Eczema?

[Barney]

One of my male guinea pigs has a skin condition, I think, and I wondered if anyone could shed any light on it or have any suggestions. About a week after we first got him (from a petshop) he seemed unwell, checking him over I saw his feet were swollen and very dry. I took him to the vet who gave me some cream and also checked him for mites/scabies. They could not find any mites/scabies but gave me a treat ment just in case. I treated all the rabbits and guinea pigs, and the others are fine. However, his hair fell out on his back and his skin was scabby and bleeding. I was applying antiseptic cream from the vet but it was only getting worse. I took him back to the vet who again checked for mites/scabies and could not find any, and gave me more treatment for this anyway plus antibiotics as his wounds had become infected. The vet said the wounds are from constant scratching. He has been on antibiotics for two days now and seems so much better in himself and the wounds were healing nicely. However, have just checked on him and he has opened them all up again by scratching. I am now thinking along the lines of an allergy or ecezma, does anyone have experience with this type of skin condition in guinea pigs or any other suggestions?

Thanks

 

[Crazy4Cavies]

Has your vet checked for a fungal infection this can cause hair loss as well? Also swollen feet can be a sign of bumble foot has this been ruled out? Could you post pictures as it will help people to help you

 

[Barney]

OK, I am attempting to upload photos. No, the vet didn't mention either of those and I have seem him twice now.

 

[Barney]

Hope you can see the skin through the cream!

 

[Lilly]

The foot & skin look rather nasty. I'm not sure your vet has diagnosed the right thing. Might have to take piggy to a piggy savvy vet. If you're in the UK try the vet locator button to see if any near you. @Wiebke @helen105281 @Pebble can you shed any light on this?

 

[Wiebke]

Ouch! That looks really nasty! Has your vet considered a fungal infection?

Can you please add your country, state or (for the UK) your county, so we can adapt any advice to what is really available where you are and tailor any recommendations to the state of knowledge of the best vet you can get to.
Here is our piggy savvy UK vet locator: https://www.theguineapigforum.co.uk/pages/guinea-pig-vet-locator/
Here is a list of recommended vets in other countries: http://www.guinealynx.info/cabinet/index.php/Veterinarians

 

[Barney]

Ouch! That looks really nasty! Has your vet considered a fungal infection?

Can you please add your country, state or (for the UK) your county, so we can adapt any advice to what is really available where you are and tailor any recommendations to the state of knowledge of the best vet you can get to.
Here is our piggy savvy UK vet locator: https://www.theguineapigforum.co.uk/pages/guinea-pig-vet-locator/
Here is a list of recommended vets in other countries: http://www.guinealynx.info/cabinet/index.php/Veterinarians

I am in west France

 

[Wiebke]

I am in west France

Thanks! When you click on your username on the top bar, go to personal details and scroll down to location, you can add your country will automatically appear under your picture. This will alert us to make sure that we do not just give out our default UK advice.

I hope that our medical heavyweights will come on later, but if it is fungal, you may want to have the fungal treated with an oral product, and not just a topical skin treatment. Here in the UK, vets have had good success with itraconazole (brand name itrafungol in the UK, sporonox in the US) in the last few years.

http://www.gorgeousguineas.com/indentification.html
http://www.gorgeousguineas.com/photogallery.html (see picture for "fungal backside")
http://www.guinealynx.info/fungus.html

 

[Barney]

Poor little thing. Really quite annoyed with vet for not thinking fungal. Especially as I have taken him twice now and he tested negative for mites/scabies both times!

 

[Pebble]

It is really impossible to give much help in possibly identifying what it might be because the cream obscures what we need to see.....and I'm not at all sure that it is actually helping the situation as thick barrier creams like this can actually make things worse.

Perhaps we can narrow down some possibilities but we will need to ask some questions first so please bear with us.
a) Does he share a cage with other piggies or rabbits? And was it just him you got from the petshop recently or did you get more than one piggie?
b) please write down exactly what make of cream has been prescribed and if possible its ingredients
c) when you say he and the rest of your animals were treated for mites what exactly was used?
d) what do you use to litter out his cage/bedding?
e) has he been outside in a run and has he been exposed to sunshine?
f) have you given him a bath and used any type of shampoo or treatment on him?

The foot may be a completely separate issue to the skin condition because looking at it it looks either as though it has been exposed to a harsh chemical/sunlight or there is a possible bacterial infection. (This next bit is purely speculative but it needs to be ruled out hence some of the questions above - given its his front paw affected and the worst side is the one he uses to clean himself I'm wondering if he possibly got a heavy dose of anti-mite treatment on his paw as this can cause a similar reaction)

Hopefully we can start to narrow things down........I would suggest however that you apply the cream very very thinly in future and if you can get some of it off his skin it might help)
x

 

[Barney]

It is really impossible to give much help in possibly identifying what it might be because the cream obscures what we need to see.....and I'm not at all sure that it is actually helping the situation as thick barrier creams like this can actually make things worse.

Perhaps we can narrow down some possibilities but we will need to ask some questions first so please bear with us.
a) Does he share a cage with other piggies or rabbits? And was it just him you got from the petshop recently or did you get more than one piggie?
b) please write down exactly what make of cream has been prescribed and if possible its ingredients
c) when you say he and the rest of your animals were treated for mites what exactly was used?
d) what do you use to litter out his cage/bedding?
e) has he been outside in a run and has he been exposed to sunshine?
f) have you given him a bath and used any type of shampoo or treatment on him?

