Female guinea pig has a black spot on her skin

[Abigailb789]

Our female guinea pig recently had a little Matt of fur on her back, near her butt. We shaved the Matt off and saw a black mark on her skin it’s also slightly crusty. The mark is to the right of her bottom.

Is this something to take her to the vets for?

Or is this normal?

 

[Abigailb789]

This is the black mark

 

[Roselina]

Hello it’s difficult to tell in the photo
I’m sure a more experienced forum member will be along to offer advice
Altho if you’re worried I’d take her to the Vet to be checked
Good luck

 

[Piggies&buns]

It’s hard to tell the location properly from the photo but it may be her grease gland and it may just need a clean if it is very crusty.
I’ve added the guide below which explains about them.

Bathing (including cleaning grease glands)

 

[Truffolo]

Our female guinea pig recently had a little Matt of fur on her back, near her butt. We shaved the Matt off and saw a black mark on her skin it’s also slightly crusty. The mark is to the right of her bottom.

Is this something to take her to the vets for?

Or is this normal?

Taking her for a check up won't do any harm. It's a good opportunity to record her baseline stats and check her molars, lung and heart sounds

 

[Abigailb789]

We have tried to give her a bath but it hasn’t budged I’ll try to upload a better picture of it’s location later

It’s hard to tell the location properly from the photo but it may be her grease gland and it may just need a clean if it is very crusty.
I’ve added the guide below which explains about them.

Bathing (including cleaning grease glands)

 

[Abigailb789]

She did recently go to the vets and they said all of her baseline stats are perfect, they did a scan on her bladder to check for stones since she looked a bit distended but turns out she just has a big butt haha

Taking her for a check up won't do any harm. It's a good opportunity to record her baseline stats and check her molars, lung and heart sounds

 

[Piggies&buns]

We have tried to give her a bath but it hasn’t budged I’ll try to upload a better picture of it’s location later

Grease from a grease gland won’t come off with her plain water. You have to soak it with coconut oil first.
However bathing the grease gland can also cause and overproduction of grease and can make the issue worse.

 

[Abigailb789]

Grease from a grease gland won’t come off with her plain water. You have to soak it with coconut oil first.
However bathing the grease gland can also cause and overproduction of grease and can make the issue worse.

 

[Abigailb789]

Our other female guinea pig doesn’t have this

 

[Piggies&buns]

Our other female guinea pig doesn’t have this

Is the spot directly in the middle - where a tail would be if they had a tail?
If so then it is very likely to be a grease gland and all piggies do have them just some are more noticeable than others.
A problematic gland should be checked by a vet.

If it is to one side then it won’t be the grease gland and she should be checked by a vet

 

[Abigailb789]

No it’s not in the middle it’s off to the right, I’ll get her booked in with the vets hopefully during this week.

Thank you for all the advice I’ll update this when I can

 

[Piggies&buns]

Yes seeing a vet is the best idea.
It can be hard for us to get an idea of location on the body without seeing the whole piggy for context!

 

[Wiebke]

Our female guinea pig recently had a little Matt of fur on her back, near her butt. We shaved the Matt off and saw a black mark on her skin it’s also slightly crusty. The mark is to the right of her bottom.

Is this something to take her to the vets for?

Or is this normal?

Hi

This is something for a non-urgent hands-on vet examination at regular opening hours some time this week. We can only guess.

I would recommend not to panic; it could be just a small burst cyst or abrasion wound.

 

[Abigailb789]

Hey, I'm just wondering if there’s anything we could do at home to help her?

Hi

This is something for a non-urgent hands-on vet examination at regular opening hours some time this week. We can only guess.

I would recommend not to panic; it could be just a small burst cyst or abrasion wound.

 

[Abigailb789]

If anyone has any ideas of what we could do at home to help her while waiting for a vet appointment then please let me know (appointments usually take 1 week)

 

[Piggies&buns]

I’m afraid there isn’t anything can do.
We don’t recommend home treatments for anything because you don’t know what it is so could easily do something to make things worse; or putting things on it can hide the markers a vet needs to make a diagnosis