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Mystery bumps? & swelling.

Authara

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Hi all!

About two days ago I took a Guinea pig I rescued to the vet for some brown urine and a little bit of swelling in his “private” area with some hair loss and mild red spots in that area. They prescribed him some fungal/bacterial medications for now and think it’s possibly Ringworm. If not Ringworm, then an insect bit him & caused his swelling & the redness/baldness.

We got a Ringworm test done so now I’m just waiting on results.

Today, I decided I’d bathe him with some shampoo that is safe for GPs as I had some time & have never bathed him because he panicked and ran upon seeing you, even a little peek.

While bathing him, I noticed he has what appears to be some bumps that he did not previously have 2 days ago in the same area on the other side & he seems a little swollen over on the other side now too. I’m planning on calling the vet to get him seen again ASAP, but was wondering if it looks like possible Ringworm to you all too? If not, what else could it be? I’ve had 9 GPs throughout all of my life (which I know is not many) but not one has ever had any sort of parasites or ringworm.

I’ve had him (and his buddy) a little over 3 weeks? Almost 4.


Sorry for such a long explanation, but thank you for your time for looking!
 

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Unfortunately as he has been bathed, it removes the tell tale signs of ringworm so to be honest it doesn’t look like much on the picture.

This is our ringworm guide which will help explain the full and strict hygiene which is needed given how highly contagious ringworm is to other piggies and to humans
Ringworm: Hygiene, Care And Pictures
 
Unfortunately as he has been bathed, it removes the tell tale signs of ringworm so to be honest it doesn’t look like much on the picture.

This is our ringworm guide which will help explain the full and strict hygiene which is needed given how highly contagious ringworm is to other piggies and to humans
Ringworm: Hygiene, Care And Pictures
Okay. Thank you so much for the link to the guide.
 
He’s now got another spot, this time on his leg. It looks a bit different from the previous two spots that have been affected by whatever this skin rash/infection/disease is.

Going to have to call the vet again on Monday to see if the Ringworm results ever came in.
 

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This is a new one for me because usually ringworm posts have photos of piggy with scabby face, lips, eyes etc. But we did have a poster who's sow had lost every single scrap of hair from her underside but was fine on top - to the point where I actually asked whether someone could have shaved her belly as a prank. But the vet diagnosed a 'yeast infection' and prescribed nystatin cream which they think did work as some of the hair had started to grow back. It was tricky because they'd not noticed any signs of itching or piggy nibbling at themselves so you couldn't tell if the behaviour had changed.
Remember, ringworm is the fungal infection that we worry about most but just because it's very infectious and can spread to people. But there are other yeast/fungus infections that occur - often piggy can fend them off with their own immunity but sometimes they take hold. I had one in an older girl that never spread to her younger cage mates. If the ringworm test comes back negative ask if it would have detected other yeasts/fungus too (i.e. whether it was some sort of specific test or a more general one). Because it's worth considering that too. Hopefully, whatever it is, you're catching it early x
 
This is a new one for me because usually ringworm posts have photos of piggy with scabby face, lips, eyes etc. But we did have a poster who's sow had lost every single scrap of hair from her underside but was fine on top - to the point where I actually asked whether someone could have shaved her belly as a prank. But the vet diagnosed a 'yeast infection' and prescribed nystatin cream which they think did work as some of the hair had started to grow back. It was tricky because they'd not noticed any signs of itching or piggy nibbling at themselves so you couldn't tell if the behaviour had changed.
Remember, ringworm is the fungal infection that we worry about most but just because it's very infectious and can spread to people. But there are other yeast/fungus infections that occur - often piggy can fend them off with their own immunity but sometimes they take hold. I had one in an older girl that never spread to her younger cage mates. If the ringworm test comes back negative ask if it would have detected other yeasts/fungus too (i.e. whether it was some sort of specific test or a more general one). Because it's worth considering that too. Hopefully, whatever it is, you're catching it early x
Thank you so much! I never would have thought about a ‘yeast infection’. He’s not itching or nibbling himself at all so I never even knew anything was wrong until I looked him over. I’ll be sure to bring this up to the vet & ask about it if the Ringworm comes back negative.
 
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