Appointments for probable static lice today

[Scooter Pie]

Hello all...today at 2pm and 5:45pm EST my two pairs of ladies are going to the vet.

Cinnamon and Sugar, adopted summer 2020, about 5-5.5 years old. Sugar is an absynian/ridgeback and probably about 2 weeks ago I noticed some thinning on her side swirls. Friday night my daughter thought there was more hair loss and what my 49 year old eyes thought were just a few dry skin flakes appeared to be moving to her 19 year old eyes. YUP. Lice.

She checked her cagemate Cinnamon who is a crested and found them on top of her head.

Our other pair are Peggy (born 8/22/21, adopted november of that year) and Mandy, adopted 9/12/23 (september) DOB unknown, about 6 months old.

Peggy has a few on top of her head, she is also a crested. Mandy is just a "smooth" piggie and we haven't found any on her yet.

The "yucky bugs" seem to like to get right at the skin!

They both have 2x4 C&C with fleece over towels. Hay is in big piles on the floor. I sweep up poop every day and switch out "pee pads" as needed and wash it all honestly more like every 10 days but I know it should be no more than 7 I do wash in cold water with vinegar and baking soda detergent.

Can anyone give me an idea of what to expect? Ive read a bit of info and threads on here. I hope it's a shampoo treatment. Nervous about any oral or injectibles but whatever it takes. I have some trust issues due to it being hard to find piggie savvy vets in my area.

Thanks so much and I'll check in later!

 

[Wiebke]

Hello all...today at 2pm and 5:45pm EST my two pairs of ladies are going to the vet.

Cinnamon and Sugar, adopted summer 2020, about 5-5.5 years old. Sugar is an absynian/ridgeback and probably about 2 weeks ago I noticed some thinning on her side swirls. Friday night my daughter thought there was more hair loss and what my 49 year old eyes thought were just a few dry skin flakes appeared to be moving to her 19 year old eyes. YUP. Lice.

She checked her cagemate Cinnamon who is a crested and found them on top of her head.

Our other pair are Peggy (born 8/22/21, adopted november of that year) and Mandy, adopted 9/12/23 (september) DOB unknown, about 6 months old.

Peggy has a few on top of her head, she is also a crested. Mandy is just a "smooth" piggie and we haven't found any on her yet.

The "yucky bugs" seem to like to get right at the skin!

They both have 2x4 C&C with fleece over towels. Hay is in big piles on the floor. I sweep up poop every day and switch out "pee pads" as needed and wash it all honestly more like every 10 days but I know it should be no more than 7 I do wash in cold water with vinegar and baking soda detergent.

Can anyone give me an idea of what to expect? Ive read a bit of info and threads on here. I hope it's a shampoo treatment. Nervous about any oral or injectibles but whatever it takes. I have some trust issues due to it being hard to find piggie savvy vets in my area.

Thanks so much and I'll check in later!

Hi

The standard vet treatment for any skin parasites including hay mites (chirodiscoides caviae) is spot-on ivermectin. If you search for static lice (the old UK name for the parasite), some care advice may be outdated. The old name refers to the tiny egg cases fixed to the hairs, especially at the bum end and the undercoat; the mites (and not lice) themselves are invisible.

New piggy problems: URI - ringworm - skin parasites

 

[Piggies&buns]

Lice and ‘static lice’ are different things - treatment is the same though.

Static lice is an outdated term - they are referred to as hay mites. You cannot see the mites themselves and you certainly won’t see them moving. They affix their eggs to the hair shaft and it is the egg casings which you can see (they won’t move).

Lice are pale crawling creatures which you can see. They are a blood sucking parasite.
So as you can see them you are most likely dealing with lice (not hay mites).


Treatment for lice is usually an ivermectin or selamectin spot On . It depends on what product you are given, but usually it’s three separate treatments with two weeks between each treatment.

It’s a good idea to disinfect everything thoroughly, throw away anything you can’t disinfect.

Also giving extra vitamin c can help boost their immune systems.

 

[Scooter Pie]

Lice and ‘static lice’ are different things - treatment is the same though.

Static lice is an outdated term - they are referred to as hay mites. You cannot see the mites themselves and you certainly won’t see them moving. They affix their eggs to the hair shaft and it is the egg casings which you can see (they won’t move).

