Pig drinking more water than usual and mites

[Piggies&buns]

okay thank you for advice ! coco is still definitely a lot more assertive and dominant than oreo. so i just give them floortime for a few hours together today and then put them together permanently?

You bond them in a neutral territory pen and if all goes well move them to the cage after a few hours.
Make sure you do not put any hides in the bonding pen, just a pile of hay and some water.
Making sure of course that the cage is big enough for two

The bonding guide I linked in above explains.

 

[oreoandcoco]

You bond them in a neutral territory pen and if all goes well move them to the cage after a few hours.
Make sure you do not put any hides in the bonding pen, just a pile of hay and some water.
Making sure of course that the cage is big enough for two

The bonding guide I linked in above explains.

okay thank u so much!

 

[oreoandcoco]

she’s getting to the vet on wednesday, and a scale is coming very soon . they are separated because coco was biting some of her hair out (barbering), but i am trying to bond them closer. she doesn’t do it anymore but it’s best to keep them separated unless i’m in the room to make sure she’s not doing it again . they are getting better together and i think oreo is asserting more dominance and not just letting coco push her around.

i weighed her today and she had lost about 50 grams since about a month when i last took her to the vet. I'm going to give her some critical care until then. some sources say the concern is when they lose 100 grams, and others say 50. but the vet will be able to assess everything on wednesday.

 

[Piggies&buns]

i weighed her today and she had lost about 50 grams since about a month when i last took her to the vet. I'm going to give her some critical care until then. some sources say the concern is when they lose 100 grams, and others say 50. but the vet will be able to assess everything on wednesday.

50g is at the border of normal fluctuation and weight loss so it’s time to go on alert. You switch to weighing every day at 50g loss. If she has lost more at tomorrows weight check, then syringe feed.

 

[oreoandcoco]

okay that’s what i’ll do

 

[oreoandcoco]

so i think i figured why she’s been acting weird, today she was itching more and then i found mites on her bottom! I'm going to try to call the vet and see if they can take her in sooner than wednesday. but what can i do for her until then? i have no idea how she got them and i’m going to have to take her cagemate to the vet as well

 

[oreoandcoco]

i just noticed an hour ago that my guinea pig oreo was scratching a bit and i didn’t really think anything of it, until i looked at her and noticed she has little black mites on her bottom. she already had a vet appointment scheduled prior to this for wednesday, should i try to get her in earlier if possible? and is there anything i can do until she gets in? also she has another cagemate, and they just had floortime together about 30 minutes ago .please help

 

[oreoandcoco]

are you weighing her as part of routine weekly care? It’s so important that you do. It is the only way you can know if they are eating enough hay. Weight loss is often one of the first indicators of a medical issue.
You can’t rely on a vet weighing them sporadically when you take them in, you need to weigh them yourself each week at home, switching to daily weight checks if you have health concerns.

Otherwise, as we have already advised you, if she is suddenly drinking more than is normal for her or there are any other symptoms or weight loss, then please have her seen by a vet.

Weight - Monitoring and Management
All About Drinking And Bottles

turns out she has mites and I'm not sure what to do until she gets to the vet

 

[Princess Dustmop]

If you found them, they're more likely lice than mites. Mites are too small to see with the naked eye. Lice you can see running around if you look quickly and carefully. Guinea pig lice are species specific, so they will only live on a guinea pig. If you just mean that you can see evidence of them, though, and not the actual creepy-crawly, then it could be mites. I'm fairly certain guinea pig mites are also species specific, though they may cause dermatitis in people who are sensitive; there are a couple types of mites that parasitize guinea pigs ... some cause itchiness but are relatively harmless, while others burrow under the skin and cause mange.

There's not much that you can do without the vet for either lice or mites. Both require the vet to prescribe treatment of the correct dosage. Generally this treatment will be ivermectin. Most vets will be willing to treat all cagemates for lice/mites upon diagnosing one guinea pig in the cage with them, since if one has them, they should all be deemed to have them, and they will all need treatment or they will just keep passing them back and forth. All guinea pigs being treated will need to be weighed for dosing, so they may be required to be present, though bringing a companion for emotional support and comfort isn't a bad idea anyways. My pairs always went to the vet together, even when only one was being seen ... I'd just clarify which pig was there for the appointment and which was just along for the ride, and they were always fine with it ... anything to reduce stress of the visit.

