New baby questions

[Suki&Indie]

Hi all! I recently got a baby piggy to add to the herd and I have a couple of questions
First I noticed she has a small patch of hair missing - it occurred suddenly and I think maybe one of my older piggies bit/barbered her. Should I remove her from the cage? I haven’t seen any aggressive behaviour but I worry about her safety. The patch hasn’t spread and I’ll include a pic. I don’t mind taking her to the vet but since she’s so small I don’t want to do anything unnecessary

Second question is about diet. I had my older piggies on a low calcium diet (orchard grass hay and small amount of adult oxbow pellets) is there any way I can increase the babies calcium without increasing the others too? If I leave unlimited pellets out the others will gorge themselves and I don’t want to offer alfalfa as the adults will eat that too. I may swap to meadow hay as I’ve heard it’s has a medium amount of calcium but any other advice is appreciated!

 

[Piggies&buns]

Don’t separate her from the herd. There is no need unless you are the bonding is actually failing.
Do see a vet is you see any more hair loss, patches of dry or scaly skin (ie indicating either a parasite or fungal infection).

Regarding diet, just feed her the same as you feed all the other piggies.

 

[Wiebke]

Hi

with @Piggies&buns

You may find this link here helpful if there is a problem: New piggy problems: URI - ringworm - skin parasites

 

[harmonies]

just chiming in what if it is fungal ringworm parasites its contagious not to scare you but if it spreads have to get it checked out
on the other hand baby so cute congrats on new family member

 

[Suki&Indie]

Is it better to take her to the vet to get her checked for ringworm or leave it and see if it develops further? I took one of my older piggies for a ringworm test last year (negative luckily) and it was quite expensive and the skin scraping seemed very painful I’d rather not put her through that but I also don’t want to put her health at risk!

 

[harmonies]

I wish I could say what the right thing to do is my only point is if it is something like that ringworm etc. I know not only it spreads to others but it can spread to your own skin and from what Ive read ringworm could make piggies really sick if left untreated
but could it be a fluke keep an eye out but if you happen to pick your baby up and see flaky skin might be a good idea to see a vet
again I'm no expert like these guys just unsure why a bald patch
and hope it gets better

 

[Piggies&buns]

Should she have ringworm it will worsen quite quickly and you can then see the vet as there will be distinguishable signs.
The guide below (along with the one wiebke has linked in) shows ringworm and its progression.

Generally ringworm starts as white scaly patches usually on the face, but not always.

Ringworm: Hygiene, Care And Pictures