Lice On New Indoor Guinea Pigs

[Bella and Molly]

Hi we have had our first Guinea pigs for 10 days they are long haired Peruvians called Bella and Molly and are 15 weeks old. I have just noticed some tiny light coloured creatures around one of Molly's ears. I think this must be lice. Molly has scratched once but not much. I am taking them both to the vet later. I am so scared as they are indoors will I need to treat the carpets so the Guinea pigs don't get reinfected. They haven't been running on the carpets but their house is on the carpet. Thanks for any advice.

 

[lawz]

vet can prescribe any thing to get rid,
Mine are all outdoors, but when they got lice last year i contacted gorgeous guineas and asked them and they recommended a shampoo...bathed each of my 8 and thankfully touch wood haven't had a problem yet and i use xenon spot on for them as a deterrent against lice and mites

 

[Bella and Molly]

vet can prescribe any thing to get rid,
Mine are all outdoors, but when they got lice last year i contacted gorgeous guineas and asked them and they recommended a shampoo...bathed each of my 8 and thankfully touch wood haven't had a problem yet and i use xenon spot on for them as a deterrent against lice and mite

 

[Bella and Molly]

Thanks so much we have just come back from the vet and they gave Molly and Bella the xenon spot on so hopefully it will do the trick. I will get some of the shampoo from gorgeous Guineas too. The vet is also testing them for ringworm as they had sore spots but could be from scratching from the lice. I feel so bad for them!

 

[lawz]

It is horrid.....one of my old girls scratched herself raw, took her to vet who gave me a spot on for her and i put sudocreme on sore to help ease it a bit for her and she's fine now.
Gorgeous guinea products are fab and the lady (can't remember her name) is really helpful too. When one of mine had a reaction to wood chips she got tested for all types of fungal and gorgeous guides recommended a shampoo and lotion for fungal and that worked a treat along with switching tot fleece.
I suffer from eczema so i know how they feel....making me scratch just thinking about their lice and mites....horrid things.
Any toys, or fleece hides and cage/hutch has to be fumigated too.
I washed all their fleeces at 90 degrees threw away tunnels and wood toys and blitzed their hutches and started again.
Lice or mites tend to be host specific and can't live without a host so your house will be fine

 

[helen105281]

Glad the vet has given you something to treat it. If you bath make sure it is at least 48 hours after any Xeno treatment. Did the vet consider ear mites?

 

[Bella and Molly]

Glad the vet has given you something to treat it. If you bath make sure it is at least 48 hours after any Xeno treatment. Did the vet consider ear mites?

Thanks for the tip, I will definitely wait to bath the girls. The vet checked them for ear mites but said he didn't think they had them. I will post a picture of Molly's ear, let me know what you think.

 

[Bella and Molly]

It is horrid.....one of my old girls scratched herself raw, took her to vet who gave me a spot on for her and i put sudocreme on sore to help ease it a bit for her and she's fine now.
Gorgeous guinea products are fab and the lady (can't remember her name) is really helpful too. When one of mine had a reaction to wood chips she got tested for all types of fungal and gorgeous guides recommended a shampoo and lotion for fungal and that worked a treat along with switching tot fleece.
I suffer from eczema so i know how they feel....making me scratch just thinking about their lice and mites....horrid things.
Any toys, or fleece hides and cage/hutch has to be fumigated too.
I washed all their fleeces at 90 degrees threw away tunnels and wood toys and blitzed their hutches and started again.
Lice or mites tend to be host specific and can't live without a host so your house will be fine

That's a good idea about the sudocream, I will try that, it's magic stuff!
They live in a plastic indoor hutch I have washed it out with beaphar hutch disinfectant. What do I fumigate with? I didn't realise I had to do that!

 

[lawz]

well to be honest mines wooden, and a friend gave me stuff she uses for her chickens...so i started in the morning, stripped hutches bare, guinea pigs in run (was summer thankfully), boiled all fleeces, got out door hoover in all nooks and crannies, soaked their wooden hide tunnel thing and hutches in the solution left for an hour and rinsed and let drip dry for a good 2 hours before i got dads hot air gun onto them and the hutches to dry out, then sprayed with stuff from petsathome that had to be left for 30 minutes... then bathed all 8 of mine the same day....and repeated this the following week....so maybe fumigate isn't the right word...but trust me its what i felt i done!
I was exhausted!