• Discussions taking place within this forum are intended for the purpose of assisting you in discussing options with your vet. Any other use of advice given here is done so at your risk, is solely your responsibility and not that of this forum or its owner. Before posting it is your responsibility you abide by this Statement

Advice re ? fungal infections in new guinea pig

  • Thread starter Thread starter bobm
  • Start date Start date
Status
Not open for further replies.
B

bobm

Hello All,

We are totally new to guinea pigs & this forum.
We just got 2 guinea pigs (2 x sows - one age 6 wks & the other age 4 1/2 wks) as pets for my daughters on Sunday. We are trying very hard to learn all we can to make them as happy & healthy as possible!

However, the smallest sow has a bald patch on the top of her head, which we only noticed just after we got her home. Over the last couple of days it seems to have got bigger and I can see a couple of tiny white circular kind of patterns on the skin. However, otherwise the skin seems intact and not red. From reading other threads I'm wondering does this sound like a fungal infection? And if so how should we go about treating it? I can't see anything on the other sow, but is it likely that she'll need treating too?

Can anyone advise please. Also, any general advise on settling in new guinea pigs, hints & tips etc would be greatly appreciated :)

Thank you!
 
Welcome to the forum Bob, and congrats on your two new guineas. :)
There's some tips here on settling new piggies: http://www.theguineapigforum.co.uk/showthread.php?t=36239

Treating very young pigs for fungal infections isn't quite the same as treating adults; ordinarily you'd bath the pig weekly or every few days, and apply some cream to the worst affected areas daily. It's not recommended to bath such young piggies, but I have had success treating localised fungal problems in a 3 week old pig just using an anti-fungal cream.

I would recommend attempting to treat with the use of a miconazole-based ointment such as Daktarin cream. Daktarin Gold cream is an alternative, it contains ketoconazole which tends to work effectively.

Only apply a small dab of cream, just enough to spread over the bald patch, but do so 2-3 times daily.

Have you registered with a vet yet? If not, maybe we can help you find a good one in your area or advise you on how to find a good vet.
 
Hello and welcome to the forum.

I don't know much about skin problems but here are a couple of sites that you might want to take a look at- both are often referred to by forum members.

http://www.guinealynx.info/

http://www.gorgeousguineas.com/


I'd be inclined to take her to a vet to be checked over. She's very young so I'd be concerned about trying treatments at home. Fungal infections can be serious for a guinea pig and possible contagious to humans, e.g. ringworm.
However, other forum members with more experience will hopefully be able to give advice.

Are you able to post a photo? This will give people a clearer idea of what you're talking about.


I hope that you can get this problem sorted quickly and get on with enjoying your new arrivals. It's an exciting time. :)



Edit: Ah, I see Laura has replied while I was typing. She's one of the more experienced people I was talking about.
 
Hi,

Thanks so much for your prompt advice.
I think we'd better take her to see a vet, so if you could let me know how I go about finding a recommended vet in our area I'd really appreciate it as we've not lived here long. We're just outside York.

I'm also a little concerned about what flips said about it possibly being contagious to humans. Should I not be letting my daughters handle them at the mo (my kids are only 3 & 7)?

Ta.
 
There is a list of vets here that are good. http://www.theguineapigforum.co.uk/showthread.php?t=38481
Also if you google "vets york" there is a big list. Look for ones that actually specify exotics or small animals.
How far outside York are you? Probably best not to handle them much and wash your hands if you do.
 
Last edited:
bobm said:
Hi,

Thanks so much for your prompt advice.
I think we'd better take her to see a vet, so if you could let me know how I go about finding a recommended vet in our area I'd really appreciate it as we've not lived here long. We're just outside York.

I'm also a little concerned about what flips said about it possibly being contagious to humans. Should I not be letting my daughters handle them at the mo (my kids are only 3 & 7)?

Ta.
Click to expand...


Didn't mean to worry you but I thought I should mention it as somone on here recently had a patch of ringworm on their arm due to an infected pig. I thought as you had children you'd want to know. Hopefully it's not that but I'd probably keep handling to a minimum until you have a diagnosis from a vet.

Best wishes. x
 
No, don't worry, I'm glad you told me! It had crossed my mind but as I've no experience of pets really I didn't know if I was being overly paranoid!
I've called a vet and I'm going to take them both tomorrow to be checked out. Could be the other one has some patches too but I'm not too confident at handling them yet and being so young & new they're still pretty fast, so not really been able to see!
Thanks for your help.
 
