Eye issue - please help.

[Honey and Blossom]

Hi, so I have noticed that my 11 week old girl's left eye has some white crust around her eye. She has not been loosing weight. What do you advice I do and do you know what it is?
Thanks

 

[Piggies&buns]

Only a vet can give you a diagnosis, so please do have your piggy seen by a vet.
Please don’t be tempted to use any home products on the area as it can make things worse And mask signs which a vet needs to make a diagnosis.
I’ve attached our ringworm guide for information. We of course cannot say that is what it is, but it often presents as such an area on the face and given it is transmissible to humans, you are best to exercise strict hygiene in case it does turn out to be a fungal infection.
Ringworm: Hygiene And Pictures

 

[Wiebke]

Hi, so I have noticed that my 11 week old girl's left eye has some white crust around her eye. She has not been loosing weight. What do you advice I do and do you know what it is?
Thanks

Hi!

Please see a vet for potential ringworm (a very contagious fungal skin infection that can also affect human). You can reclaim the vet fees from the seller as part of your customer rights when you present your sales receipt together with the vet bill. The time between infection and actual outbreak is 10-14 days. Unfortunately we have been seeing quite a rise in pet shop piggies with ringworm in recent years.
New guinea pigs: Sexing, vet checks&customer rights, URI, ringworm and parasites

DO NOT TOUCH AND DO NOT CREAM - your vet will curse you for doing the equivalent of wiping the crime scene and making a proper diagnosis impossible. The most effective treatment is prescription-only.

You will need to treat all piggies and - in order to avoid turning it into a long running saga - need to follow the very detailed step-by-step advice in our ringworm hygiene guide link so you can get through this once and for all. Good hygiene on all levels is absolute key.
Ringworm spores are invisibly tiny, shed in their thousands and can stay live for around 2 years. In nearly 15 years of existence, we have found all the angles of transmission the hard way and have had time to work out how close them off.
PLEASE take the time to read our comprehensive practical guide link, follow the advice and order some vet grade disinfectant like F10 immediately after you book a vet appointment. The guide also contains pictures of how an acute outbreak runs because once you have ringworm spot, it has to run its due course. To help you assess when the acute phase is over, the last chapter contains relevant pictures.
Here is the link: Ringworm: Hygiene And Pictures

All the best! The good news is that if you do it right, you can get through the thick of it once and for all in about 2 weeks.

 

[Honey and Blossom]

Hi!

Please see a vet for potential ringworm (a very contagious fungal skin infection that can also affect human). You can reclaim the vet fees from the seller as part of your customer rights when you present your sales receipt together with the vet bill. The time between infection and actual outbreak is 10-14 days. Unfortunately we have been seeing quite a rise in pet shop piggies with ringworm in recent years.
New guinea pigs: Sexing, vet checks&customer rights, URI, ringworm and parasites

DO NOT TOUCH AND DO NOT CREAM - your vet will curse you for doing the equivalent of wiping the crime scene and making a proper diagnosis impossible. The most effective treatment is prescription-only.

You will need to treat all piggies and - in order to avoid turning it into a long running saga - need to follow the very detailed step-by-step advice in our ringworm hygiene guide link so you can get through this once and for all. Good hygiene on all levels is absolute key.
Ringworm spores are invisibly tiny, shed in their thousands and can stay live for around 2 years. In nearly 15 years of existence, we have found all the angles of transmission the hard way and have had time to work out how close them off.
PLEASE take the time to read our comprehensive practical guide link, follow the advice and order some vet grade disinfectant like F10 immediately after you book a vet appointment. The guide also contains pictures of how an acute outbreak runs because once you have ringworm spot, it has to run its due course. To help you assess when the acute phase is over, the last chapter contains relevant pictures.
Here is the link: Ringworm: Hygiene And Pictures

All the best! The good news is that if you do it right, you can get through the thick of it once and for all in about 2 weeks.

Hi, thank you for all of this information! I have had her seen at the vets and she has ringworm . She is on medication for 2 weeks and because only one is showing symptoms they have to be separated. I bought another cage to put the ill one in. I bought them from a breeder and the vet said it was probably from them. Thank you for all the help!

 

[Piggies&buns]

Hi, thank you for all of this information! I have had her seen at the vets and she has ringworm . She is on medication for 2 weeks and because only one is showing symptoms they have to be separated. I bought another cage to put the ill one in. I bought them from a breeder and the vet said it was probably from them. Thank you for all the help!

Please don’t separate them. There is no need to do so - your other piggy has already been exposed to it given incubation is 10-14 days. Its best to treat both piggies (treating the piggy not showing symptoms now can stop an outbreak in the companion piggy) and leave them together in the same cage. The stress of separation can lower the immune system.

