ITCHY PIGGIE

[BobaTheGuineaPiglet]

Hello!

My guinea has been itching ever since I adopted him. Took him to the vet, and they gave him some spot on treatment once and said “that should take care of the mites” and they also recommended Oxbow Vitamin C supplements added to his diet, did that!

but, weeks later, he’s still itching! and it seems like it’s worse than before. He has no bald patches, hair looks healthy. What should I do!? I’m taking him to the vet again and they told me they’re going to do a skin scrape and get a sample of his hair. I will not allow a skin scrape on my piggie since I will not, under no circumstances, will put him in any kind of pain, especially physical.

any advice?

 

[Piggies&buns]

Ok well first, vit c supplement is not necessary if they have a good hay based diet with a good variety of veg. They will be getting all the vit c they need from that diet.

A spot on treatment given once will do nothing to cure a mite problem. A course is needed to cure mites with three doses given over a few weeks.

How often does he scratch?

 

[artcasper]

To be honest, I would allow the skin scrape - it will be uncomfortable for your piggy for a very short time BUT will hopefully let the vet see what the problem is, diagnose it and get your piggy the relevant treatment to stop him itching - which will be unpleasant for him...

 

[BobaTheGuineaPiglet]

he scratches all the time. And I refuse skin scrape only because i know it will be painful for him. I want to get the treatment done WITHOUT a skin scrape regardless of whether he has mites/parasites or not.

 

[BobaTheGuineaPiglet]

i read that most times the results show that there’s no problem, even when there is? So, with that being said, skin scraping is out of the question!

 

[Piggies&buns]

he scratches all the time. And I refuse skin scrape only because i know it will be painful for him. I want to get the treatment done WITHOUT a skin scrape regardless of whether he has mites/parasites or not.

Then you won’t know exactly what you are dealing with without the scrape so any treatment will be purely guesswork. You will have to ask the vet if they will prescribe a proper course of ivermectin and seen if it makes any difference. If it doesn’t, then without the scrape you simply won’t know what the proper treatment will be.

Piggies often have mites on their bodies at all times but they don’t cause a problem unless the immune system gets lowered for some reason (stress, illness) which can lead to an infestation and then you start seeing signs such as baldness

 

[BobaTheGuineaPiglet]

i will definitely try the ivermectin. Skin scrapings are unreliable, and that will be my last resort!

 

[Piggies&buns]

You will have to ask if the vet is happy to prescribe it. It’s not something you can buy yourself. Without a definitive diagnosis, there is no way of knowing that ivermectin will even work and treating for something they don’t have could be problematic on its own.