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Drastic Hair loss

Prasiddha

Prasiddha

Junior Guinea Pig
Joined
Nov 28, 2017
Messages
307
Reaction score
205
Points
340
Location
India
Hi friends,

All my guinea pigs are shedding hair now. Most problem as the vet suggested it is due to the very hot and humid climate here. I am doing my level best to maintain the temperature and keep my piggies in a cool atmosphere. But fluffy my lovely girl who had under went a tough life with back to back unexpected pregnancy followed by Uri. When she was in her second pregnancy she had static lice and treated her and her cagemate two doses of ivermectin tropically. Now I don't see any static lice on her nor any mites. But she is shedding hair like crazy. I just feel like she will be bald by tomorrow. I took her to the vet and he is suspecting lice again and adviced me to apply ivermectin tropically to her and all my piggies. For 3 weeks. Can I apply ivermectin without proper confirmation on fur mites? I don't have exotic vets in my city but this vet has quite some knowledge on guinea pigs. Fluffy is already underweight for her age due to her pregnancies. But she hasn't lost weight further nor gained more than 25 GMs. I am scared. Is this a wise treatment. Can you all please provide your experiences and suggestion on this. I have also read due to excessive breeding (mine was unintentional) could cause drastic hair loss. My doubts are should I take precautional ivermectin treatment or wait. How long should I wait if it is due to her back to back pregnancy?

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Loss of hair on my dress after just a minute of lap time. Her hair is everywhere.
 
Prasiddha said:
Hi friends,

All my guinea pigs are shedding hair now. Most problem as the vet suggested it is due to the very hot and humid climate here. I am doing my level best to maintain the temperature and keep my piggies in a cool atmosphere. But fluffy my lovely girl who had under went a tough life with back to back unexpected pregnancy followed by Uri. When she was in her second pregnancy she had static lice and treated her and her cagemate two doses of ivermectin tropically. Now I don't see any static lice on her nor any mites. But she is shedding hair like crazy. I just feel like she will be bald by tomorrow. I took her to the vet and he is suspecting lice again and adviced me to apply ivermectin tropically to her and all my piggies. For 3 weeks. Can I apply ivermectin without proper confirmation on fur mites? I don't have exotic vets in my city but this vet has quite some knowledge on guinea pigs. Fluffy is already underweight for her age due to her pregnancies. But she hasn't lost weight further nor gained more than 25 GMs. I am scared. Is this a wise treatment. Can you all please provide your experiences and suggestion on this. I have also read due to excessive breeding (mine was unintentional) could cause drastic hair loss. My doubts are should I take precautional ivermectin treatment or wait. How long should I wait if it is due to her back to back pregnancy?

.View attachment 89381
Loss of hair on my dress after just a minute of lap time. Her hair is everywhere.
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Hi! It can be heat stress, fungal (especially if it is a combination of humidity and heat) or parasites, but hair loss can also be caused when the bodily reserves have been overstretched by pregnancies.

You can use ivermectin anytime once the babies are eating for themselves.

As to Fluffy - it will take a few weeks for the nutrients to filter through. Keep her on the pregnancy extras (including alfalfa hay) for now and allow her to eat as much as she wants. You will hopefully notice a sudden huge jump in body weight from one week to the next; that is when you know her body is really recovering and you can go slowly back to a more regular diet for her.

But it takes a bit of patience before she can start not just filling up empty tanks but start building up reserves. The poor girl has been through the mill between two pregnancies, her respiratory problems and the heat, which is also a huge constant drain on her body as guinea pigs are not really adapted to your climate.
 
Thank you @Wiebke i just want to know if I start the ivermectin only next week if I observe fur mites on her? Isn't it harmful for them if they are under medication as precaution ?
Her babies have started eating for themselves a week before and they stay separate. She is now living with her daughter from the first litter past one week.
 
I always observe her go lie down next to the frozen bottle inside socks which I have inside her cage. She is having a real tough time. I run the A/C and keep the room cooler. But not of much use since it is really hot and humid for humans.
 
Prasiddha said:
Thank you @Wiebke i just want to know if I start the ivermectin only next week if I observe fur mites on her? Isn't it harmful for them if they are under medication as precaution ?
Her babies have started eating for themselves a week before and they stay separate. She is now living with her daughter from the first litter past one week.
Click to expand...

I would generally not recommend it, but considering her weak state and the fact that she has had them before I think that in this case it is appropriate to treat.
 
Instead of three dose is one dosage sufficient for a precaution purpose ?
 
You have to do the three dosages. The first one kills off the mites that are present, the second dose kills of the mites that came from eggs laid by the original lice and the third dose kills off any that are left. If you don't do all 3 doses they'll just come back again.
 
Betsy said:
You have to do the three dosages. The first one kills off the mites that are present, the second dose kills of the mites that came from eggs laid by the original lice and the third dose kills off any that are left. If you don't do all 3 doses they'll just come back again.
Click to expand...
But @Betsy I am scared to give doses since he just didn't find mites. He said it is for precaution. I am not confident giving medicine when it is for precaution.
 
You can't see mites. When Dennis had mites all I noticed was that his nose had slightly less hair on it than normal one morning so took him straight to the vets. The vet was reluctant to do a skin scrape as it is painful and said it Dennis's nose didn't look right and it was probably mites and that I should treat it just in case it was.
 
I noticed fluffy's behaviour for an hour today. She was continuously scratching her right sides with her body with her back right leg. And once she finish scratching she was biting her right back leg nails and started chewing something. Then occasionally she looked like she was self barbering her right side of her body. Is this mites?

I have seen my other guinea pigs scratching and chewing fur occasionally when they clean themselves. But she was doing it too much.
 
Hope everything goes ok with your little ones and their poor human family is going ok too with the heat and humidity. Your babies are definitely in good hands.
 
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