Kiki_mushu_winry
New Born Pup
- Joined
- Jul 14, 2020
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Hello all. I have a 9 month old American roan girl (Winry, photo for cute tax) who’s been having really bad dandruff. She lives with my two other 1.5yo girls who do not have any skin issues at all. I got her from a private breeder in January 2020 at 8 weeks.
At first I thought it might be mites so I treated them all in April time, but that hasn’t stopped the dandruff. After doing more research I thought it might be fungal even though the only symptom she has is dandruff and she scratches more often than the other girls, and very rarely she would lose a bigger chunk of fur with a flake of skin (I’ve only noticed it twice now since April and I keep a pretty keen eye on the cage for any clumps). However she does shed quite a lot, but so does my other American pig who has no issues. She’s black and white and the dandruff seems to be both dark and white, but that’s because her skin itself is different colours underneath the fur. She has no bald spots or sores or scabs anywhere other than a small bald spot on her left front paw (which I’m pretty sure has always been there), her coat is otherwise very nice and shiny and soft, and she doesn’t seem to be in any extreme discomfort or pain at all. She happily eats her hay, veg, and nuggets, and popcorns all the time. She doesn’t really like it when I touch her back/bum area (where the dandruff is the worst) but neither do my other pigs so I don’t think that’s got much to do with the issue at hand. She doesn’t have any other health issues that I or my vet are aware of. After doing some research I got some TGel shampoo to see if that would make any difference and it hasn’t so far (I’ve only bathed her in it twice so far in the last week and a half per the advice of other threads), but I am also going to get Nizoral as I’ve heard good things about it and that it works well for fungal infections. I’ve also heard that coconut oil is good for this type of stuff but I haven’t tried that as of yet.
After doing some more looking I’ve come across some stuff about piggy eczema and skin allergies, and honestly I think it could be one of these issues because I really don’t think it’s fungal anymore. I definitely don’t think it’s mites or lice. She’s roan and I know they can have genetic issues sometimes from bad breeding, so it could potentially be because of that even though the breeder seemed ethical with their roans (ie not breeding strictly for roan’s and having lethal whites, etc). The girls are on fleece bedding which gets spot cleaned at least once a day and fully cleaned once a week (my girls are quite clean and have mostly trained themselves to go to the bathroom in a litter tray). They have constant access to lots of hay and they get nuggets and veg every day. I try and vary the veg so they get at least three different types a day. Nothing I use or feed them has changed since before I got Winry so I know it’s not anything new causing the issues. The weather has been pretty humid so it’s not caused by dry weather either. They’re indoor only pigs right now due to my living circumstances but that’s never been an issue as they’re in a room with lots of natural light. I’m honestly at a bit of a loss and as I fall into the high risk category I would like to avoid going to the vets if at all possible. Obviously if it’s necessary I will absolutely take them, but if anyone has any advice I would greatly appreciate it.
At first I thought it might be mites so I treated them all in April time, but that hasn’t stopped the dandruff. After doing more research I thought it might be fungal even though the only symptom she has is dandruff and she scratches more often than the other girls, and very rarely she would lose a bigger chunk of fur with a flake of skin (I’ve only noticed it twice now since April and I keep a pretty keen eye on the cage for any clumps). However she does shed quite a lot, but so does my other American pig who has no issues. She’s black and white and the dandruff seems to be both dark and white, but that’s because her skin itself is different colours underneath the fur. She has no bald spots or sores or scabs anywhere other than a small bald spot on her left front paw (which I’m pretty sure has always been there), her coat is otherwise very nice and shiny and soft, and she doesn’t seem to be in any extreme discomfort or pain at all. She happily eats her hay, veg, and nuggets, and popcorns all the time. She doesn’t really like it when I touch her back/bum area (where the dandruff is the worst) but neither do my other pigs so I don’t think that’s got much to do with the issue at hand. She doesn’t have any other health issues that I or my vet are aware of. After doing some research I got some TGel shampoo to see if that would make any difference and it hasn’t so far (I’ve only bathed her in it twice so far in the last week and a half per the advice of other threads), but I am also going to get Nizoral as I’ve heard good things about it and that it works well for fungal infections. I’ve also heard that coconut oil is good for this type of stuff but I haven’t tried that as of yet.
After doing some more looking I’ve come across some stuff about piggy eczema and skin allergies, and honestly I think it could be one of these issues because I really don’t think it’s fungal anymore. I definitely don’t think it’s mites or lice. She’s roan and I know they can have genetic issues sometimes from bad breeding, so it could potentially be because of that even though the breeder seemed ethical with their roans (ie not breeding strictly for roan’s and having lethal whites, etc). The girls are on fleece bedding which gets spot cleaned at least once a day and fully cleaned once a week (my girls are quite clean and have mostly trained themselves to go to the bathroom in a litter tray). They have constant access to lots of hay and they get nuggets and veg every day. I try and vary the veg so they get at least three different types a day. Nothing I use or feed them has changed since before I got Winry so I know it’s not anything new causing the issues. The weather has been pretty humid so it’s not caused by dry weather either. They’re indoor only pigs right now due to my living circumstances but that’s never been an issue as they’re in a room with lots of natural light. I’m honestly at a bit of a loss and as I fall into the high risk category I would like to avoid going to the vets if at all possible. Obviously if it’s necessary I will absolutely take them, but if anyone has any advice I would greatly appreciate it.
