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Penny has sores on her backside

Gave the piggies another dose of Selamectin. Also took Peanut and Penny back to the vets to rule out cysts since we can't seem to determine the cause(s) for the hair loss. Both Penny and Peanut show no signs of cysts on vet palpation or on xray, so that's good, but we still don't know the reason for hair loss. Both Penny and Peanut are otherwise healthy, weight stable, acting normally so for now will just continue to monitor them.
 
Hope4gem said:
Gave the piggies another dose of Selamectin. Also took Peanut and Penny back to the vets to rule out cysts since we can't seem to determine the cause(s) for the hair loss. Both Penny and Peanut show no signs of cysts on vet palpation or on xray, so that's good, but we still don't know the reason for hair loss. Both Penny and Peanut are otherwise healthy, weight stable, acting normally so for now will just continue to monitor them.
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That’s good that there’s no signs of cysts. But what a mystery! Is the hair growing back?
 
Hope they grow their fur back soon, what a mystery, hope you find out what’s causing it x
 
VickiA said:
That’s good that there’s no signs of cysts. But what a mystery! Is the hair growing back?
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It did for one of the piggies so perhaps she actually had mites. Penny's hair will intermittently grow back and then she'll have another sore and bald spot. Peanut's has not grown back at all and she has more than one bald spot.
 
Hope4gem said:
It did for one of the piggies so perhaps she actually had mites. Penny's hair will intermittently grow back and then she'll have another sore and bald spot. Peanut's has not grown back at all and she has more than one bald spot.
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This does seem to be a mystery. I hope you can get to the bottom of the problem soon.
 
Peanut and Suzy have developed circular patches that almost look like flaky skin. I'm guessing maybe ringworm, but Suzy was tested before and it was negative. We had ongoing bald patches that the vet couldn't determine a cause, but this is the first circular pattern we've noticed. Called the vet and the first appointment they have is not until March 22nd. Attached are pics.
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The circular pattern could be ringworm or some other fungal infection. What treatments have been tried?
 
VickiA said:
The circular pattern could be ringworm or some other fungal infection. What treatments have been tried?
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Selamectin - vet recommended two doses. I convinced her to do a 3rd dose to see if it would help. We cleaned everything with F10. They checked for cysts and so far they can't detect any.
 
Peanut and Suzy were seen at the vet. A ringworm test is being done on Peanut but the vet does not think it is ringworm. She does not think it's mites either. She believes it's over-grooming or barbering. Suzy does like to eat hair - including human hair. If we don't keep our hair away from her she'll give us quite a trim. A lock of my own waist length hair is nibbled down an inch from my scalp thanks to her naughty, quick little biters! 🤣
So, hopefully ringworm test will come back negative and all we're dealing with then is some barbering/over-grooming.
 
Suzy was seen at the vet again for her bald spots which have gotten worse. She also has a rash at this point from going after her bald spots. We have previously treated with 3 rounds of Selamectin and cleaned everything with F10. Ringworm and mites tests were negative. No improvement and actually got worse. It might just be behavioral but not sure. The vet is now treating with antibiotic (baytril), antihistamine, a lime sulfur dip and also recommended steroid. I told her that I have heard steroids are dangerous for guinea pigs. She agreed that they can be, but are ok to use in the short-term. I haven't decided if I'm going to give Suzy the steroids or not yet. The dose would be 1.25 mg per day for 3 days then gradually tapering down for several more days. If none of this works there is another antihistamine we can try that also has a component to treat behavioral based scratching.
 
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