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Crusty/dry ear on 6 week old piggy

emellertid

emellertid

Junior Guinea Pig
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Åland Islands, Finland
My Nina, 6 weeks old, has a dry ear. I didn’t take a picture of it, but the best way I can describe it is like dandruff all over the outside of the ear (noticeable white tiny flakes on her black ear) and more of a crusty surface and larger flaking on the inside of the ear. On the inside, there was also something that looked like a tiny amount of dried blood. (There hasn’t been any fighting, so another piggy didn’t cause that.) If it was there yesterday, it must have been much less, because I didn’t notice it despite hanging out with her in the evening. (Or I wasn’t paying enough attention)

Otherwise she seems OK: alert, explorative, eats and drinks, does not seem to be in pain anywhere - she even let me touch the poor ear without reacting. My other two pigs look fine, no similar dryness anywhere, that I’ve been able to discover.

I’ve e-mailed the vet, so they’ll see it first thing on Monday. If I don’t get a response with an appointment Monday morning, I’m calling them.

What I’m wondering is, could something I did have caused this? I don’t have any other pets, I haven’t bathed her, I haven’t cleaned the cage with any weird chemicals, fleece liners are washed with a very mild detergent (we’re a sensitive-skinned family)... Can for example a fungal infection happen out of nowhere? I’m a first time piggie owner and she’s only been with me a little over a week so I feel like ”omg, if I got her ill already, I’m the worst” :soz:
 
@emellertid They can seem to come out of nowhere.

Where did you get her from? I suspect she came with it already but it's just starting to become visible now.

The vet will give her something to take care of it. Mention that you have two other pigs as they may need treatment too, depending on what it is.

You won't have caused it, the move to a new home may have made it progress quicker but you definitely haven't caused it.
 
Jaycey said:
@emellertid They can seem to come out of nowhere.

Where did you get her from? I suspect she came with it already but it's just starting to become visible now.

The vet will give her something to take care of it. Mention that you have two other pigs as they may need treatment too, depending on what it is.

You won't have caused it, the move to a new home may have made it progress quicker but you definitely haven't caused it.
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Thank you for your reply!

The girls and the boy came from different homes. The girls from a woman who has many kinds of pets and several years of experience with guinea pigs. She takes good care of them and is training to become a vet’a assistant, but I do wonder if her cats may have passed on something to Nina. (They’re not ”indoor cats”.) My boy Uffe came from an older lady who I don’t know much about. I do know that he roamed free in her house, though.
All of them went through a vet check before they moved in together here, but there was nothing visibly wrong with Nina’s ear then.

I’ll tell the vet about them! Thank you. I’ve been keeping an eye on the other two, but so far, they don’t have similar symptoms.
 
Got an appointment with a vet tomorrow at 10.30! I’m bringing both Nina and Uffe - Nina for her ear, and Uffe because his nails look like they’re growing out very very curly, and I hope they can give some advice on how to cut them safely.
 
Hope you get on well at the vets with both of them. Never hurts to have these things checked out.
 
We went to the vet today. The vet was nice, examined Nina’s ear and took samples of the crusty stuff. She could not find any parasites, and said it might be an infection, but she wanted to consult a more cavy savvy colleague and then get back to me. Apparently there’s only one vet on our island who’s specialized in guinea pigs, a German lady who works part time. Luckily, she’s working this week, so I’m hoping they get back to me within the next couple of days. She said to come back immediately if it gets worse or I notice any head tilting, and gave me a honey ointment to soothe the ear in the meantime.

She also told me that they rarely see small pets and rodents with more benign symptoms (or symptoms that haven’t escalated yet), like crusty ears or noses, because people don’t want to pay vet bills that are more expensive than the cost of the animal (Sorry if that was a weird sentence in English, it’s my third language), and just don’t bring them in. That was so heartbreaking to hear. Like if an animal is little, or cheap in pet stores, they don’t deserve medical care when they need it? I don’t understand the connection at all. I can’t imagine being more motivated to get my dog help (if I had one) only based on that I had paid more to get the dog? :eek:

They also agreed that Uffe’s nails seem to grow unusually curly, but they didn’t need cutting yet, so I’ll take him back in a week or so.
 
