Any Ideas?

[GuineaPigSmith]

Hi guys! My guinea pig Nutmeg has a patch under her eye, on her front leg, and on her thy that don't have fur and are kinda crusty. She is very healthy and has a cage mat Rosemary. Rosemary is very healthy and neither of them have signs of mites or lice. Well Nutmeg also had an infection in 3 of her lymph nodes and we finally got the puss out of the third one. We are also worried about her being on medication to long. The vet had given her a medication but I forgot what it was called after that bottle ran out he said it was uneffective and gave her SulfaTrimeThorprim I believe and my mom and I have taken her off until further notice because we think it might be hurting her immune system. All the spots that don't have fur I have noticed her scratching at a lot. I have been giving her extra vitamin C and fruits and veggies high in vitamin C to help her boost her immune system. Any ideas on what we should do? Thanks for any help!

hugs from me and the piggies!

 

[theoretikos]

It sounds like it could possibly be fungal to me but I have no experience. I am going to tag some more experienced members so that they can answer you soon

@Wiebke
@helen105281

 

[helen105281]

Hi, first of all please can you confirm your location as that will enable us to help you better. I think the antibiotics she was recently on are the same as Septrin in the UK. It would help to see photos but on first thoughts this sounds like fungal, possibly ringworm, but this would need an official diagnosis from the vets. Fungal is opportunistic and can strike wheh the immune system is compromised. You would need to speak to your vet about how to treat it but I would suggest a product called Imaverol (the active ingredient in Enilconazole) and this is used to dip the pig (ideally once a week) but can be mixed up differently to also treat topically on the days in between dips. Some vets also treat with oral fungal medication such as Itrafungol (Itraconazole) though as her immune system is already compromised your vet may be wary of this. The Imaverol should be patch tested for 48 hours behind the ear before using.

I think it would also help to give her probiotics if you haven't already though Septrin is not as harsh on the guts as other antibiotics.

Does she seem in any pain at all? If so, please also ask the vet for pain relief.

 

[GuineaPigSmith]

Hi, first of all please can you confirm your location as that will enable us to help you better. I think the antibiotics she was recently on are the same as Septrin in the UK. It would help to see photos but on first thoughts this sounds like fungal, possibly ringworm, but this would need an official diagnosis from the vets. Fungal is opportunistic and can strike wheh the immune system is compromised. You would need to speak to your vet about how to treat it but I would suggest a product called Imaverol (the active ingredient in Enilconazole) and this is used to dip the pig (ideally once a week) but can be mixed up differently to also treat topically on the days in between dips. Some vets also treat with oral fungal medication such as Itrafungol (Itraconazole) though as her immune system is already compromised your vet may be wary of this. The Imaverol should be patch tested for 48 hours behind the ear before using.

I think it would also help to give her probiotics if you haven't already though Septrin is not as harsh on the guts as other antibiotics.

Does she seem in any pain at all? If so, please also ask the vet for pain relief.[/QUOTE

Okay thank you! I don't thing its ring worm though as I would see it through her fur. I would rather not but I actually don't live in the Uk I live in the USA but I remembered that the last medication she was on or the first one was baytril. She is very healthy and active and loves people.

Extra info:

Nutmeg is a 11 month old female piggy.
Rosemary (The cage mate) Is also a female and is 3 1/2 months old.
They both live in a 2x4 C&C cage.
They get along beautifully

 

[GuineaPigSmith]

heres her eye: (note they eye looks a lot better then before definitely healing. we are also putting some pet safe pain relief cream on the wounds)

 

[helen105281]

Thank you for the photos, that definitely looks fungal especially the patch on the eye. It may not necessarily be ringworm though as there are lots of different types, your vet may want to do a culture to see but please note that only ringworm tends to culture using the standard method that vets use. So if the vet manages to culture something then it will be ringworm.

I would speak to your vet and see what they recommend, have you treated it with anything already other than the pain relief cream?

USA is fine for your location, you don't need to be specific, we just need to know the country as products tend to have different names outside of the UK.

 

[GuineaPigSmith]

Thank you for the photos, that definitely looks fungal especially the patch on the eye. It may not necessarily be ringworm though as there are lots of different types, your vet may want to do a culture to see but please note that only ringworm tends to culture using the standard method that vets use. So if the vet manages to culture something then it will be ringworm.

I would speak to your vet and see what they recommend, have you treated it with anything already other than the pain relief cream?

USA is fine for your location, you don't need to be specific, we just need to know the country as products tend to have different names outside of the UK.

okay thanks! I will talk to my mom and see if she could try to get the vet on the phone and ask him what it could be. We have Taken Nutmeg to the vet multiple times and that has never came up. How long would it take for something fungal to appear? she has only had these patches for around 5 days not exact. She isn't on anything else just Vitamin C tablets from oxbow and oxbow pellets and she eats lots of hay and eats a good amount of pellets while not over eating.

 

[helen105281]

It can appear all of a sudden out of the blue, especially ringworm. Something like Candidiasis (another type of fungal) can take longer in my experience.

 

[GuineaPigSmith]

hmm.... now that worries me.... Are there any other signs ringworm could have? at one point our three dogs had It but we got rid of it a year ago way before we had the pigs.

 

[helen105281]

It is mainly the hairloss and crustyness. This link may help.

I think the reason she has it is because her body will have been under stress with everything else that has been going on.

http://www.guinealynx.info/fungus.html

Please note that if it is ringworm or any type of fungal you need to be extra careful with hygiene, though you are most likely aware of that already from treating your dogs.