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Dry skin?

  • Thread starter Thread starter snuppins
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snuppins

Hello all this is my first post here. I was wondering if any of you have any methods to help piggies with dry skin.

I have a teddy sow that is 4 yrs old (at least) and she has experienced major hairloss in the past 2 months. We thought it was mites, treated her and her 2 healthy cagemates 4x with ivermec and she has gotten worse. The new vet(whom I like so far, and I've seen quite a few who "claim" to treat gp's) suspects a small (unpalpable) ovarian cyst which is looking more and more the case. Anyway my pig has dry skin to begin with being a teddy and all, and now with this hairloss she's even more dry. She isn't scabby or bleeding, but she's definitely itchy. My vet recommended more vit C in her diet and possibly adding evening primrose oil. Does anybody have any suggestions for either topical or nutritional treatment? Thanks!
 
Welcome to the forum. :)

Has the possiblity of a fungal skin infection been considered? It sounds like this is quite likely, given that parasites have been ruled out and your pig is itchy with evidently flaky skin, and such hairloss.

Gorgeous Guineas - www.gorgeousguineas.com - are an excellent guinea pig skincare company, they sell specialised and natural products to treat skin conditions, particularly fungal problems (and also a general range of skincare products e.g. shampoos, ointments). Alternatively, bathing in Nizoral or Alphosyl shampoo (available from pharmacies, formulated for human dandruff) can treat a fungal problem.

Ovarian cysts have a range of symptoms: sexual aggression, hormonal behaviour, swollen and/or crusty nipples, swollen abdomen, and the hairloss is typically symmetrical on either side of the sow.
 
Hi

Welcome to the forum.

I am sorry to hear about your teddy girl; best contact gorgeous guineas for the dry skin problem.

Ovarian cysts do not always require spaying nowadays; but our "medical heavyweights" will explain that better to you.

Here is some more info about ovarian cysts: http://www.guinealynx.info/ovarian_cysts.html

I have a couple of relatively newly adopted teddy girls; so I would very much like to see a pic of your girl one day!
 
Fungal infection has been considered, however my pig has: 1.) the hairloss which began at her sides then moved towards her head matching the ovarian cyst hairloss pattern. 2.) the potbellied appearance 3.) the increased sexual aggression 4.) swollen nipples

Thanks for the link!
 
Thanks Vickyt! I would totally post a picture of Grande, though unfortunately she's looking more and more like a skinny pig these days. I've had guinea pigs for years and it's always my teddies that get the skin issues! Has anyone else every noticed this?
 
That's interesting. How many series of hCG treatments did your pig recieve? How long was the treatment effective until symptoms reappeared? I've used hCG for short cycling horses before, but that's only for 2 days to induce ovulation, not as a longterm therapy.

I already know she isn't getting spayed. Her behavior is pretty much the same except for a few bouts of aggressive displays which I wouldn't say are dangerous to the other pigs, however annoying they may be. My vet said I'm probably looking at a permanently bald pig. I want to ask her about hormone therapy though, so whatever you guys can tell me would be awesome!
 
Hair will grow back if the problem is definitely hormonal and you choose to try HCG; it may take a few treatments, and hair growth is pretty slow, but the injections will deal with the symptoms as well as controlling the condition.

Lottie, my sow who had a small cyst, had two courses of treatment; in total she had four injections. A course of treatment is fairly variable - some vets will give just two injections, four weeks apart (as the CCT do). Other vets prefer to inject periodically, say once every 2-3 months long-term to prevent the cysts recurring. Since the cyst my sow had was quite small, the four injections solved the problem and the cyst seemed to have gone.

Her hair loss corrected itself for a short time after the injections, as to a degree the hairloss she experienced was hormonal and related to the cyst. Her sexually aggressive behaviour ceased quite quickly. However the injections did not solve the problem of the hairloss long-term with Lottie, despite the apparent "disappearance" of the cyst, and it continued until she was almost bald across her body. After I queried some other symptoms she had (which seemed normal to me, never bothered her - but which turned out to be crucial in diagnosing her condition) a number of tests were performed and she was eventually diagnosed with hyperthyroid, and placed on medication.

She had the first two HCG injections in October 07, and the second two injections in January 08; she lived a further eleven months (died of unrelated medical problems in December 08 ) but she had no problems with the cyst again; all her difficulties after the cyst was treated were down to her hyperthyroid.
 
I appreciate the info. Yeah I'm also wondering if it could be an endocrine issue of some kind, maybe cushings.
 
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