 

[oreoandcoco]

If you found them, they're more likely lice than mites. Mites are too small to see with the naked eye. Lice you can see running around if you look quickly and carefully. Guinea pig lice are species specific, so they will only live on a guinea pig. If you just mean that you can see evidence of them, though, and not the actual creepy-crawly, then it could be mites. I'm fairly certain guinea pig mites are also species specific, though they may cause dermatitis in people who are sensitive; there are a couple types of mites that parasitize guinea pigs ... some cause itchiness but are relatively harmless, while others burrow under the skin and cause mange.

There's not much that you can do without the vet for either lice or mites. Both require the vet to prescribe treatment of the correct dosage. Generally this treatment will be ivermectin. Most vets will be willing to treat all cagemates for lice/mites upon diagnosing one guinea pig in the cage with them, since if one has them, they should all be deemed to have them, and they will all need treatment or they will just keep passing them back and forth. All guinea pigs being treated will need to be weighed for dosing, so they may be required to be present, though bringing a companion for emotional support and comfort isn't a bad idea anyways. My pairs always went to the vet together, even when only one was being seen ... I'd just clarify which pig was there for the appointment and which was just along for the ride, and they were always fine with it ... anything to reduce stress of the visit.

i didn’t think about it being lice because they weren’t moving and it was just small black specs , i thought it was mite eggs? i have a lice comb that i’ve had forever and i used it on her and it took some of them out but like you said i can’t do much until the vet. I'm just going to take both of them to the vet together although i haven’t seen anything on coco yet , she probably has them since they eat the same hay and everything . and tomorrow morning I'm getting new hay(i couldn’t go tonight everything was closed by the time i saw it) and i’ll clean the cage once they start treatment. thanks for the reply

 

[Piggies&buns]

i didn’t think about it being lice because they weren’t moving and it was just small black specs , i thought it was mite eggs? i have a lice comb that i’ve had forever and i used it on her and it took some of them out but like you said i can’t do much until the vet. I'm just going to take both of them to the vet together although i haven’t seen anything on coco yet , she probably has them since they eat the same hay and everything . and tomorrow morning I'm getting new hay(i couldn’t go tonight everything was closed by the time i saw it) and i’ll clean the cage once they start treatment. thanks for the reply

Yes the black specks are egg casings - sounds like she has mites.
You will not see the mites themselves as they are far too small.

New Guinea Pig Problems: Sexing & Pregnancy; URI, Ringworm & Parasites; Vet Checks & Customer Rights

 

[Piggies&buns]

As we advised on your other thread, you need to see a vet to get the correct treatment.
What you are seeing are the egg casings. The mites cannot be seen as they are too small.
I would try to get an earlier appointment.

New Guinea Pig Problems: Sexing & Pregnancy; URI, Ringworm & Parasites; Vet Checks & Customer Rights

Have you given them floor time and separated them again?
As advised, please don’t continually do this. This causes stress. If youve put them together for bonding as per the advice I’ve given you on the other thread, then they need to remain together.

 

[oreoandcoco]

i was actually trying to follow your previous advice on the floortime for a few hours then putting them in the cage together to bond them BUT then about 20-30 minutes in i noticed oreo was itching and i found the mites and i just kind of freaked and separated them because that seemed like the best thing to prevent coco from getting them. even though she will be more than likely be getting treated for mites as well as oreo ,but after i get everything figured out i will try to follow your advice again. my vets office opens at 8am on monday i’ll call and try to get in that day or even tuesday .

 

[oreoandcoco]

Yes the black specks are egg casings - sounds like she has mites.
You will not see the mites themselves as they are far too small.

New Guinea Pig Problems: Sexing & Pregnancy; URI, Ringworm & Parasites; Vet Checks & Customer Rights

yep that’s what i figured, now are the mites that she has i believe they’re called hay mites, will they cause a lot of irritation like mange?

 

[Piggies&buns]

yep that’s what i figured, now are the mites that she has i believe they’re called hay mites, will they cause a lot of irritation like mange?

Hay mites are irritating but are the least concerning. They don’t burrow into the skin like mange mites do.

i was actually trying to follow your previous advice on the floortime for a few hours then putting them in the cage together to bond them BUT then about 20-30 minutes in i noticed oreo was itching and i found the mites and i just kind of freaked and separated them because that seemed like the best thing to prevent coco from getting them. even though she will be more than likely be getting treated for mites as well as oreo ,but after i get everything figured out i will try to follow your advice again. my vets office opens at 8am on monday i’ll call and try to get in that day or even tuesday .

I personally think I would have continued with the bonding so that it was done - you wouldn’t separate piggies who were already living together due to hay mites and if they are in one cage it would make the disinfection easier. They use the same hay, area and are in contact with each other for floor time each day so she may already have them.

