Unknown Illness?

[Aluuxis]

Hello everyone!

I own four female adult guinea pigs, kept in a large enclosure, so they have enough free space.

However, I am having issues with two of my guinea pigs and I'm desperate for answers, it is causing a lot of stress for me and others in the household- as well as the pigs too.

We first noticed a bald spot on Snowballs (our eldest guinea pig 2 yrs old) chin in late june, early july.
We took her to the vet when we spotted it and she said that she was fine, no fungal infection or mites, she suggested that we bathe her in a little bit of dawn dish soap to prevent the fur loss (sounded super odd to me).

However, it has gotten a lot worse since july, slowly but surely. We kept assuring ourselves nothing was wrong because of what the vet said, however we are now doubting that its due to "old age" since one of our other girls (Pepper, about 1 ½ year old) has a bald spot, except it is on her butt area.

This spot looks super painful, and we are scared its something serious. This just started very recently, we didnt notice the bald spot until now, we thought she might just be laying in her pee which is why it was wet, but that doesnt seem to be the case now.

Attached are photos of Snowballs chin with these dates *respectively. left to right.*
May --> July --> October (Now.)

Also attached are photos of Pepper's butt (pretty graphic) from right now.

If anyone could please be of assistance with more knowledge than I, and let us know what is going on with our girls, it would be very appreciated. Thank you so much.

 

[fournakedpigs]

So sorry your babies are going through this. If you have already ruled out any parasite or fungal issues, I would definitely have them rechecked for other potential issues.

1) Are they barbering each other? This is essentially excessive grooming and can be the result of boredom or dominance.

2) Could this be ovarian cysts? I’m don’t own sows, but I know this can result in hair loss, though I believe it’s typically on their flanks.

3) Scurvy, which is from a vitamin C deficiency, can also mess with their coats, but I’m not sure it’d result in this.

Also, is your vet an exotic vet? Typically, I haven’t heard of Dawn being recommended here, and certainly your 2-year-old piggie is not yet considered “old age.”

 

[Aluuxis]

Our vet claims that they are an exotic vet so I'd like to believe she actually is.

1) The barbering has been taken into serious consideration because our girls have been extremely hormonal lately and could be rubbing against each other while trying to mount. Snowball cant lift herself too well, so it seems as though she rubs her chin on the other girls which does seem like it would result in hair loss, especially if its on Peppers rear end, could be the friction, thank you. However, i have taken more photos and videos and it appears as though there may be a bite wound? it looks like the tiniest puncture.

2) I dont think it could be an ovarian cyst, they are eating completely fine and pooping fine as well.

3) Ive heard of the vitamin C situation however i believe our girls get enough however we can increase their intake, we do have the vitadrops.

Attached is a picture of the puncture on Peppers butt. This was taken after i took a cool cloth and tried wiping it "clean" she didnt seem to be too bothered by it, so i dont think it could be [too] painful.

 

[Dilly's Piggies]

With regards to snowballs chin hair loss, I'm not entirely sure but I had a sow who had a bald patch like that, in the same spot, it turned out to be hormonal hair loss from ovarian cysts, but there are many things this could be.

With Pepper, I could be wrong but that looks like some kind of infection, I can't tell whether the discharge is coming from her bottom or her grease gland though.

Regardless I think a vet visit is needed for both of them. I wish you and your piggies all the best ❤

 

[Piggies&buns]

i would definitely try another vet For a disgnosis

Being told to bathe them in dish soap is not good advice. Piggies shouldn’t be bathed routinely but even if they did then using a dish soap would be awful.

Ovarian cysts typically affect piggies over two years of age. there is a range of symptoms from a change in behaviour, displaying hormonal behaviour, hair loss, crusty nipples.

Old age certainly isn’t a consideration here at only 2 years old. Old age isnt until they are considerably older - 5 plus years old.

if a piggy is well cared for and eats a good hay based diet with a variety of veg and limited amount of pellets (which are fortified with vit c), then scurvy is incredibly rare. They do not need additional vitamin c and in fact giving it can do more harm than good.
We don’t see scurvy on here at all often and if we do, it is usually caused by supplementing them with vitamin c drops or tablets unnecessarily. Their bodies become used to high levels of vit c which when the level then drops even if they are still within whst would be considered a normal level for any other piggy, they get scurvy symptoms.

Hair loss can be as a result of many things and only a vet can diagnose.

Sows: Behaviour and female health problems (including ovarian cysts)