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Severe itching and butt rubbing

Bourbon

Bourbon

Junior Guinea Pig
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My guinea pig all of a sudden without any prior signs whatsoever started to non stop rub her butt on the ground and she is itchy to a seizury level….its very late to call a vet atm and I'm desparate could it be mites? Her fur and skin are perfect could it be mites without any visible signs
 
Few questions.

How long have you had her?
Does she have a cage mate?

My boys were rescued and the rescue did not know that they had lice.
Currently treating them for lice.

I cannot say what your female has and you should definitely phone the vet when you can to be certain of her ailment. Good luck!
 
Excessive itching is a sign in itself so definitely have a vet check her out.
I hope she is ok
 
dhill_cb7 said:
Few questions.

How long have you had her?
Does she have a cage mate?

My boys were rescued and the rescue did not know that they had lice.
Currently treating them for lice.

I cannot say what your female has and you should definitely phone the vet when you can to be certain of her ailment. Good luck!
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She is 1,5 years old and i have her since she was 2 months old, she has a cage m8 yes, a female one 1 year old
 
Piggies&buns said:
Excessive itching is a sign in itself so definitely have a vet check her out.
I hope she is ok
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It Is a sign you mean or it is not a sign? You confused me, i made a appointment already and i hope the vet will figure it out cause he is not a exotic vet and he is not experienced with guinea pig, he is with bunnies tho so i hope he will figure it out
 
You asked if it could be mites without any signs ie her skin is fine. but yes the itching itself can be a sign of mites even if the skin, at the moment, looks ok. You can’t see mites themselves so seeing excessive itching is something to get a vet to check out for a diagnosis
Rubbing her bottom along the ground can be completely normal (sows can scent mark as well) but again, having a vet check her out is important if it coupled with other symptoms
 
Piggies&buns said:
You asked if it could be mites without any signs ie her skin is fine. but yes the itching itself can be a sign of mites even if the skin, at the moment, looks ok. You can’t see mites themselves so seeing excessive itching is something to get a vet to check out for a diagnosis
Rubbing her bottom along the ground can be completely normal (sows can scent mark as well) but again, having a vet check her out is important if it coupled with other symptoms
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I see, ofc i will have the vet check her but as i said he may be unable to figure out the problem so I'm gathering as many infos as i can in order to help him too, i know rubbing her butt could be marking her territory and she usually does that quite often but last night was laterally non stop rubbing….
 
Your poor girl she must be terribly uncomfortable. Please let us know what the vet says.
 
Betsy said:
Your poor girl she must be terribly uncomfortable. Please let us know what the vet says.
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We couldnt find anything😞😞 no signs on the fur and skin and the analysis from ear fluid said nothing….vet gave me some drops for lice and we hope for the best….
 
Have a look at the active ingredient in your product. It might be something called ivermectin - I have some experience with this.

Ivermectin is often used both for mites (which are usually too small to see) and lice (which are small but usually visible - like the headlice on schoolchildren) The vet-strength product we get is called xeno-450 and it spots onto the skin (I put it on the bald bits behind the ears, into rosettes and then down the spine lifting the fur to do it). If you have mites or lice it works very fast - beginning within the first hour. There may be a lot worse scratching at first as mites in the skin spasm as they die which triggers a frenzy of itching - this should pass within a few hours though as they are killed off. Lice aren't so dramatic!

If your piggy stops scratching after the treatment this is a good sign that you have identified your problem. But ivermectin only works on live critters - not on the eggs. We give 3 doses: the 2nd after 2 weeks and the 3rd after another 2 weeks. This is because the life cycle of the critter is about THREE weeks from egg to breeding adult so we kill the live ones (and then blitz out the cage after a day or so) and 2 weeks later any eggs should have hatched but the critter will not be at breeding maturity yet (we hope!) so the second dose should finish them off (and the cage is blitzed again). But then we get a third dose to make sure no-one has escaped! Also I always treat all piggies at the same time as the other pigs can harbour mites and lice without any symptoms. It can get expensive with the xeno. But I know that there are alternative products used in some countries.

If your piggy is still scratching tomorrow it is either something else or the product was not perhaps strong enough. Good luck, and let us know how you get on x
 
PS: Butt scratching and rubbing in cats and dogs (and children!) is often a sign of intestinal worms. In the UK this is rare in piggies - unlike mites and lice which are very common. But it is something to think about. I think that xeno is actually effective against worms too anyway!
 
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