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dandruff?

thomasmuffinsRgood

thomasmuffinsRgood

Junior Guinea Pig
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Hey all, I was just wondering why Mack might have dandruff? I don’t think I need to worry, just thought I’d check..
 

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Flaky skin can have a variety of causes - dry air from heating, irritation from detergent or something which needs treatment ie mites. It’s best to have a vet check him out
 
Piggies&buns said:
Flaky skin can have a variety of causes - dry air from heating, irritation from detergent or something which needs treatment ie mites. It’s best to have a vet check him out
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sorry for just getting back to you now.. ill see what i can do... just one more question. i have found that above the little bald spot piggies have at their ear is where dandruff/mites are... they are sticking too the hair. dont look like lice. is this a sign of mites?
 
It’s definitely not dandruff. Here are photos
 

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Piggies&buns said:
If you can see small pale creatures moving about on your piggies then it may well be lice.
Mites themselves cannot be seen. All you can see of mites is their evidence which may be bald patches, itching, sore skin, bits that look like grains of pepper stuck in their hair which is the egg casings

Let us know how you get on at the vet

New Guinea Pig Problems: Sexing & Pregnancy; URI, Ringworm & Parasites; Vet Checks & Customer Rights
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Without the vets help I was able to find a little singular moving lice. Not sure if he has more. We will call the vet soon as they have yet to opened
 
I think you can still pet him. My piggies have had lice and I still pet them. People don't get guinea-pig lice... I mean I've never rubbed a pig on my hair to really prove that but we haven't got them so far! I don't know if they catch them from other animals though - like other pets or wildlife - but when we've had anything like this it's always come in on a new piggy. I take in grown up or older pigs from rescues or from people who only have one left so they sometimes bring something in that I don't see. One time the new pig never showed any signs of lice then I saw them all over my white piggy a few weeks later!

In the UK there is a spot-on lotion that the vet can prescribe to treat mites or lice. The active ingredient is called ivermectin. Sometimes we see 'shampoo' in the pet store that claims to have ivermectin in but the concentration is really low - not enough to kill off critters - the vet prescribed product is the way to go.
We spot the lotion on and then we have to do it again 2 weeks later and then we have to do it 2 weeks after that! This is because it kills the live ones but not the eggs so you have to wait for the eggs to hatch out and die next time round. The 3rd dose is usually just for safety - most everything is killed off by the first two. It takes 3 weeks for the life cycle to be complete - so from hatching to breeding the louse needs 3 weeks and by treating after 2 weeks you catch them before they are properly mature... that's the idea. It's the same for mites. Sometimes vets do injections for pigs (and again they have to be repeated) but we've never had this and I'm quite pleased because - well - ouch!

When he's had his treatment you need to blitz the cage out so any lice or eggs in the environment don't re-infest him but the vet will tell you all about that. So you throw away any cardboard bits, wash fleeces, scrub plastic things etc. I normally do it within a day or two of the treatment. The spot-on stuff is active for a couple of days and you don't wash it off piggy or bath him or anything. Good luck!
 
Free Ranger said:
I think you can still pet him. My piggies have had lice and I still pet them. People don't get guinea-pig lice... I mean I've never rubbed a pig on my hair to really prove that but we haven't got them so far! I don't know if they catch them from other animals though - like other pets or wildlife - but when we've had anything like this it's always come in on a new piggy. I take in grown up or older pigs from rescues or from people who only have one left so they sometimes bring something in that I don't see. One time the new pig never showed any signs of lice then I saw them all over my white piggy a few weeks later!

In the UK there is a spot-on lotion that the vet can prescribe to treat mites or lice. The active ingredient is called ivermectin. Sometimes we see 'shampoo' in the pet store that claims to have ivermectin in but the concentration is really low - not enough to kill off critters - the vet prescribed product is the way to go.
We spot the lotion on and then we have to do it again 2 weeks later and then we have to do it 2 weeks after that! This is because it kills the live ones but not the eggs so you have to wait for the eggs to hatch out and die next time round. The 3rd dose is usually just for safety - most everything is killed off by the first two. It takes 3 weeks for the life cycle to be complete - so from hatching to breeding the louse needs 3 weeks and by treating after 2 weeks you catch them before they are properly mature... that's the idea. It's the same for mites. Sometimes vets do injections for pigs (and again they have to be repeated) but we've never had this and I'm quite pleased because - well - ouch!

