Strange itching behaviour.

[Lauziiedauziie]

We noticed our guinea pig scratching himself in the same place recently. It seems to be a itch he gets right on top of his back and he goes a little frantic trying to get at it. This probably lasts a few seconds and then he just carries on with his day as normal.
I wasn't too concerned until I realised that petting him in that area sometimes triggers the same reaction.
I checked the area and he doesn't seem to have any scabs, flaky skin or marks. I'm not sure what is going on.
He did have mange last October and was cleared by our vet as 100% recovered by November.
During this time he did lose a lot of fur which has all grown back now, the new fur is soft and smooth but the fur that remained during this time is coarse. I'm not sure if it's something to do with that or maybe he has a skin sensitivity now but I'm unsure and wondering if anyone else has any ideas?
We took him for a check up last month to make 100% sure he was healthy and they said he was.

 

[Wiebke]

We noticed our guinea pig scratching himself in the same place recently. It seems to be a itch he gets right on top of his back and he goes a little frantic trying to get at it. This probably lasts a few seconds and then he just carries on with his day as normal.
I wasn't too concerned until I realised that petting him in that area sometimes triggers the same reaction.
I checked the area and he doesn't seem to have any scabs, flaky skin or marks. I'm not sure what is going on.
He did have mange last October and was cleared by our vet as 100% recovered by November.
During this time he did lose a lot of fur which has all grown back now, the new fur is soft and smooth but the fur that remained during this time is coarse. I'm not sure if it's something to do with that or maybe he has a skin sensitivity now but I'm unsure and wondering if anyone else has any ideas?
We took him for a check up last month to make 100% sure he was healthy and they said he was.

Hi

Please have your piggy vet checked for potential mange mites next week, especially if you notice a V-shaped bald area appearing on the back. Right now you are in the very early stages.

Most guinea pigs have a reservoir of impenetrable eggs in their skin that are kept under control by a fully working immune system; the eggs cannot be killed off by ivermectin, unfortunately.
It is more effective to treat the mites promptly whenever they start making an appearance again. Low dosed 'prevention ' ivermectin should only be considered in those few cases where the immune system is not strong enough to suppress skin parasites completely and they come back pretty much as soon as the proper treatment wears off because you and your vet have to consider a potential developing resistancy issue.

Please note that you can treat with ivermectin only if any previous application of it has fully worn off because of the risk of overdosing, which can do real harm. For this reason it is better to not treat on spec but to hit with the correct weight related maximal dose/strength to get on top of the current outbreak in the usual three rounds of application; your vet cannot prescribe anything until any on spec applied treatment has worn off so the wait is well worth it.

More information: New piggy problems: URI - ringworm - skin parasites