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Small bald patches

HeatherW

HeatherW

Adult Guinea Pig
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My new piglet, Belle, is a five-year-old sow who I bonded with Jasmine just over a week ago. She's a very docile pig who's happy to have snuggles and head scratches. :)

During a cuddle session yesterday, I noticed she had some small bald patches in her hair on her rump and back.

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I wouldn't have noticed if I hadn't been running my fingers through and seen a few hairs come out with flaky skin attached. This is what her coat otherwise looks like. As you can see, no skin!

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She's perfectly happy and not itching excessively. Jasmine has quite scurfy skin because of her breed, but she's never had bald spots like Belle. Any ideas?

Splooty pic for attention :D

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Could be mites or fungal, worth a vet check to make sure- the roundness of the patches looks a bit like the start of ringworm to me but don't panic, vet check and dermatophyte test while doing some precautionary hygeine measures, paws crossed its a milder fungal but even so can be sorted out. The patches look very small, might just be self barbering but... the roundness would worry me a little about the ringworm.
I didnt know you were getting a friend for Jasmie! How exciting!
 
Oh no, poor beautiful Belle (and you guys). Hope you can get into the vets and get her started on meds if she needs them bless her x
 
Now we're out the other side, I'm going to book a vet appointment. Her patch seems yo be getting bigger and I don't think it's barbering nor ringworm. Multiple hairs are coming put at a time attached to dry, flakey skin, so I suspect it's fungal. We'll see!

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Bless her, hopefully nothing too bad then and easily sorted! 🤞 Good luck at the vets Belle you liccle beauty 😘 x
 
Belle had her check-up and she's otherwise looking good! The vet isn't sure what might be causing the bald patch, but they don't believe it's fungal or ringworm. We're going to treat it as though it may be parasites, and I've been given 2.5ml of Fluralaner to administer to Belle orally. It's quite a lot, but thankfully only one dose, and we'll see how she's doing in two weeks.

Apparently, Fluralaner is a new medicine which isn't licensed in guinea pigs, but apart from Cat Metacam (which the vet said is useless to guineas), what is? :D

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Hope she doesn’t hate the stuff too much bless her! :vom: Never tried it with any of my gang, fingers and toes crossed it gets rid of whatever Belle’s got going on!
Glad she’s looking good otherwise though the beautiful little lady :):wub: Me and Cleo send big hugs (and a big special bite just for you! :D:))) and healing vibes x
 
Always interesting to hear of new products being used in Guinea pigs. Hope that she cooperates with you & it clears it up x
 
Well, I didn't do it very successfully at all. I failed to realise it's a MUCH bigger syringe and this is also the first time I've syringed something into her. Most of it went in, but a fair bit is on her chin and the rest went on my hand. She did NOT like the taste! I get the sense she'll be wary of accepting anything from me for a while!
 
Interesting to hear of new medicines, the product has a very similar mode of action to ivermectin but has reportedly caused more side effects and is much narrower spectrum- mostly for fleas and ticks, may probably treat mites but untested against them in any animal... also the oral dose is usually a pill, the liquid a spot on? Hopefully it will be fine, but I would wonder why not use ivermectin... this product was brought in mostly because ivermectin is acutely toxic in some dog breeds, but that isnt an issue for piggies...
Not doubting your vet or wanting to worry you, but personally I would want more info on this, and I would wonder why she isnt getting Xeno 450 instead... does the vet have some research studies about using this in piggies, even though it is off label? I'd be interested to see if they have!
 
Hopefully she’ll forget very soon with lots of bribery! Sounds very stressful for you both so we all send hugs :hug:
 
PigglePuggle said:
Interesting to hear of new medicines, the product has a very similar mode of action to ivermectin but has reportedly caused more side effects and is much narrower spectrum- mostly for fleas and ticks, may probably treat mites but untested against them in any animal... also the oral dose is usually a pill, the liquid a spot on? Hopefully it will be fine, but I would wonder why not use ivermectin... this product was brought in mostly because ivermectin is acutely toxic in some dog breeds, but that isnt an issue for piggies...
Not doubting your vet or wanting to worry you, but personally I would want more info on this, and I would wonder why she isnt getting Xeno 450 instead... does the vet have some research studies about using this in piggies, even though it is off label? I'd be interested to see if they have!
Click to expand...

The vet didn't give a reason for Fluralaner over Ivermectin, but I'll certainly ask next time I see her. She did say it was new and unlicensed, but l trust her judgement!
 
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