Went to vets yesterday who checked them both.
Vet noticed little one had a few other little bald patches and I'd noticed she was itching a lot in those areas. She was given an injection for mites and has to go back for another in 10 days. Vet also plucked some hairs and sent them for culture to check if also fungal infection - but no treatment at mo.
Vet checked the older pig over but said she lookesd fine, although I'm to bring her back to the appt in 10 days too to check over.

BUT, watching them last night I can see the little one is still itching/scratching loads. How quickly should you see improvement after the injection? Also, I'm thinking the older pig should have had the injection too as chances are being in same cage she'll catch it - what do people think? I thought the little one was kind of scraggy cos she was younger than the older one but I'm now thinking she's generally not in great shape. Her hair seems thin all over compared to the bigger one & she's kind of skinny - reminds me more of a hamster! Is this age folks, will she bulk up? There's approx 1 1/2 wks between them. I'm worried we've been sold a guinea with problems that we're not at all experienced to deal with, especially in one so young. And I feel a little peeved that the lady who sold them was supposed to be an expert and would have seen/known this.

To be honest I feel rather out of my depth, so any more ideas/advice would be greatly appreciated!
 
Glad you managed to get to the vets.
One of my guinea pigs showed signs of mites (scabs on her back from scratching) so the vet treated both my pigs for mites with an injection. They've had their second one and we have to go back for the last one next week. They're still scratching but guinea pigs but it's not as intense. My understanding is that the injection kills live mites but they have to have the further treatments because eggs already laid will still hatch out. The vet also said to make sure not to contaminate clean bedding so to be extra sure you clean the cage then wash hands, etc before putting the new bedding in.


If your little guinea pig is eating well hopefully she will bulk up soon. They do vary a lot in size/ shape. Most people on the forum recommend weighing your pigs weekly as this is a good indicator of health problems. Weight loss may be the first sign of a problem as guinea pigs hide illness well. Young guinea pigs would be expected to be gaining weight.

:)
 
Thank you. The vet never mentioned that about cross contamination so we'll make sure we do that.
It's really depressing cos the kids are so enthusiastic and want to handle them and we want them to get used to us and tame so the kids can be more involved with them. But while she's like this I don't want to upset or hurt her more and I can see she's pretty jumpy. On a positive note tho I think she must not feel too bad in herself cos she's pretty squeeky when the food comes and I just watched her tuck well into a piece of cucumber!
 
Hi,
My baby guinea pigs were also showing signs of a skin infection at 6 weeks old (and maybe about a week before that). The vet had a look but wasnt sure and treated them for mites with a spot-on treatment called Xeno 50 mini. They get their last dose tonight (3 doses each 2 weeks apart).
I have also been treating them with Gorgeous Guineas Lavender and Myrrh lotion as looking on their website it looked more fungal than mitey to me. I really think thats made a big difference.
The vet never mentioned to me about hand washing or it being potentially contagious or anything.... rolleyes
I think they are improving though - I have 3 aged 10 weeks now and 2 adults.
Good luck with yours - hope you get it sorted soon,
x
 
I had a pig with fungal in with others and no one else got the infection.

I have also had a pig with mites in with another pig and none of them had the mites either so cross contamination isn't definite at all.

I handled my pig with fungal and didn't catch anything either. I think if you and sensible and put a towel on your / your daughters lap and do handwashing afterwards holding them should be fine.

Nice to hear of them tucking into the cucumber - piggies love their veggies!

OH and xeno 50 mini bought online is much much cheaper than your vets. No injection needed - just incase you need it in the future :).
 
Thanks again everyone for your interest & advice.

I had a bit of a shopping spree yesterday on various products & I'm now on a mission! Last night I deep cleaned the cage and sprayed it with an anti-mite spray. Then I put new play tubes and a new house in and got rid of the old ones, for now. Then I used a product called 'Anti-parasite spot on' by beaphar which says it contains ivermectin on the bigger piggie. I had to squeeze it out behind her neck then rub it in. She looked rather greasy after! I didn't use it on the little pig as I'm happy to continue with the vets plan for now re her. Has anyone heard of this product or used it? As I'm using it prophylactically on the big pig, do you still think I need to repeat in a week? I also weighed them both - the 6wk one is 300g and the 4 1/2wk one is only 175g Do these weights sound OK?

I'm hoping my cleaning session will help. It's def helped my OCD anyway...and I'm not itching so much thinking about the mites! LOL
 
OH and xeno 50 mini bought online is much much cheaper than your vets. No injection needed - just incase you need it in the future :).[/QUOTE]


Meant to say - Is the beaphar stuff I bought the same as this xeno 50? It cost me £4.50 from a shop called The Range in York. Just saw it on the shelf.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top