Now you’ve separated again and if you are worried one may have it and the other not, then obviously keep them apart until treatment is finished. The normal course of treatment is three separate treatments, two weeks apart - treatment only kills the live mites, not the eggs so the first treatment kills the current mites. The second treatments kill the mites who were eggs at the first treatment and the third treatment makes sure any stragglers are caught. So six weeks in total to treat mites.
Then try the bonding again and see it through to conclusion

 

[Free Ranger]

Reading through this I'm thinking the mites or lice would have had the opportunity to spread already so if they were my lovely pair I would be getting both treated. I don't know whether your vet would insist on seeing both before prescribing... in which case it is just the logistics of getting both pigs there in different containers so they don't fight! In the UK we get a lotion which is spotted on to the skin containing an ingredient called Ivermectin. It soaks into the skin and passes round the system, killing the live critters but not the eggs. So we have to repeat the spot-on two weeks later and again after another two weeks to be sure we get all the eggs hatching out! Pet shops here sell pet shampoos containing ivermectin but the concentration is too low to cure the problem, and pigs really don't enjoy being shampoo'd! The stronger concentrations need a vet prescription which is why we always say the vet-strength products will tackle the problem best.

But there are different types of treatments in different countries. Whatever your vet offers you can ask how fast it kills the mites or lice and what happens to the eggs - this way you'll know if the treatment needs to be repeated.

I'm always pleased to see my pigs drinking plenty of (low calcium) water. We have to use bottled because the tap water in my area has very high calcium! But flushing everything through reduces the chances of grit forming in the bladder. There is always the chance of a leaky bottle though - so if you have identical bottles for your two piggies you could try swopping them over to check? The other thing is that if a water bottle is tilted to an angle you can get a slow leak. I know this because my big fat girl likes to lie down and guzzle in the evenings so she will drag the spout to one side at about 45 degrees to make glugging easier!

 

[oreoandcoco]

Reading through this I'm thinking the mites or lice would have had the opportunity to spread already so if they were my lovely pair I would be getting both treated. I don't know whether your vet would insist on seeing both before prescribing... in which case it is just the logistics of getting both pigs there in different containers so they don't fight! In the UK we get a lotion which is spotted on to the skin containing an ingredient called Ivermectin. It soaks into the skin and passes round the system, killing the live critters but not the eggs. So we have to repeat the spot-on two weeks later and again after another two weeks to be sure we get all the eggs hatching out! Pet shops here sell pet shampoos containing ivermectin but the concentration is too low to cure the problem, and pigs really don't enjoy being shampoo'd! The stronger concentrations need a vet prescription which is why we always say the vet-strength products will tackle the problem best.

But there are different types of treatments in different countries. Whatever your vet offers you can ask how fast it kills the mites or lice and what happens to the eggs - this way you'll know if the treatment needs to be repeated.

I'm always pleased to see my pigs drinking plenty of (low calcium) water. We have to use bottled because the tap water in my area has very high calcium! But flushing everything through reduces the chances of grit forming in the bladder. There is always the chance of a leaky bottle though - so if you have identical bottles for your two piggies you could try swopping them over to check? The other thing is that if a water bottle is tilted to an angle you can get a slow leak. I know this because my big fat girl likes to lie down and guzzle in the evenings so she will drag the spout to one side at about 45 degrees to make glugging easier!

i’ve swapped the bottles and it doesn’t really make a difference, i think they are leaking just a little bit. and when oreo drink she lifts the bottle up which’s makes the water come out faster i think

 

[oreoandcoco]

Hay mites are irritating but are the least concerning. They don’t burrow into the skin like mange mites do.



I personally think I would have continued with the bonding so that it was done - you wouldn’t separate piggies who were already living together due to hay mites and if they are in one cage it would make the disinfection easier. They use the same hay, area and are in contact with each other for floor time each day so she may already have them.

