pointing out (again) that there are several varieties of ovarian cysts. I am not diagnosing on spec and this is not in breach with forum rules. What their piggy is dealing with depends fully on a hands-on vet examination and any further diagnostics. There are other, much rarer causes for hair loss that may have to be considered by the vet based upon their findings. That is why I am also wishing them all the best for tomorrow's vet trip.

However, I personally have the fullest respect for the hard and demanding work that any vet does and the fact that they all try their best, often under difficult circumstances. Guinea pigs do unfortunately fall into the gap between being classed as an exotic (and therefore not featuring a lot on a general vet's curriculum) but being too common a pet for the real exotics buffs. That is however not any reason to be dismissive of the great work vets are doing. I am indebted to a number of general vets for saving the lives of piggies of mine and for going beyond in order to do so.

 

[Mar Tilly snowy and raven]

hi everyone, thank you for all the advice. For those who say not to treat the pigs regularly the exotic vets recommend it for my pigs as one had a stroke at 6 months old and was a rescue and has been left blind from the stroke. The other is only 4 months old so apparently I have to treat her. My Guinea pigs are 2, 2, 11months and 4 months old.

Mar and Tilly are abnormally large for Guinea pigs and they are the ones with the health issues.

I will let you guys know what the vet says tomorrow she is now bald on both sides

 

[Mar Tilly snowy and raven]

hi everyone, thank you for all the advice. For those who say not to treat the pigs regularly the exotic vets recommend it for my pigs as one had a stroke at 6 months old and was a rescue and has been left blind from the stroke. The other is only 4 months old so apparently I have to treat her. My Guinea pigs are 2, 2, 11months and 4 months old.

Mar and Tilly are abnormally large for Guinea pigs and they are the ones with the health issues.

I will let you guys know what the vet says tomorrow she is now bald on both sides

Oh also she’s not grooming or itching. Would she be itchy if it was wringworm?

 

[Wiebke]

Oh also she’s not grooming or itching. Would she be itchy if it was wringworm?

Not necessarily but I haven't seen any sign of the typical fungal crusts and shallow bloody patches when they come off in your pictures, nor the typical red ring in light skinned piggies at the edge of the infection zone which starts as a small center and then grows in a ring from it.

The last chapter in our Ringworm Care guide contains reference pictures of how an infection typically runs: Ringworm: Hygiene, Care And Pictures

I would strongly recommend that you do not fixate on a specific issue and let your vet do their job.

 

[Mar Tilly snowy and raven]

Not necessarily but I haven't seen any sign of the typical fungal crusts and shallow bloody patches when they come off in your pictures, nor the typical red ring in light skinned piggies at the edge of the infection zone which starts as a small center and then grows in a ring from it.

The last chapter in our Ringworm Care guide contains reference pictures of how an infection typically runs: Ringworm: Hygiene, Care And Pictures

I would strongly recommend that you do not fixate on a specific issue and let your vet do their job.

Thank you for the advice. I will give an update once been to the vet.

She’s my baby so I worry a lot.

 

[Wiebke]

Thank you for the advice. I will give an update once been to the vet.

She’s my baby so I worry a lot.

HUGS

By trying to anticipate your vet you are generally only increasing your anxiety.

You may the very practical and sensitive advice in this link here helpful. It also covers vet trips: Pet Owners Anxiety - Practical Tips For Sufferers and For Supporters

 

[ScrufflesRules]

Pet Owners Anxiety - Practical Tips For Sufferers and For Supporters

I completely agree- this guide has been incredibly useful for many forum members such as myself who struggle with poorly piggies and vet trips.

 

[Mar Tilly snowy and raven]

Vet delayed our appointment to 3:15 so will update later

 

[Mar Tilly snowy and raven]

Hi all,


So mar has to go for a scan to see if it’s cancer or hormonal the vet couldn’t feel any cysts. Apparently baldness is also common in teddys but we will see what the scans show

 

[Wiebke]

Hi all,


So mar has to go for a scan to see if it’s cancer or hormonal the vet couldn’t feel any cysts. Apparently baldness is also common in teddys but we will see what the scans show

All the best.

PS: I have had a couple of teddies with 'teddy skin' over the years but the hair loss pattern is different. the balding area is still interspersed with hairs and there is not a totally large hairless area.

 

[Mar Tilly snowy and raven]

Hi guys,

I need advice on something. The vets quoted us 100 pounds for a scan whilst the exotic vets quoted 450 for a scan and 1000 for surgery. This may sound harsh but I know Guinea pigs don’t always make it through a surgery as they are so small. The vets want spay her as they believe she might be bald due to hormonal reasons.

What are the chance of a 2 year old making it through that kind surgery.

 

[ScrufflesRules]

I would recommend asking both vets that question, and whether they have performed the surgery many times before.

The difference in price normally reflects a vast difference in the care your piggy will receive and the experience of the vet, but definitely ask for a break down of the costs.

I hope you have a positive outcome, it's horrible having to worry about surgery and vet costs. ❤

 

[weepweeps]

Exotic vets are a lot more due to them usually having more experience and also better equipment. I was also quoted those price differences between my regular vet and an exotics vet.