Lice are pale crawling creatures which you can see. They are a blood sucking parasite.
So as you can see them you are most likely dealing with lice (not hay mites).


Treatment for lice is usually an ivermectin or selamectin spot On . It depends on what product you are given, but usually it’s three separate treatments with two weeks between each treatment.

It’s a good idea to disinfect everything thoroughly, throw away anything you can’t disinfect.

Also giving extra vitamin c can help boost their immune systems.

Definitely lice. I notice they are a lot smaller than the human version which sadly I know about too

Lice can or cannot come from hay? I think they need a host? What kind of lice did I read about that feed on skin flakes, not blood? If they came from my newest adoptee they could have been here since September without noticing?

If anyone has answers I appreciate it but not expected Just thinking out loud and will read more when I get a chance.

I really want to know where they came from so I can be sure to prevent it from happening.

 

[Wiebke]

Definitely lice. I notice they are a lot smaller than the human version which sadly I know about too

Lice can or cannot come from hay? I think they need a host? What kind of lice did I read about that feed on skin flakes, not blood? If they came from my newest adoptee they could have been here since September without noticing?

If anyone has answers I appreciate it but not expected Just thinking out loud and will read more when I get a chance.

I really want to know where they came from so I can be sure to prevent it from happening.

Hi

If you can see pale moving things, then you are dealing with skin biting lice. They can come with hay or are in the environment. A healthy immune system often goes a long way to fend them off but they can hit occasionally. They have become a lot rarer with a major switch to indoors piggies.

Hay mites (static lice) typically come with hay and live off debris on the skin and hairs. They are the least invasive of the three guinea pig species specific skin parasites but they can be harder to deal with.

Please read this link here to find the various parasites and their treatment explained: New piggy problems: URI - ringworm - skin parasites

 

[Scooter Pie]

Hi

If you can see pale moving things, then you are dealing with skin biting lice. They can come with hay or are in the environment. A healthy immune system often goes a long way to fend them off but they can hit occasionally. They have become a lot rarer with a major switch to indoors piggies.

Hay mites (static lice) typically come with hay and live off debris on the skin and hairs. They are the least invasive of the three guinea pig species specific skin parasites but they can be harder to deal with.

Please read this link here to find the various parasites and their treatment explained: New piggy problems: URI - ringworm - skin parasites

Thanks. I just read your link again and it looks like lice because nothing looks like pepper in the fur. Pale crawling things. The article you linked did not say they come from hay. I wonder how something that needs a host can come from hay.

 

[Wiebke]

Thanks. I just read your link again and it looks like lice because nothing looks like pepper in the fur. Pale crawling things. The article you linked did not say they come from hay. I wonder how something that needs a host can come from hay.

Definitely lice, and where they come from is a bit of a mystery, frankly.

 

[Scooter Pie]

Definitely lice, and where they come from is a bit of a mystery, frankly.

Got it. Well I'll be taking Cinnamon and Sugar in 1/2 hour. Sugar also has bladder sludge as a condition we watch. She's the only one with fur loss (looks chewed off in some areas, bald in others, all on her "cowlicks".

 

[Wiebke]

Got it. Well I'll be taking Cinnamon and Sugar in 1/2 hour. Sugar also has bladder sludge as a condition we watch. She's the only one with fur loss (looks chewed off in some areas, bald in others, all on her "cowlicks".

The sludge is likely the immune lowering health issue that has allowed the lice a foot in. You will still hve to treat all your piggies in the same room.

 

[Scooter Pie]

The sludge is likely the immune lowering health issue that has allowed the lice a foot in. You will still hve to treat all your piggies in the same room.

Makes a lot of sense! Her cage mate defintely has them but not as bad.

 

[Scooter Pie]

Piggies are being treated with "Revolution" which is selamectin. Today and again in 10 days with lots of cleaning in between. They were all otherwise looking really good. Even Sugar who has it the worst with some hair loss had no skin irritation.

Vet thinks it's a mystery!

I was doing some googling and found this interesting thought about it being unlikely to come from hay. If the parasites are species specific, wouldn't there need to be guinea pigs at the hay farm in order for that to be possible?

Anyway, can't hurt to keep them much cleaner now. I have a supply of "Uhaul" style blankets on order to replace my old towels and want to get some new fleece prints too.