Now you’ve separated again and if you are worried one may have it and the other not, then obviously keep them apart until treatment is finished. The normal course of treatment is three separate treatments, two weeks apart - treatment only kills the live mites, not the eggs so the first treatment kills the current mites. The second treatments kill the mites who were eggs at the first treatment and the third treatment makes sure any stragglers are caught. So six weeks in total to treat mites.
Then try the bonding again and see it through to conclusion

yeah i was trying to prevent coco from being near oreo by separating them because after i found out oreo had mites, i checked coco and i couldn’t find any but she most likely will get them but i was just trying to prevent her from getting it as much as possible. so like you said i will just try the bonding process again after they are both treated

 

[oreoandcoco]

yeah i was trying to prevent coco from being near oreo by separating them because after i found out oreo had mites, i checked coco and i couldn’t find any but she most likely will get them but i was just trying to prevent her from getting it as much as possible. so like you said i will just try the bonding process again after they are both treated

also I'm not sure if my scale is working right because i weighed coco (not the one we talked about losing weight yesterday) and it said she lost over 50grams but she’s been eating as well as oreo

 

[Piggies&buns]

also I'm not sure if my scale is working right because i weighed coco (not the one we talked about losing weight yesterday) and it said she lost over 50grams but she’s been eating as well as oreo

You cannot judge hay intake by eye - hence why the weight checks are important.
It may appear a piggy is eating hay well but they can in fact not be eating enough.
Weigh something you are certain of the weight of so you can be sure your scales are ok. If they are and she has indeed lost 50g then you will need to go on alert and step in with syringe feeding and see a vet

 

[oreoandcoco]

and it just

also I'm not sure if my scale is working right because i weighed coco (not the one we talked about losing weight yesterday) and it said she lost over 50grams but she’s been eating as well as oreo,

and it just said oreo weighed 23 grams something is definitely wrong with my scale

 

[oreoandcoco]

and it just

and it just said oreo weighed 23 grams something is definitely wrong with my scale

i weighed a very small container of lotion and it said it weighs more than oreo so i don’t think my scale is very accurate

 

[oreoandcoco]

i weighed a very small container of lotion and it said it weighs more than oreo so i don’t think my scale is very accurate

but then i just weighed a bottle of water and it was very accurate

 

[oreoandcoco]

but then i just weighed a bottle of water and it was very accurate

but ik for sure that oreo isn’t 23 grams

 

[oreoandcoco]

You cannot judge hay intake by eye - hence why the weight checks are important.
It may appear a piggy is eating hay well but they can in fact not be eating enough.
Weigh something you are certain of the weight of so you can be sure your scales are ok. If they are and she has indeed lost 50g then you will need to go on alert and step in with syringe feeding and see a vet

idk if it’s an accurate scale , i weighed oreo and it said she was 23 grams . but when i weighed a water bottle it was almost exact. so i’m not really sure. i might just syringe feed them a few times today. , incase they are losing weight . also i noticed that coco now has mites too but i just bought new hay and I'm hoping i can get into the vet sooner than wednesday.

 

[Princess Dustmop]

Each time you go to weigh something on the scale, make sure nothing is bumping it and that it is sitting on a flat, hard surface, then turn it on or zero it. Next, if applicable (like when weighing a guinea pig), place your weighing vessel on the scale and rezero (tare) the scale; then get the piggy into the vessel and weigh the piggy with the vessel. If you're using the same weighing vessel again, you could just swap out what/who's in the vessel, but it may be easier to just start again from zeroing the scale if you're questioning the scale's accuracy. If you're not sure how your scale is zeroing properly, just turn it off and turn it back on. If you're using an analog scale, there won't be a zero function, so you'll have to do the math yourself to deduct the weight of a weighing vessel.
Make sure that your weighing vessel isn't causing you to exceed the weight that the scale is rated for ... many kitchen scales in the US are rated for 5lb or 10lb/11lb ... that's 2267g or 4535g/4989g, so for a larger guinea pig, you could potentially exceed the capacity of the 5lb scale with a heavier weighing vessel. I imagine scales sold in other countries are rated in kilograms, but I couldn't tell you what the normal would be, though I'm guessing similar. I use a lightweight plastic bin to weigh my girls, though cardboard boxes are also popular.

Here in the US, I looked back, and my girls that had lice were given Revolution, which is a brandname for selamectin, a drug in the same class as ivermectin. They were teeny tiny (around 6 or 7 weeks old), and it was done by weight, so their dosing likely wouldn't be relevant to most pigs, but it was not a full dose that would have been given to a puppy/kitten. I believe the vet said she used the same product for mites and lice. A fine toothed comb is good for removing debris from the fur. One of my gurls was long-furred, so she was getting combed anyways, I just used a finer comb; the other got combed just to remove debris.
If you think one guinea pig has them and the other doesn't, be careful when handling the two, as well, mites cannot live off of a host long, but you don't want to potentially transfer them on a sweatshirt/towel that you used when holding one then the other, for example.

