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mites!

  • Thread starter Thread starter emma76
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emma76

My guinea was ill over the weekend, would'nt move very lifeless. She ate the banana but did nothing else, her head was floped to the left. The next day she was so much better but I notice bald patches on her back end so I took her to the vets. Told she might have mites so have got treatment for that and also her head was floppy as it looks like she has ear mites too. We have 2 other guineas so have to treat them all for it. Sad for my guinea as she's not herself and is nearly 4 yrs old so is getting a old girl. She is feeling really sorry for herself. (Bless!) Been giving her lots of nice treats....mites are evil things. >:D
Don't know how she has got them?
 
They can get them from hay!

I hope she feels better soon!
 
Yes, it's not your fault - the little pests are in the hay! At least you noticed it and got it treated quickly - fingers crossed for a speedy recovery! :)
 
Mine had it once and the vet said it was probly from the hay. She gave all my pigs an injection and they all got better rearly quick and their fur grew back. When my GP had babies one of them went to someone who lived quite near and when i went to visit him like a year later he had bald patches so i looked in his fur and he had mites, he was taken to the vet and treated and got better but his fur never grew back where he had lost it.
 
emma, does the treatment your vet gave contain ivermectin? I think this is the only thing that is effective against mites? Did he give and injection or a spot-on treatment? I'm just interested. Mine had mites recently and had a spot-on. It has worked brilliantly! I wonder why some vets inject it and some dont?
 
I don't know why some inject - I took mine and they injected, one of the pigs had a bad reaction to it though and a lump came up (he's ok now). Then the vet gave me Xeno 450 for the rest of the pigs just in case, which is spot-on.
 
Do you mean mites or lice?.Mites cannot be got from hay.They are species specific and die away from the host body.All gps have mites which do not bother them,but if they are stressed or poorly,the mites increase in numbers and start to cause problems.Mites cannot be seen with the naked eye.
I am a bit doubtful that mites would cause head tilt.I take it that the vet checcked for infection in the ear?.There is a chance that she may have had a stroke.
 
Lol, sorry. I get so confused with mites and lice and which ones come from hay. I read that mange mites can come from hay. The info available is so confusing. Mary, you are a guinea pig genius! Can you please teach me all you know? Pretty please?
 
I also really want someone knowledgable (mary!) to explain what the difference is.
My piggies have had Running lice, aka white wriggly things, which I treated with lice and easy. I think you get these from hay?
The other thing is static lice which just cling to the hair shaft. No idea how pigs get these?!
Then Mange mites, which go underneath piggies skin, cause the bald patches, cause the fitting in extreme cases. I don't know how they get these either, but I think they are what mary was saying - pigs have them all the time but they flare up with stressed/sick pigs.
Other mites - I have no idea about! ;D
 
Mites can stay hydrated in damp hay for no longer than 2 wheeks. Most guineas carry some mites on their bodies and they kick in when they're ill/stressed or some guineas just seem to 'get them' occasionaly.

Otodex from SPH Supplies will eliminate the ear mites and its not a problem giving even if they don't have them.

Mine have the oral Ivermectin and a bath 48 hours later to get rid of eggs.

Gorgeous Guineas do a product called Lice N Easy that is very effective against lice.

Whats the skin like where there are bald patches?
 
sophiew said:
Me too!

Mine had wriggly lice - yuck! That you can see with the naked eye. What do mites look like?
[/Mitesquote]Mites are arachnids so have 8 legs.The eggs are laid on the hair shafts.Mites eat skin scales and blood.
The mites that live on gps are the fur mite, chirodiscoides cavia and trixicarus cavia.
As Karen said,they can survive for up to 2 weeks if on damp bedding.They do not come from hay.

Trixicarus is the mite that causes the intense itching and the scaly patches.these are the most common type of mites seen in gps.

They are only visable under a microscope.
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