The foot may be a completely separate issue to the skin condition because looking at it it looks either as though it has been exposed to a harsh chemical/sunlight or there is a possible bacterial infection. (This next bit is purely speculative but it needs to be ruled out hence some of the questions above - given its his front paw affected and the worst side is the one he uses to clean himself I'm wondering if he possibly got a heavy dose of anti-mite treatment on his paw as this can cause a similar reaction)

Hopefully we can start to narrow things down........I would suggest however that you apply the cream very very thinly in future and if you can get some of it off his skin it might help)
x

Hi, I will try and answer all questions.

a. He did share a cage but he is now in his own cage opposite the others so they can still see each other. I actually got 3 male piggies, from a petshop
b. The cream is called: Predniderm, ingredients Neomycine, Prednisolone, nitrate de phenylmercure
c. Stronghold
d. Paper, sawdust, straw, and a little blanket in his bedroom
e. His run is very shaded, as it can get quite hot. There are areas in the sun and lots of shaded covered (by bushes and trees) areas.
f. no

He is also on antibiotics.

To be fair the foot photo was taken before the first treatment, and that is much better now. But the back photos are from today. The foot was the first problem and was treated with the cream and anitmite treatment and cleared up. Interesting about the dose of mite treatment on his paw. I was hoping the cream would relieve the itching. I will gently wipe it off. What can I do for now to ease the pain/itching?

 

[Pebble]

Thank you for the answers.

I can't stay ;long - but I'm going to deal with two things now and come back to your thread tomorrow.

Firstly - The cream is not "just" an antiseptic cream. It contains a steroid (prednisone) which will help with the itching; an antibiotic (neomycin) to prevent bacterial infection of the wounds and phenyl mercuric nitrate which is an antiseptic. It does not contain an anti-fungal. My biggest concern is the amount of cream you are applying - steroids and guinea pigs don;t work well together and high concentrations of steroids applied topically to the skin can cause it to become paper thin and friable. The cream was absolutely great for short term treatment of his paw - but not for the longer term treatment of his back and certainly not the amount you appear to have applied from your photos. It needs to be used VERY sparingly and just applied to open wounds.

Secondly Stronghold is similar to Revolution - and neither are the most frequently used "spot-on" mite treatment for piggies - both contain selamectin which is OK but they are geared towards cats and dogs in terms of dosage/strength and it may be that the solvent the active drug is dissolved in are a bit harsh for piggies. Was the paw picture taken before or after the Stronghold was applied? Also spot-on treatments do not treat active mange mite infections effectively - injections are required.

The first thing I would suggest is that you bathe him using a mild baby shampoo to get all the cream off him.....take pictures once he's dry and post them up here. If you then want to apply some more cream then do so sparingly.

The second thing I would suggest is that you read my posts on this thread - the two piggies concerned had extremely bad manage mites with associated self-mutilation and with secondary fungal. A lot of possible treatments are mentioned.
https://www.theguineapigforum.co.uk/threads/2-more-dying-piggies.122408/

I would be looking to treat for both mange mites (via injections - which can include a steroid to help alleviate the itching/self-mutilation) and also fungal (not necessarily with an oral antifungal) - F10 disinfectant bathed/sprayed onto the wounds to prevent infection plus imaverol dips 2 days after the mite injections would be an effective but less drastic approach to deal with the issue.

HTH
x

 

[Barney]

Thank you for the answers.

I can't stay ;long - but I'm going to deal with two things now and come back to your thread tomorrow.

Firstly - The cream is not "just" an antiseptic cream. It contains a steroid (prednisone) which will help with the itching; an antibiotic (neomycin) to prevent bacterial infection of the wounds and phenyl mercuric nitrate which is an antiseptic. It does not contain an anti-fungal. My biggest concern is the [you]amount[/you] of cream you are applying - steroids and guinea pigs don;t work well together and high concentrations of steroids applied topically to the skin can cause it to become paper thin and friable. The cream was absolutely great for short term treatment of his paw - but not for the longer term treatment of his back and certainly not the amount you appear to have applied from your photos. It needs to be used VERY sparingly and just applied to open wounds.

Secondly Stronghold is similar to Revolution - and neither are the most frequently used "spot-on" mite treatment for piggies - both contain selamectin which is OK but they are geared towards cats and dogs in terms of dosage/strength and it may be that the solvent the active drug is dissolved in are a bit harsh for piggies. Was the paw picture taken before or after the Stronghold was applied? Also spot-on treatments do not treat active mange mite infections effectively - injections are required.

The first thing I would suggest is that you bathe him using a mild baby shampoo to get all the cream off him.....take pictures once he's dry and post them up here. If you then want to apply some more cream then do so sparingly.

The second thing I would suggest is that you read my posts on this thread - the two piggies concerned had extremely bad manage mites with associated self-mutilation and with secondary fungal. A lot of possible treatments are mentioned.
https://www.theguineapigforum.co.uk/threads/2-more-dying-piggies.122408/

I would be looking to treat for both mange mites (via injections - which can include a steroid to help alleviate the itching/self-mutilation) and also fungal (not necessarily with an oral antifungal) - F10 disinfectant bathed/sprayed onto the wounds to prevent infection plus imaverol dips 2 days after the mite injections would be an effective but less drastic approach to deal with the issue.

HTH
x

The paw picture was taken before any treatment. I will give him and bath and re post some pictures tomorrow. I won't be able to post the photos until late tomorrow though. Thanks for your help