Mites or something else?

[Bubble and Squeak]

About 6 weeks ago, whilst trimming Squeak's, nails we noticed that he had some fur loss on his tummy.

We took him to the vet who said that as his skin was okay, it didn't look like mites and asked if he might be stressed and therefore self-barbering. Squeak was and still does seem his normal self. His brother Bubble can be a bit overzealous doing his dominant piggy bit at times and Squeak will sometimes make a sort of whimpering noise if Bubble is really on his case. There is never any fighting though, and sometimes Squeak will give Bubble what for back. It all blows over fairly quickly though and then they are both tootling around together doing the usual piggy things! I don't know if any of this would be enough to stress Squeak out to make him self-barber.

The vet asked us to review Squeak a week later, and if his fur loss had got any worse to get back in touch with a view to starting treatment with Xeno 450 . A week later his fur was still the same.....no more loss, but it also hadn't started growing back. A further week later and Squeak had lost a bit more fur on his tummy. There hasn't been fur loss anywhere else on him at any time though.

We spoke to the vet again and she said to treat him with Xeno 450, and if there wasn't any improvement after a week to make an appointment. They would then x-ray him under sedation to see if there was anything else which might be bothering him.

Three days after treatment, and his fur had grown back on his tummy, enough to look normal again. Would this have been too quick to have grown back if it was mites causing his fur loss? It was just to know if there was a chance it wasn't mites after all, and should we still give him a 2nd dose of Xeno, which would be due on the 2 week mark of Thursday (18/5).

I have included photos of Squeak's tummy from when we first noticed his fur loss. I don't have any, unfortunately, of when he then lost more fur. It wasn't too much more, but enough to have a more noticeable bald patch.

Bubble's fur has been fine during all of this time. In fact as he came to keep Squeak company on his vet visit, the vet also checked him over too. Apart from Squeak's fur loss, they were both considered in good health.

In case it is of any significance, around the same time all of this happened, we had a box of Haybox 'blend' which seemed coarser than it should be, and not quite up to scratch quality wise. Our current box of 'blend' is a lot better, and whether a coincidence or not, was probably started about the same time Squeak's fur improved.

I will bring the vet up to date with what's what, but wanted to know what your thoughts are and if anyone has had a similar experience with their piggies.

 

[Bubble and Squeak]

Not sure if anyone has had a chance to read the message I posted yesterday yet. I guess I should go ahead and give Squeak a 2nd dose of Xeno tomorrow.....just wasn't sure if it is still ok to use in case it wasn't actually mites, but something else that had caused his fur loss. One thing I forgot to mention (but I don't think it would make him more stressed) is that he doesn't appear to be able to see out of his right eye. We noticed this from soon after we got both him and Bubble, but the vet wasn't able to confirm this, with piggies not having a blink reflex. Also, the vet said the eye was moist and looked okay otherwise. Squeak seems happy enough though and has adapted very well. He "sorts himself out" and goes around in a circle if he can't find a bit of food that he has dropped. We tend to hand feed him most of his veg though, so that Bubble doesn't steal it from him and to give him a chance to have his fair share. We also make sure to do anything with our hands in their cage, on his 'good' side so that we don't give him a fright if he doesn't see us straight away. We also chat to him and let Squeak know what we are about to do (as well as our normal talking away to them!), which seems to help him too.

 

[piggl]

Sorry your message got lost, things can move fast on this forum and sometimes things get missed.

I can not offer any advice but I wish you all and squeak all the best and hopefully someone with more experience with such issues will be along soon x

 

[Bubble and Squeak]

Thank you x

 

[Bubble and Squeak]

Please can someone let me know if they think I should go ahead and give Squeak a 2nd dose of Xeno 450 tomorrow. If it wasn't mites, I was worried about using the treatment again if he doesn't actually need it, or is Xeno an okay thing to use "just in case"?

 

[Free Ranger]

Hi, and sorry I've just come on the forum tonight!
Give him his second dose. It won't do him any harm. Are you treating both pigs? More typing in a min but just sending this...

 

[Bubble and Squeak]

Thank you for replying. I have just treated Squeak as Bubble hasn't had any fur loss.