There is further information about this in section 2 of the ringworm guide which has been linked in shove

 

[Honey and Blossom]

UPDATE: I have had her seen at the vets and she has ringworm . She is on medication for 2 weeks and because only one is showing symptoms they have to be separated. I bought another cage to put the ill one in. I bought them from a breeder and the vet said it was probably from them

Please don’t separate them. There is no need to do so - your other piggy has already been exposed to it given incubation is 10-14 days. Its best to treat both piggies (treating the piggy not showing symptoms now can stop an outbreak in the companion piggy) and leave them together in the same cage. The stress of separation can lower the immune system.

There is further information about this in section 2 of the ringworm guide which has been linked in shove

Thank you for the help but the vet told me to separate them and we did ask if the other one could go on the medication but she said that she can't. It's a shame for them but they are in the same room but far apart. Thanks

 

[Piggies&buns]

UPDATE: I have had her seen at the vets and she has ringworm . She is on medication for 2 weeks and because only one is showing symptoms they have to be separated. I bought another cage to put the ill one in. I bought them from a breeder and the vet said it was probably from them

Thank you for the help but the vet told me to separate them and we did ask if the other one could go on the medication but she said that she can't. It's a shame for them but they are in the same room but far apart. Thanks

Its a shame and it’s not really the most effective way to deal with it. A lot of knowledgeable vets now discourage separation due to the stress is causes to the piggies and would instead opt to treat them both given exposure to the other piggy has already happened. You’ll have to keep an eye on your other piggy in case she starts to show symptoms. Ensure you don’t allow any cross contamination by ensuring you don’t handle the diagnosed piggy first, change your clothes, wash your hands etc. Spores can live in the environment for years so very strict hygiene is needed. Definitely invest in F10 disinfectant for the cage and throw anything you can’t clean.

Also read the guides on how to reintroduce them when the time comes - neutral territory bonding pen etc.

 

[Wiebke]

Hi, thank you for all of this information! I have had her seen at the vets and she has ringworm . She is on medication for 2 weeks and because only one is showing symptoms they have to be separated. I bought another cage to put the ill one in. I bought them from a breeder and the vet said it was probably from them. Thank you for all the help!

Please do NOT separate and READ THE HYGIENE GUIDE. It is very clear on when to isolate and when not (i.e. never in a way that you end up with single piggies).
Ringworm: Hygiene And Pictures

Your second piggy is most likely already infected anyway since exposure and infection will have likely happened at the breeders.

This link here gives you an impression of what a separation looks like from the point of newly arrived baby guinea pigs. The added stress from the separation will lower the immune system further and make fighting ringworm more difficult.
Arrival in a home from the perspective of pet shop guinea pigs

Unfortunately, anybody can call themselves a breeder or a rescue without licensing and supervision. You can report the breeder to their local council over trading standards; anybody who sells anything is subject to them.

Can you please tell us what medication you have been prescribed? This is also important for any advice re. to prevent an acute outbreak in your second piggy, which is still in the 10-14 days incubation period.

 

[Honey and Blossom]

Please do NOT separate and READ THE HYGIENE GUIDE. It is very clear on when to isolate and when not (i.e. never in a way that you end up with single piggies).
Ringworm: Hygiene And Pictures

Your second piggy is most likely already infected anyway since exposure and infection will have likely happened at the breeders.

This link here gives you an impression of what a separation looks like from the point of newly arrived baby guinea pigs. The added stress from the separation will lower the immune system further and make fighting ringworm more difficult.
Arrival in a home from the perspective of pet shop guinea pigs

Unfortunately, anybody can call themselves a breeder or a rescue without licensing and supervision. You can report the breeder to their local council over trading standards; anybody who sells anything is subject to them.

Can you please tell us what medication you have been prescribed? This is also important for any advice re. to prevent an acute outbreak in your second piggy, which is still in the 10-14 days incubation period.

Hi, thanks for the help but the vet told us to separate them but last night we noticed ringworm on the other piggie so we are going back to the vet today. The vet prescribed '. Itrafungol oral solution'. Thanks

 

[Piggies&buns]

It sounds as if your vet has underestimated the importance of their social needs and the benefits keeping them together has in helping them fight the illness. There is the odd occasion when separating is needed and warranted but in case of URI, ringworm etc, then separation is not needed and even if a vet says to separate in that situation, then it’s best to ignore that and keep them together.
The stress caused by separation lowers the immune system which can make fighting the illness harder, plus there are also the risks associated in that medical separation can cause problems in their bond and cause them to not go back together again.
As you can now see given your other piggy is also showing signs, separating them once one is already showing signs of an illness serves no purpose as the other is already exposed.
Please do reintroduce them properly and put them back in the same cage. There is no point in them being apart, certainly not now they are both showing signs. It’ll make it easier for you to do the regular deep cleaning necessary to deal with ringworm if you are only having to clean one cage.

I hope they are both better soon.