Hope the cavy savvy vet can help.
I’m impressed with your English - the grammar is better than many native speakers.
The fact that it’s your 3rd language puts us to shame.

Keep us posted about Nina
 
Merab's Slave said:
Hope the cavy savvy vet can help.
I’m impressed with your English - the grammar is better than many native speakers.
The fact that it’s your 3rd language puts us to shame.

Keep us posted about Nina
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Thank you so much! :) That’s nice to hear, I’m always a little insecure about speaking or writing in English. I don’t understand nuances like a native speaker would.

I will! Keeping an extra eye on her.
 
So, the vet thought that it’s probably a small wound that’s gotten infected and prescribed something to keep it clean. I thought that was weird, but they’re the vet.

But now I noticed that Julia has a tiny bit of that same kind of flaky dryness on her ear. I e-mailed them (since they’re closed now) and linked to an article about ringworm and other fungal infections, where there’s a picture of an affected piggie ear that looks very much like Nina’s and Julia’s poor ears. I asked where I can get my hands on Itrafungol if need be.

Uffe is not showing symptoms, but he has had some general hairloss ever since I got him. I just thought it was because he’s older, or maybe that his white hairs are showing more on fleeces and towels than the girls’ black and brown little fur, but I’m wondering if he may have carried an infection and now the girls got it. (They came from different homes)

Hopefully the vet can help or knows someone to consult, but if not, I’ll take a trip to a bigger clinic in Stockholm, Sweden. (3-4 hours by ferry and car) Fingers crossed!
 
It sounds as if you know your guinea pigs well enough to be sure there’s more to it than a tiny wound.
A trip to Stockholm may be worth the effort.
Hope to hear more positive news soon
 
I once had four week old piggy who had a flaky ear and a couple of crusty scabs on her face. It turned out that her mum had a fungal infection and Ena had caught from her. Due to her young age, my vet told me to apply Darkarin which is an over the counter human fungal cream. Thankfully that worked but It may be worth mentioning to your vet.
 
Claire W said:
I once had four week old piggy who had a flaky ear and a couple of crusty scabs on her face. It turned out that her mum had a fungal infection and Ena had caught from her. Due to her young age, my vet told me to apply Darkarin which is an over the counter human fungal cream. Thankfully that worked but It may be worth mentioning to your vet.
Click to expand...

Thank you for the advice!
I saw a video where they recommended bathing with an antifungal shampoo containing pyrithione zink, they used Head & Shoulders. From being a bit of a skincare junkie, I know that stuff is pretty harsh on human scalp, but would it be worth trying, do you think?
 
emellertid said:
Thank you for the advice!
I saw a video where they recommended bathing with an antifungal shampoo containing pyrithione zink, they used Head & Shoulders. From being a bit of a skincare junkie, I know that stuff is pretty harsh on human scalp, but would it be worth trying, do you think?
Click to expand...

To be honest, I wouldn't use head and shoulders on her. You can get special shampoo from your vet but my vet said that even that would be too harsh on a baby
 
Update: I and my piggies got to see that one vet who has some specialisation in guinea pigs today. I brought all three, since they all have gotten similar dryness on their ears by now. (Although Julia and Uffe have much less of it than Nina.)

The vet said it definitely looks fungal, but probably not ringworm, since it’s spread so very slowly, doesn’t look ringworm:y, and only has affected ears and one of Nina’s feet. She gave me an antifungal cream to apply to affected areas, but said that Nina might need oral medication if that doesn’t help. She’ll call me in a week to follow up, unless the pigs get worse and I have to call in sooner.
 
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