• 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

Indoor pigs suddenly have lice!

D

DanL

New Born Pup
Joined
Sep 10, 2021
Messages
20
Reaction score
36
Points
160
Location
Somerset
My first post in a while.

Our four young piggies have been living indoors with us since September in a lovely big C+C cage. Totally part of the family and we love having them around.

A couple of days ago, my daughter noticed something small and white wriggling in one their coats. We examined further and could see a few others. My hypersensitivity around them increased and over the rest of the day I noticed they were scratching a lot more than normal. I took them to the vet today who confirms they all have lice!

I was completely horrified! Obviously feel terrible for them but also struggling to understand how on earth they got lice in the first place, especially living indoors. They haven't been outside at all in months. Nothing new has been introduced to their environment in months. They are handled but only very occasionally and we certainly don't have lice!

The vet prescribed Xeno-50-Mini and I applied it this afternoon. Two more treatments to follow over the next 3 weeks.

It seems lice can enter their environment through hay. I buy bales of it from Pets At Home and have had several of these stored indoors, sealed, since November. Surely these can't be the culprit? ... Can Lice survive in a sealed bag for months? ... The alternative is other food we give them? It's all a bit confusing and I'm struggling to understand how this has happened and how I can prevent it occurring again.

Could I have done anything wrong here? Or more importantly, other than regular cleaning is there anything else I could be doing?
 
DanL said:
My first post in a while.

Our four young piggies have been living indoors with us since September in a lovely big C+C cage. Totally part of the family and we love having them around.

A couple of days ago, my daughter noticed something small and white wriggling in one their coats. We examined further and could see a few others. My hypersensitivity around them increased and over the rest of the day I noticed they were scratching a lot more than normal. I took them to the vet today who confirms they all have lice!

I was completely horrified! Obviously feel terrible for them but also struggling to understand how on earth they got lice in the first place, especially living indoors. They haven't been outside at all in months. Nothing new has been introduced to their environment in months. They are handled but only very occasionally and we certainly don't have lice!

The vet prescribed Xeno-50-Mini and I applied it this afternoon. Two more treatments to follow over the next 3 weeks.

It seems lice can enter their environment through hay. I buy bales of it from Pets At Home and have had several of these stored indoors, sealed, since November. Surely these can't be the culprit? ... Can Lice survive in a sealed bag for months? ... The alternative is other food we give them? It's all a bit confusing and I'm struggling to understand how this has happened and how I can prevent it occurring again.

Could I have done anything wrong here? Or more importantly, other than regular cleaning is there anything else I could be doing?
Click to expand...

Hi

Lice and hay mites can come with the hay; more likely with internationally branded industrially mass-harvested hay where the ground is churned up a lot more (and therefore more bugs can get into it) than with more traditional smaller scale harvesting. That is something that most buyers are not aware of. Unfortunately, imported hay also tends to often contain more resistent strains of skin parasites.
Not your fault, so please stop beating yourself up and see it as one of those 'life lessons' that pet owners inevitably stumble into sooner or later.

Here is our information on lice treatment: New piggy problems: URI - ringworm - skin parasites
We recommend to see a vet to make sure; especially as we cannot diagnose and you want to make sure that you get the correct strength treatment and don't fall straight into the next pit by home-treating on spec with too low dosed pet shop products (including the one labelled 'vet strength' - it has taken quite some digging from our side to find the actual concentration but it is still the same old useless 'prevention' strength money making trick).

The Hay Box seem to be the current favourite forum members' online providers for UK sourced if you want to change your hay brand.
A Comprehensive Hay Guide for Guinea Pigs (incl. providers in several countries)

I would strongly recommend to switch your hay and do a good thorough deep clean when you change the brand and step in with treatment. And do another deep clean at the end of treatment.
 
Many thanks @Wiebke :)

The previous hay is already gone. Good riddance to it! First deep clean done prior to returning the piggies back (post first treatment). Previous fleece liner is currently on it's 3rd 60 degree wash of the day and will make sure it's all changed up daily for the foreseeable ..and a deep clean every day is on the cards.

I picked up a small bag of 'Burgess Excel' Meadow Hat at the vets. Already looks far better quality. I've also just ordered a 5kg Timothy Hay blend from 'The Hay Box' to see what it's like.

We shall not be beaten! :)
 
Delivery arrived from Hay Box this afternoon. Very impressed with it, as are the pigs! Many thanks for the recommendation.

They are still scratching, although not as much as before. Very much hoping the next two treatments wipe the lice out.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top