 

[Free Ranger]

Xeno-450 spot on is a common choice for treating lice or mites and is very effective BUT it only kills the live critters and not the eggs. The life cycle is roughly 3 weeks from hatching to breeding maturity so by repeating the treatment at 2 weeks you then nobble any hatched eggs before they get a chance to breed. You should ideally then do a 3rd dose two weeks after that in case you missed any stragglers. And tbh you should treat all piggies at the same time (even if only one is showing symptoms) because they are catching. So when I had 2 pigs I would treat each with the xeno 3 times: xeno-450 comes in boxes of 6 pipettes which is very handy. And as you'll know the dose is weight dependant but we've had pigs just under the 1.2 kilo mark and basically guessed the amount using a 1ml pipette. We've never had any adverse side effects - it's pretty routine stuff.

More typing coming next...!

 

[Bubble and Squeak]

That's good to know. Squeak is 1351g and so the vet had said he would be okay with the Xeno 450. Bubble is 1161g and so I will work out how many drops he needs of the 450 instead of getting the Xeno 50 for him. I will give Bubble his first treatment tomorrow at the same time as Squeak's 2nd dose. Will it matter much that they will be adrift on treatment?

 

[Free Ranger]

I guess you find out in the long run! Check with your vet but perhaps squeak might get an extra treatment (so 4 in total) to align with bubble's 3. It's a faff but cheaper to do it now than have to buy 6 more pipettes in the future. My sow was 1.1kilo, I was carefully measuring her drops when she made a dash for it and in the panic got the lot. But there's not much in it and you'd never have noticed... I was wearing a bit myself!

Hair loss can occur for all sorts of reasons but mites/lice is a common one. Sometimes it's general shedding as the skin is affected by the mites and the hair falls out, but sometimes it's self-barbering because if itchiness. If you used the xeno and the hair started to grow back straight away that's a bit of a clue. Towards the end of the two week gap he might have been barbering again as any eggs hatched new mites but the second treatment should deal with that. Mites typically cause hair loss on the flanks (the sides of piggies and over the rump) but it can be anywhere.

We've had a few posters in the past year or so that have reported belly fur loss... their vets treated with a cream for fungal issues but I don't know how successful that was (presumably things went OK if they didn't continue the thread!) I had an old girl who got a fungal skin condition that caused her hair to fall out all over - just general thinning rather than bald spots or barbering. We got antifungal shampoo from the vets but I think you can get anti-fungal medicine (either oral or injected) which is very effective if it turns out to be that. The belly is somewhere that's going to get warm and moist so it's easier for fungus to get established.

My boy barbered his back legs and groin when he got arthritis - the vet said it was just like we'd rub a stiff joint. They can check for swollen creaky knees. Is he an older boy?

 

[Bubble and Squeak]

I will check with the vet in the morning. She was actually very good and suggested that we buy the Xeno online as it was cheaper than through them. We got it on www.petdrugsonline.co.uk

I'm surprised I didn't end up wearing some of Squeak's treatment, but he was actually really good and stayed still long enough for all of his drops.
Bubble and Squeak are 2 years old, so hopefully they haven't got creaky knees yet.....think that is just me at the moment!

I had looked at some of the products on Gorgeous Guineas in case there was something there that might soothe Squeak's skin, but I think I will see how he is after treating him with Xeno first.

It is really strange as he doesn't have fur loss anywhere else, just his tummy, so maybe he has been given himself a bit of a trim. Sometimes he looks like he is washing a bit longer than normal, but difficult to see if he is just washing or having a sneaky nibble!

Thank you so much for all of your help.

 

[Free Ranger]

No problemo!
One final thing to suggest is bedding. Not that there's necessarily rights and wrongs but sometimes certain types of shavings (pine, I think?) can cause skin irritation. Not to all pigs - or nobody would ever buy them! Or if you are on fleece avoid scented washing liquids and biological ones which contain enzymes. These can trigger skin irritation - when my mum changed brands she flared up so bad the doc thought she had scabies!

 

[Bubble and Squeak]

We use a mixture of bath mats and fleece (with washable pee mats underneath). We did used to use shavings, but they didn't agree with Bubble or me (both had snuffly bunged up noses)! We have some in the bottom of their hay tray, but not enough to cause problems, or at least so far so good. We try to just get the pillow wad ones, which aren't too bad compared to some makes we have had in the past. We use Surcare (non-bio) to wash Bubble and Squeak's laundry in, with a bit of white vinegar. Your poor Mum, that must have been so uncomfortable! I have to be careful myself what I use, and use non-bio products. I once used Surf on some bedding and could hardly open my eyes the next morning as they were so red and swollen!
Thank you again!