When he's had his treatment you need to blitz the cage out so any lice or eggs in the environment don't re-infest him but the vet will tell you all about that. So you throw away any cardboard bits, wash fleeces, scrub plastic things etc. I normally do it within a day or two of the treatment. The spot-on stuff is active for a couple of days and you don't wash it off piggy or bath him or anything. Good luck!
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thank you for the advice. vet isnt in untill monday and shes booked thru march. they have emergency appointments so they said call when they open to try and reserve one. maybe ill get a lice comb to try and get some of it out in the meantime?
 
I'm not sure a lice comb would work - it's OK for people but piggies have really sensitive skin and it might hurt him to be combed. He should be OK until Monday unless he's really desperately scratching - and they all scratch a bit even if there is nothing wrong. A lot of hairy animals carry 'passengers' and they kind of get used to it. When I caught headlice from my son he only had 7 but we found over 50 on me so they must have been happy there for a while before I noticed!
.
If your vet gives you the spot-on treatment they should give enough for the repeat doses anyway so you can do it at home... you shouldn't need to keep returning to the vet. They will show you how to spot it on the first time and it's easy to do. Mine just gives me all the doses and says to get back to them if there is still any trouble after the 6 weeks are up.

If he has a piggy friend it is important to treat all pigs at the same time even if the friend isn't showing any symptoms - or the lice will just hide on the friend until the medication wears off and then climb back on your boy!
 
If you have a guinea pig with visible moving lice, then there is a need to start treatment as soon as possible. It is a two pronged approach - a strong topical treatment to kill the lice (you will need several rounds of treatment) plus you need to boost the piggy’s immune system, additional vitamin c etc. is the piggy poorly?
 
I was only able to find two moving lice. the rest are eggs. i used the lice brush on mack and it took a few loose hairs with eggs out, but with benny it did absoloutly nothing lol. neither of them seem too irritated so i think they be fine till monday
 
Went to the vet and she confirmed it was lice. She said it might have been laying dormant until now or went unoticed. Whatever the case, she gave them both revolution behind the neck and said that it covers the skin so when the lice eat the scalp, they die and fall off. So lice for a few more days then hoefully they die off!
 
thomasmuffinsRgood said:
Went to the vet and she confirmed it was lice. She said it might have been laying dormant until now or went unoticed. Whatever the case, she gave them both revolution behind the neck and said that it covers the skin so when the lice eat the scalp, they die and fall off. So lice for a few more days then hoefully they die off!
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Yea that is how the treatment works, lice are blood sucking so the treatment is effective.
Have they told you when to go back for a second treatment? Treatment only kills the active lice, not the eggs, so the second treatment is needed to kill the new lice that would have been eggs at the time of the first treatment. (a third treatment is then usually given to make sure everything is really gone).

Don’t forget your cage hygiene too with a good disinfectant
As Vicki has said, additional vitamin c is a good idea when treating lice as lice can weaken guinea pigs so giving the immune system a boost is important

New Guinea Pig Problems: Sexing & Pregnancy; URI, Ringworm & Parasites; Vet Checks & Customer Rights
 
Piggies&buns said:
Yea that is how the treatment works, lice are blood sucking so the treatment is effective.
Have they told you when to go back for a second treatment? Treatment only kills the active lice, not the eggs, so the second treatment is needed to kill the new lice that would have been eggs at the time of the first treatment. (a third treatment is then usually given to make sure everything is really gone).