 

[oreoandcoco]

Each time you go to weigh something on the scale, make sure nothing is bumping it and that it is sitting on a flat, hard surface, then turn it on or zero it. Next, if applicable (like when weighing a guinea pig), place your weighing vessel on the scale and rezero (tare) the scale; then get the piggy into the vessel and weigh the piggy with the vessel. If you're using the same weighing vessel again, you could just swap out what/who's in the vessel, but it may be easier to just start again from zeroing the scale if you're questioning the scale's accuracy. If you're not sure how your scale is zeroing properly, just turn it off and turn it back on. If you're using an analog scale, there won't be a zero function, so you'll have to do the math yourself to deduct the weight of a weighing vessel.
Make sure that your weighing vessel isn't causing you to exceed the weight that the scale is rated for ... many kitchen scales in the US are rated for 5lb or 10lb/11lb ... that's 2267g or 4535g/4989g, so for a larger guinea pig, you could potentially exceed the capacity of the 5lb scale with a heavier weighing vessel. I imagine scales sold in other countries are rated in kilograms, but I couldn't tell you what the normal would be, though I'm guessing similar. I use a lightweight plastic bin to weigh my girls, though cardboard boxes are also popular.

Here in the US, I looked back, and my girls that had lice were given Revolution, which is a brandname for selamectin, a drug in the same class as ivermectin. They were teeny tiny (around 6 or 7 weeks old), and it was done by weight, so their dosing likely wouldn't be relevant to most pigs, but it was not a full dose that would have been given to a puppy/kitten. I believe the vet said she used the same product for mites and lice. A fine toothed comb is good for removing debris from the fur. One of my gurls was long-furred, so she was getting combed anyways, I just used a finer comb; the other got combed just to remove debris.
If you think one guinea pig has them and the other doesn't, be careful when handling the two, as well, mites cannot live off of a host long, but you don't want to potentially transfer them on a sweatshirt/towel that you used when holding one then the other, for example.

thanks for the advice! but since they were using the same hay and I'm 99% sure that’s where the mites came from, this morning i noticed mites on my other pig. i tried to keep her from getting them but it was unavoidable since i didn’t have any new hay to give until this morning.

 

[oreoandcoco]

Each time you go to weigh something on the scale, make sure nothing is bumping it and that it is sitting on a flat, hard surface, then turn it on or zero it. Next, if applicable (like when weighing a guinea pig), place your weighing vessel on the scale and rezero (tare) the scale; then get the piggy into the vessel and weigh the piggy with the vessel. If you're using the same weighing vessel again, you could just swap out what/who's in the vessel, but it may be easier to just start again from zeroing the scale if you're questioning the scale's accuracy. If you're not sure how your scale is zeroing properly, just turn it off and turn it back on. If you're using an analog scale, there won't be a zero function, so you'll have to do the math yourself to deduct the weight of a weighing vessel.
Make sure that your weighing vessel isn't causing you to exceed the weight that the scale is rated for ... many kitchen scales in the US are rated for 5lb or 10lb/11lb ... that's 2267g or 4535g/4989g, so for a larger guinea pig, you could potentially exceed the capacity of the 5lb scale with a heavier weighing vessel. I imagine scales sold in other countries are rated in kilograms, but I couldn't tell you what the normal would be, though I'm guessing similar. I use a lightweight plastic bin to weigh my girls, though cardboard boxes are also popular.

Here in the US, I looked back, and my girls that had lice were given Revolution, which is a brandname for selamectin, a drug in the same class as ivermectin. They were teeny tiny (around 6 or 7 weeks old), and it was done by weight, so their dosing likely wouldn't be relevant to most pigs, but it was not a full dose that would have been given to a puppy/kitten. I believe the vet said she used the same product for mites and lice. A fine toothed comb is good for removing debris from the fur. One of my gurls was long-furred, so she was getting combed anyways, I just used a finer comb; the other got combed just to remove debris.
If you think one guinea pig has them and the other doesn't, be careful when handling the two, as well, mites cannot live off of a host long, but you don't want to potentially transfer them on a sweatshirt/towel that you used when holding one then the other, for example.

UPDATE! today they both went to the vet and was prescribed invervectim (don’t think i spelled that right ) and they both need it once a week. i also cleaned all of the old hay and tomorrow I'm cleaning their whole cage . and the vet said she could be drinking water because the heater could be making the air dry and warm . and oreo didn’t lose any weight my scales just broken, and coco did lose some but they said it was good (because she had been a bit overweight in the past ) and now she’s more healthy i think the new pellets were healthier and helped her lose some weight and she’s had extra floortime.