I’ve had two young (both under 3) piggies need an operation. One made it and the other didn’t. Age isn’t the best factor to go by. Sometimes it just depends on the piggy.

Good luck

 

[Wiebke]

I have about five mostly 5 years old sows fully spayed by an experienced vet and they all have come through the operation well.
Three years old I had to emergency spay because of her grossly enlarged fluid-filled womb with a suspicious lump and some nasty looking cysts was down to 700g and coming just half a year after an emergency bladder stone operation but she sailed through it and lived for another 1 1/2 years to an estimated 5 years.

Finding a good operating vet with a good post-op recovery nurses team is key much more than age or any other considerations; the shorter the time a piggy is under, the smaller the risk of complications.

Are your vets planning for a full spay (including the removal of the womb from the front) or an ovariectomy (the removal only of the ovaries via incisions from the back)? Have you discussed whether they would consider hormone therapy instead - it is not cheap, either, though.

Vet fees have sadly gone up like mad in the last three years. They cannot cut down much on electricity and medications have gone up a lot, too. The range of services and the level of experience is also reflected in the cost.

Sows: Behaviour and female health problems (including ovarian cysts) (includes an overview of the different ways of dealing with ovarian cysts)

Tips For Post-operative Care

 

[BabyBears]

My post has been intended to encourage the poster of this thread to keep an open mind after ruling out ovarian cysts before even a vet visit by pointing out (again) that there are several varieties of ovarian cysts. I am not diagnosing on spec and this is not in breach with forum rules. What their piggy is dealing with depends fully on a hands-on vet examination and any further diagnostics. There are other, much rarer causes for hair loss that may have to be considered by the vet based upon their findings. That is why I am also wishing them all the best for tomorrow's vet trip.

However, I personally have the fullest respect for the hard and demanding work that any vet does and the fact that they all try their best, often under difficult circumstances. Guinea pigs do unfortunately fall into the gap between being classed as an exotic (and therefore not featuring a lot on a general vet's curriculum) but being too common a pet for the real exotics buffs. That is however not any reason to be dismissive of the great work vets are doing. I am indebted to a number of general vets for saving the lives of piggies of mine and for going beyond in order to do so.

I am not disagreeing with anyone here, and I appreciate that I rub people up the wrong way sometimes - that’s just how I am. I would like to make a few points and as to why I feel anxious when I take guineas to the vet:

* I would NEVER discourage any owner of any pet to seek professional veterinary advice - I myself have ALWAYS sought vet advice. IMO vets work harder than human doctors - why can’t you get an afternoon appointment? It’s because they are in surgery - they have to be general practitioners and surgeons, midwives etc. I am NOT dissing vets in general. And in my neck of the woods they have to look after horses and agricultural animals too.

* I have had some terrible experiences with vets who either don’t particularly care or who just don’t know anything about guinea pigs. I had a vet once who just said right up, “I’ll give her ABX but she’s probably going to die anyway” - said in a completely insensitive tone like a robot.

*Collecting a guinea pig from a routine scan to be told that she was dropped and she was paralysed from the waist down. We actually got her to an exotics vet and she managed walk again with specialist physiotherapy - no thanks to the previous surgery who just wanted to put her down.

*Told that there was nothing more to do for Frances with her bladder stones because the operation was too complex - which was completely negated by another vet at the practice but it was too late by then - we had let Frances go because this ‘vet’ couldn’t be bothered to pass Frances onto her more experienced colleague because she was just a guinea pig.

Therefore I am a bit jaded when it comes to guinea vets so I hope you will allow for this. I came across an excellent one recently but found out that he is a locum!

 

[BabyBears]

Not necessarily but I haven't seen any sign of the typical fungal crusts and shallow bloody patches when they come off in your pictures, nor the typical red ring in light skinned piggies at the edge of the infection zone which starts as a small center and then grows in a ring from it.

The last chapter in our Ringworm Care guide contains reference pictures of how an infection typically runs: Ringworm

HUGS

By trying to anticipate your vet you are generally only increasing your anxiety.

You may the very practical and sensitive advice in this link here helpful. It also covers vet trips: Pet Owners Anxiety - Practical Tips For Sufferers and For Supporters

Sorry, me again

When I took Poppy to the vet (I got her from a pet store when she was approx. 6 weeks old - she was tiny and with rosettes all over). After about a week I noticed some bald patches and my assumption was that another pig was bullying her and biting her. I took her to the vet who said - ‘Let’s turn the light off and get the UV torch out.’

Poppy was glowing like a Christmas Tree - it was ringworm. This can happen with stressed baby pigs when they are in a pet store (like URIs) - their immune system is f*cked. The vet prescribed Sporanox (really effective anti fungal - which, according to Poppy, tasted really nice). It took about three to four weeks for the plain bald spots to become scabby and come to the surface and for the scabs to gradually brush off with gentle grooming.

: Hygiene, Care And Pictures

I would strongly recommend that you do not fixate on a specific issue and let your vet do their job.