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Please help me - big fur loss patch..Update

  • Thread starter Thread starter squeakywheeky
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squeakywheeky

I know I need to see a vet tomorrow but please help me to identify what is wrong with my Puddles. He is nearly 10 weeks old and has a size of hair missing from his lower back bigger than a 20p. I havn't noticed before his cuddle tonight. I am so sure I would have done so sooner if it had been there! The skin is white and scaly with bits of skin on his fur. On his skin there are red bumps. What is it? Please can you give me some help and advice. I am gong to call the vets in th morning but I feel ill. I just need to know what it is.

Should I take both guinea pigs to vets?

GOD, also I have just thought he hasn't been putting on much weight. i was putting it down to his nervousness but I have been wondering about the food thing. I don't believe the bowl is going down quick enough.. not like it was a week or so ago. Bloody ell. I'm panicing here.

Is he goping to be alright?
 
Re: Please help me - big fur loss patch....

Could be a mite problem - also putting him off food too.
 
Re: Please help me - big fur loss patch....

Can indoor piggies get mites too? What do you use invermectin for? Sorry for the ignorance!
 
Re: Please help me - big fur loss patch....

kay8469 said:
Can indoor piggies get mites too? What do you use invermectin for? Sorry for the ignorance!
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indoor pigs get them too. Due to stress/upset too.

Ivermectin is a treatment given either by mouth, injection or on the neck to kill mites and/or prevent them :)

It's not ignorance - it's getting to know, and well you have to find out somehow! ;)

x
 
Re: Please help me - big fur loss patch....

Due to stress upset? I love him! He's very skittish still. Had him three weeks. Could bringing him home have set it off. Is it anything I have done. I feel terrible. I feel personally responsible and also for not acting on the food issue sooner. Poor little man. I hope he's going to be alright
 
Re: Please help me - big fur loss patch....

Not saying for definite that is, but from reading it sounds like it.

Nothing at all that you did wrong - do not blame yourself :). Maybe it's just a big change that has 'upset' him, stressed him out? You getting him, changing atmospheres, a friend, getting used to people and being handled. They can all contribute as change, even the smallest of things.

It doesn't sound like anything serious. You are doing a great job! Be positive! Everyone has had to learn :)
 
Re: Please help me - big fur loss patch....

Almost all pet shop pigs are infected with mites. Chances are they've been there since you brought him home. They will both need to be treated with ivermectin.
 
Re: Please help me - big fur loss patch....

Mites can come in with the hay too. My lot got a good dose last year from a bad batch of hay. Luckily I managed to get rid of the little b*ggers before I had a real problem - all solved by Ivomec which I buy myself, if you want to know where to buy it from PM me. But I do think a quick trip to the vet is a good idea just incase its not mites. You'll need to take both pigs but only book the one in. I made the mistake of saying I was bringing in 2 pigs & had to pay 2 consultation fees - whereas if I'd just booked the one in & took the other for company the vet would have just had a quick look over the second to be sure without charging for a full on consultation ::)
 
Re: Please help me - big fur loss patch....

Just a thought has trek barbered him?
 
Re: Please help me - big fur loss patch....

piggybaker said:
Just a thought has trek barbered him?
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In 15 years of keeping piggies, I've never seen a pig that's barbered to bare skin before. It's usually a trim rather than a shave!
 
Re: Please help me - big fur loss patch....

daftscotslass said:
piggybaker said:
Just a thought has trek barbered him?
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In 15 years of keeping piggies, I've never seen a pig that's barbered to bare skin before. It's usually a trim rather than a shave!
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maybe hes invsted in a garden strimmer
 
Re: Please help me - big fur loss patch....

daftscotslass said:
In 15 years of keeping piggies, I've never seen a pig that's barbered to bare skin before. It's usually a trim rather than a shave!
Click to expand...

I agree with you daftscotslass, my guys don't tend to "shave" each other, nowhere near a No 1 cut all over!


Sehnsucht said:
maybe hes invsted in a garden strimmer
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Sehnsucht what are you like? ;D My cuppa nearly hit the screen again!

I also think popping two piggies in one carrier is a good idea, my vet will also see two for the price of one! Good luck with the little guys and don't stress yourself out! You are doing all the right things and asking all the right questions.
 
Re: Please help me - big fur loss patch....

Yip Puddles has mites. I guess this is where I really abuse myself about the great petshop debate but that is done now and I am in love with my two boys. I took both the boys in a big wooden crate together as I figured that I should have Trek seen too. I had thought about Trek doing it to him as I saw him last night nick his tomato (tomato is the only thing Puddles is eating right now - I am aware of sores though so trying to keep them to a minimum)

In the waiting room there were not happy boys, they were almost growling at the noises the other pets were making and deffo teeth chattering. So I went in, told her about his patch of skin _ it's more like the size of 50p I can't believe I have mssed it! Also mentioned his lack of appetite. She had a look at them both and said mites although Trek looks clear she would like to treat them both with injection for 3 or 4 weekly injections depending on his progress. They were taken away and I could here their squeals in the waiting romm  :'( heart wrenching stuff that.

So, she said that they could have picked them up in the hay I use for bedding or by judging on how young he is (she can't believe I was able to get him at 6 weeks, she said that this is why he is so skittish and the trauma would almost have certainly caused the mites to flair up  :'(  :'( ) all my fault BUT this is how I look at it.. He may have been bought that very same day who doesn't know half as much as I do by posting and reating on TGPF  O0

So there we have it.

A few questions I should have asked but forgot at the time. Maybe you can help me.

1) Once they have mites and are scooted with the injection will the mites come back again?
2) If they do pick them up in the hay then is hay a good bedding to use? I really don't want to use shavings.. what else could I use?
3) Is there a shampoo I can use to help the risk of them flaring up again small? I already use GG tea tree and lavendar I think it is.

I know i'm always asking questions but i'm loving learning and being so knowlegable about my boys  :)
 
Re: Please help me - big fur loss patch....

Thanks for the info, I do want to learn all I can to keep my piggies healthy! Ivermectin is a wormer used for horses, which is why the specific interest in that!

What are the symptoms of mites? Both my boys seem really healthy at the moment, the have shiny coats, bright eyes and (ahem) firm poos. But I'd like to know the main things to look out for.

Fred seems loads bigger than Barney, but they are (meant to be) the same age - now about 13 weeks. Barney still looks a baby whilst Fred is the size of an adult!
 
I can give you the symptoms by Puddles had. I noticed end of the week/weekend that Puddles was actually quite thin and I was watching his food bowl over the weekend and it wasn't going down much at all. Looking back now he wasn't popcorning much and just looked generally tired and down poor man. The big kick up the bot was finding a large - like I say coinsized 'shave' of hair completly gone with the skin exposed being white and flaky, also red large pimples on his skin (this is where the mites have borrowed apparently) There may be more symptoms I don't know but that was enough to get me ass down the the vets.. was hilerious the vet shouting across the waiting room.. 'Puddles Howgate' ;D
 
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