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Lice

AutumnThePig

Junior Guinea Pig
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So, I went to the vet today to get both of my piggies nails clipped. The vet assistant came up to me and said that they both have lice... Humans can't catch it but they had to gear up to clip their nails. I brought my dog with me to get her nails clipped too and she had checked her fur just to be safe. My vet said that I would have to get Revolution to treat both piggies. I'm just waiting to hear a call back from the actual vet to be 100% sure that Revolution can be used on them.

Has anyone on here ever gotten lice before on their piggies? Do I have to do anything to their cage now like clean it thoroughly? If anyone could provide some info about this I would greatly appreciate it. :)
 
So, I went to the vet today to get both of my piggies nails clipped. The vet assistant came up to me and said that they both have lice... Humans can't catch it but they had to gear up to clip their nails. I brought my dog with me to get her nails clipped too and she had checked her fur just to be safe. My vet said that I would have to get Revolution to treat both piggies. I'm just waiting to hear a call back from the actual vet to be 100% sure that Revolution can be used on them.

Has anyone on here ever gotten lice before on their piggies? Do I have to do anything to their cage now like clean it thoroughly? If anyone could provide some info about this I would greatly appreciate it. :)

Hi!

Apart from two varieties of invisible mites (mange and hay mites), guinea pigs do have species specific lice, which are the only visible skin parasites that are guinea pig specific.

A fully operational immune system is generally quite good to help with fending them off but they can occasionally make an appearance in well kept piggies. They live off blood taken from the skin, which has to be host specific for them to be able to process it; hence the irritation in the skin they cause.

Treatment is the same as for mites with a good quality ivermectin or selamectin based product; revolution is a selamectin based brand.
Give your cage and any hard furniture a thorough allround scrub and wash any fabric at 60 C/140 F about 2 days after you have started treatment and the selamectin is fully absorbed into the skin; that is when the lice are being killed. Transmission happens generally from direct contact between piggies, but this can also happen via lying in the same spot.
We generally recommend to use a vet grade (antibacterial and antifungal) disinfectant like F10 for skin parasites, fungal skin infection like ringworm or a twice yearly cage deep clean but with lice a normal disinfectant will do the trick.

Here is our skin parasites guide: New piggy problems: URI - ringworm - skin parasites
Here is a list of safe and unsafe products: Guinea Lynx :: Lice

If you find that revolution doesn't do the trick on its own, then you can try a two-pronged approach in combination with Gorgeous Guineas lice'n'easy shampoo but we have made the experience on here that the shampoo does not necessarily work on its own. Some strains of lice can be harder to get on top of than others. If your piggies struggle, then a 2 weeks vitamin C boost may additionally help their immune system to fend them off.

But please don't panic and throw the the kitchen sink with all the other appliances at your piggies!
 
Hi!

Apart from two varieties of invisible mites (mange and hay mites), guinea pigs do have species specific lice, which are the only visible skin parasites that are guinea pig specific.

A fully operational immune system is generally quite good to help with fending them off but they can occasionally make an appearance in well kept piggies. They live off blood taken from the skin, which has to be host specific for them to be able to process it; hence the irritation in the skin they cause.

Treatment is the same as for mites with a good quality ivermectin or selamectin based product; revolution is a selamectin based brand.
Give your cage and any hard furniture a thorough allround scrub and wash any fabric at 60 C/140 F about 2 days after you have started treatment and the selamectin is fully absorbed into the skin; that is when the lice are being killed. Transmission happens generally from direct contact between piggies, but this can also happen via lying in the same spot.
We generally recommend to use a vet grade (antibacterial and antifungal) disinfectant like F10 for skin parasites, fungal skin infection like ringworm or a twice yearly cage deep clean but with lice a normal disinfectant will do the trick.

Here is our skin parasites guide: New piggy problems: URI - ringworm - skin parasites
Here is a list of safe and unsafe products: Guinea Lynx :: Lice

If you find that revolution doesn't do the trick on its own, then you can try a two-pronged approach in combination with Gorgeous Guineas lice'n'easy shampoo but we have made the experience on here that the shampoo does not necessarily work on its own. Some strains of lice can be harder to get on top of than others. If your piggies struggle, then a 2 weeks vitamin C boost may additionally help their immune system to fend them off.

But please don't panic and throw the the kitchen sink with all the other appliances at your piggies!

Thank you for all this info! I feel better knowing piggies can get it even if they are well taken care of. I’m going to start them on the Vitamin C tablets again by Oxbow until they are treated. Do you think I should get the Skin & Coat vitamin tablet by Oxbow too?
 
Thank you for all this info! I feel better knowing piggies can get it even if they are well taken care of. I’m going to start them on the Vitamin C tablets again by Oxbow until they are treated. Do you think I should get the Skin & Coat vitamin tablet by Oxbow too?

No, the skin and coat ones are only for glossy looks and are no protection against skin parasites. They are more a lifestyle product designed to appeal to beauty obsessed human owners. ;)
 
Update: I got a call from the vet and brought my piggies in again. The vet assistant applied the Revolution on both of them for me, so I don't have to worry about that. If I see them scratching, I'll have to bring them back in again!
 
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