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Dry skin around guinea pig's left eye

  • Thread starter Thread starter mello
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mello

Hi everyone I'm just new here, I've been searching for forums like this.
I would just like to ask some questions regarding the problem I now have with my guinea pig. My apologies for the story I shall tell.

I just received a Peruvian Guinea Pig as a gift from a friend of mine last Christmas and boy, she's beautiful. All seemed to be going fine until I noticed yesterday that the skin around her eyes looks dry and crusting(if that's the right term) the said part is also loosing up some fur. And now, I'm paranoid, I don't want something bad to happen to her. I also read some articles here at the internet and some says that such thing may indicate an infection or what, and that I should take her to the vet(I also thought of taking her to the vet but the problem is that here in our place guinea pigs are not given that attention like what is given to cats and dogs). This thing is really driving me crazy.

Are there anybody here who also experienced this kind of problem with their guinea pigs? What did you do to help your piggy? What remedy could you recommend?
 
Hi Mello, welcome to the forum.

The symptoms you describe sound typical of a fungal infection, these often begin on the face with the crustiness and hair loss you explained. The treatment is usually regular bathing in medicated shampoo for a short time, generally once or twice a week. The shampoo is used as normal once (i.e. lather then rinse), then lathered up again and allowed to soak into the skin for around 5 minutes. You do also have to wash the face, this is best achieved by using a damp flannel (facecloth) to carefully wet the hair, massaging the lather (not the neat shampoo - only the lather) into the hair on the face, and then using the damp flannel to remove the lather.

I believe the above treatment applies for the majority of fungal infection (if not all), including ringworm. The Prescription-Only medicated shampoo Malaseb is said to be very good, you would need to see a vet to get this. I have experience using a number of different products, including Nizoral , shampoos from www.gorgeousguineas.com and also diluted Povidone Iodine (diluted around 30/70 with shampoo).

How old is your guinea pig? Whereabouts are you - maybe someone here knows of a recommended vet in your area?
 
Thank you for your reply ma'am. So does that mean I could try using Nizoral? That's the anti-fungal cream made for humans right? I believe that brand is available here at our place. *cross fingers* If it'll work, would the loss hair grow back again?
 
Nizoral cream will be good, the hair should grow back eventually.
 
I have not used the Nizoral cream on any of my guineas, but I have used other anti-fungal creams on them. If you apply the cream 2-3 times a day for a week, there would be a noticeable difference. I would be inclined to continue applying the cream for two weeks though, to ensure the fungal infection has cleared, even after the symptoms have gone.
 
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