Don’t forget your cage hygiene too with a good disinfectant
As Vicki has said, additional vitamin c is a good idea when treating lice as lice can weaken guinea pigs so giving the immune system a boost is important

New Guinea Pig Problems: Sexing & Pregnancy; URI, Ringworm & Parasites; Vet Checks & Customer Rights
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ok i will get them some vitamin c supplement later. from what she said it lasts long enough to kill the lice on them and then the eggs that hatch die too
 
thomasmuffinsRgood said:
ok i will get them some vitamin c supplement later. from what she said it lasts long enough to kill the lice on them and then the eggs that hatch die too
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You will need 3 rounds of treatment.
1 to kill the live lice
1 to kill the eggs that hatch into lice
1 to kill off any stragglers.
Doing 1 treatment on its own is unfortunately ineffective.
 
the vet said the one treatment was usually enough but some piggys have to come back for 2 and thats about it
 
thomasmuffinsRgood said:
the vet said the one treatment was usually enough but some piggys have to come back for 2 and thats about it
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I don’t know anything about the product Revolution, but that is not usually the case. Do double check as they are normally given three separate treatments to cure a parasite infestation
 
Revolution is a US brand of topical selamectin based treatment; the equivalent UK brand name for the same product is Stronghold, which is only relatively rarely used in guinea pigs over here where ivermectin based products are preferred.

You still need to repeat at the product specific interval (it should say on the label).

Here is the information about Revolution on US-based Guinea Lynx, who specialise on illness whereas we specialise on giving care support at home during any medical treatment in this section here.
Mites treatment (Look up info about Revolution use under treatment: Guinea Lynx :: Mange Mites
Selamectin (the active ingredient in Revolution): Guinea Lynx :: Antiparasitics
 
I think the vet was right about the 1 treatment working for most piggies. Mack has almost no lice/lice eggs left, but its going alot slower on benny. Ive heard that kids lice spray usually finished them off. maybe ill try that?
 
thomasmuffinsRgood said:
I think the vet was right about the 1 treatment working for most piggies. Mack has almost no lice/lice eggs left, but its going alot slower on benny. Ive heard that kids lice spray usually finished them off. maybe ill try that?
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Please do not use human or other pet parasite products on guinea pigs. They contain toxins that can be fatal for guinea pigs. You can do Revolution repeatedly (with about a month's wait? It's been a number of years).
But my Nye needed two applications to get rid of the hay mites he came with.
 
Revolution/stronghold remains active for 30 days,but is advisable to have a 2nd dose a month later.my vet preferes to use this for mites.
 
Ah that explains it then! If the Revolution remains active for a month on piggy this would tackle any new eggs as they are hatching out. My vet tells me that the Ivermectin spot-on treatment we use is only active for the first few days.

Although the time between hatching out and breeding maturity is 3 weeks I'm not sure how long the eggs sit before they hatch out. Maybe some of them take a while to hatch. This might explain why 1 dose can be enough or sometimes 2 are needed.

Whatever happens in the future both your pigs are much more comfortable now so you deffo did the right thing! Good luck guys!
 
hey not sure is anyone is still on this thread, but as some of u guys said the revoloution lasts for a month. the lice has thinned out a bit on both of them but its still there. can i use ivermectin or should i wait the last week untill the revolution stops working?
 
thomasmuffinsRgood said:
hey not sure is anyone is still on this thread, but as some of u guys said the revoloution lasts for a month. the lice has thinned out a bit on both of them but its still there. can i use ivermectin or should i wait the last week untill the revolution stops working?
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Please speak to your vet and get the correct prescription strength treatment.
 
If you are seeing empty egg casings stuck to the hairs it might still be left over from last time. And if more are hatching out the Revolution could still be killing them off as they emerge. I would hold off for the full month before worrying too much, especially if it looks like the lice are thinning out. As you approach the end of the 30 days you can think then about whether you need to return to the vet.

Maybe if you call/mail the vet they can tell you what you would be expecting to see at this point? It might be completely normal for this stage in the treatment!
 
Free Ranger said:
If you are seeing empty egg casings stuck to the hairs it might still be left over from last time. And if more are hatching out the Revolution could still be killing them off as they emerge. I would hold off for the full month before worrying too much, especially if it looks like the lice are thinning out. As you approach the end of the 30 days you can think then about whether you need to return to the vet.

Maybe if you call/mail the vet they can tell you what you would be expecting to see at this point? It might be completely normal for this stage in the treatment!
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how am i to know if the eggs are empty? they all look the same to me
 
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