Skin problems on both New Guinea pigs

[Mrbean13]

Hello all,
My boyfriend so sweetly gave me two male guinea pigs as a gift this year. One of them (Bandit) has no hair on his ears and the edges looked chapped. His brother (Vin Diesel) also has bald ears but not dryness. The bigger concern is his nose which is missing hair and looks flakey. We thought it may have been a bite mark at first because they werent bonding so great the first week, but we are worried that they may have a pratasite or fungal infection now. They seem happy (popcorning, eating, etc.) but they’ve been scratching much more frequently the last couple days. We cannot take them to the vet until next week and are lost on what to do here in the mean time. Both of us are very new to guinea pigs, all help is appreciated. Thank you

 

[Piggies&buns]

You will need to take them both to a vet for diagnosis and the correct treatment.

If it is a fungal infection such as ringworm, you need to exercise extreme hygiene as it is contagious.
The guides below explain further

Ringworm: Hygiene And Pictures
New guinea pigs: Sexing, vet checks&customer rights, URI, ringworm and parasites

New Owners' Most Helpful How-To Guides and Information

 

[Wiebke]

Hello all,
My boyfriend so sweetly gave me two male guinea pigs as a gift this year. One of them (Bandit) has no hair on his ears and the edges looked chapped. His brother (Vin Diesel) also has bald ears but not dryness. The bigger concern is his nose which is missing hair and looks flakey. We thought it may have been a bite mark at first because they werent bonding so great the first week, but we are worried that they may have a pratasite or fungal infection now. They seem happy (popcorning, eating, etc.) but they’ve been scratching much more frequently the last couple days. We cannot take them to the vet until next week and are lost on what to do here in the mean time. Both of us are very new to guinea pigs, all help is appreciated. Thank you

Hi and welcome

Please don't treat on spec but have your piggies seen as soon as possible after the weekend; if you can book an appoitment today, please do so. What I would strongly recommend is that you order some vet strength disinfectant like F10 from the internet now so you can kick in as soon as they have been diagnosed. It sounds like a potential ringworm infection, but please accept that we can only guess and not diagnose, especially not sight unseen and hands-off.

You can reclaim any vet fees from the pet shop you have got them as part of your customer rights for having being sold damaged ware.

PLEASE take the time to carefully read the green information links in the previous post; you will find them very helpful as they practical, detailed and comprehensive; especially the ringworm guide, which talks you through all aspects of it. Hygiene is of utmost importance if you want to get rid of it once and for all as ringworm is hands down the most contagious and species jumping problem you can come across - and that includes humans.

 

[Mrbean13]

Thank you for the responses. We went to the vet it it was indeed ringworm (oof). Luckily we were able to get some oral medication for them

 

[Wiebke]

Thank you for the responses. We went to the vet it it was indeed ringworm (oof). Luckily we were able to get some oral medication for them

That is great news; oral treatment is the most effective and least stressful. You will still need to bathe your piggies at the end of the course in order to wash out any spores sitting loosely in the coat to prevent a reinfection. Ringworm has been carried into my house twice by piggies who came with passengers in their coat as they themselves were not or no longer affected but had been affected or in contact with acutely affected piggies before their quarantine. It is the only way they could have carried it in.

PLEASE follow the advice in our ringworm hygiene guide in order to prevent contagion and re-infection. The invisibly tiny ringworm spores can stay live to up to years and affect lots of species, including humans. Ringworm is not a problem for being a killer disease (it isn't) but for being the most contagious species crossing issue you can come across and for its potential of turning into a never ending saga.
Over the years we have come across pretty much all potential ways transmission can happen and ways how to counter them. We know from our practical experience on here and in our homes that the measures in the guide work. I was able to confine the last outbreak in my own herd to the one affected piggy in a room of 30 piggies. It was a week of pain but worth the effort. That was three years ago.
Ringworm: Hygiene And Pictures