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?mites or lice

Ali_x

Ali_x

Junior Guinea Pig
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Hi all

does anyone have any ideas on this?

I’ve assumed it’s mites or lice and the vets have agreed. They’ve had 2 courses of 4 invermectin injections, and it hasn’t cleared.

There is no hair loss or scabs, and I haven’t seen them scratching much. In between treatments, they’re cages have been thoroughly cleaned.

Any ideas?
 

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I cant tell from the picture exactly what we are looking at. It might be easier if we saw a wider angle shot, so we can see where on your piggy we are looking or a bit more of a description of the issue - you say there is no hair loss or scabs and no scratching.
 
It’s his rump, I’ve just partied some hair so you can see his skin. It’s white flaky looking dandruff. So they have dandruff looking flakes from their mid back area and down to the rump.
 

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I have to say I've not heard of Ivermectin injections other than on this forum so I don't know the details and why a vet would choose to inject something that can easily be applied topically onto the skin without unnecessary distress. Piggies skin is sensitive and injections hurt. Did they say why it was injections and not spot-on solution? I can't speak for the dose in the injection either - it's probably not comparable to the topical dose as it goes under the skin but again, don't know.

Assuming that the injection is as effective as the spot-on (and that has to take account of my ignorance here) I can't see why the spacing of the doses should be any different. The spot-on regime is 3 doses 2 weeks apart (so 1st dose - then 2nd dose 2 weeks later - then 3rd dose 2 weeks after that). This is because of the life-cycle of the critter. 1st dose kills the live ones but not the eggs, 2nd kills any new ones hatched from the eggs but these critters will not be mature enough to lay their own eggs yet, 3rd one kills any late hatchers or escapees from first two doses. Were the 4 injections every 2 weeks, or less, (or more?!)

And finally were piggies all treated at the same time.

That's the only thing I can think of. I did once get a vet that assured me it was 2 doses 3 weeks apart but it was his mistake and unsurprisingly we still had mites. I should have asked him to check at the time but I was embarrassed and it cost us. I've been more questioning since then!
 
Free Ranger said:
Are they stuck to the hair base or loose and brushable-offable?
Click to expand...
They’re actually on the skin, they do brush off though. They have had their injections spread like the spot on with the 1st then the 2nd a week later then the 3rd 2 Weeks after that, I assume the injection is the same strength as the spot on.

I just wondered whether it isn’t mites, if the treatments hasn’t made any difference.
 
If they're just brushing off it might not be lice egg-casings because I think these are glued onto the hairs even when empty.

Some piggies can get dry, flaky skin but I have no experience of this. I don't wash or shampoo mine and now the long-haired one has had a summer trim we don't even groom! Maybe you could do a forum search for dry skin/dandruff advice or ask a skinny pig owner (I think skinnies can be prone to it but i might remember that wrong). If you have had mites or lice and they return the scratching and shedding will increase with time and you will start to see tiny black spots in the fur which is the poops of the critters. Grim - but at least on a white piggy it's easy to spot - you piggies fur looks clean to my eyes apart from the few white bits. If the scratching stays at normal level and they don't start to shed and you don't see black debris in the fur you might have cracked it. I hope so!
 
Ali_x said:
Hi all

does anyone have any ideas on this?

I’ve assumed it’s mites or lice and the vets have agreed. They’ve had 2 courses of 4 invermectin injections, and it hasn’t cleared.

There is no hair loss or scabs, and I haven’t seen them scratching much. In between treatments, they’re cages have been thoroughly cleaned.

Any ideas?
Click to expand...

Hi!
Ivermectin injections are the most effective way of giving ivermectin but the necessary product is usually not stocked in urban pet clinics.
But ivermectin is less effective against hay mites, which fix their egg cases to the hairs at the back and live off debris on the skin and hairs, especially at the bum other than the much more harmful mage mites, which burrow their eggs into the increasingly painful and irritated skin.
With hay mites, the egg cases are usually fixed to the lower hair layers and can be felt as minute beads on those hairs. Some strains coming with imported hay can be rather resistent. Please check whether you are dealing with hay mites.
New piggy problems: URI - ringworm - skin parasites

Alternatively, has your vet considered a fungal skin infection (not ringworm so lab tests won't help as they will only test for ringworm, which is the most aggressive and contagious form)? There are other, much milder forms.

Once both parasites and fungal have been treated for and have been excluded, things get very difficult re. treatments.

After that
 
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