Fungal? Mites?

[Anita]

I have a 10 week old guinea pig and shortly after getting her I noticed her ear was a bit dry and scabby looking (pic 1). I thought it looked fungal as per the picture on GG's website so started to treat with an anti-fungal cream and Gorgeous Guineas Super Souffle cream and I think it is clearing up (pic 2&3 four days after starting treatment).

Last night when looking her over again I noticed a bald patch on the side of her chest (pic 4) and am now wondering if this is mites as well?

I am guessing you are all going to say this is a trip to the vets and not something I can treat myself ... I am awaiting my membership to the CCT so I can take my piggies to a local rodentologist but have yet to receive my card. I would much prefer to take them to a specialist but I do not want this problem to get worse. I was going to buy ivermectin online or get Beaphar Spot on locally so I could start treating today. I also have GG's Manuka & Neem shampoo and Coconeem melt.

Any advice?

 

[Anita]

I've just read that a vet not far from me are CCT trained and specialise in guineas.

 

[flips]

Probably is best to get your piggy checked by a vet. One of my girls had dry ears and I treated it as fungal. The cream helped but it didn't go away completely. Then another pig got scabs and I took them both to the vet who treated them for mites. He said the dry ear was most likely due to mites. I wish I'd taken them sooner. They had to have 3 injections to clear the mites (a week between each one).

 

[Laura-CCC4]

That's great you have a vet nearby, if they've a good reputation with piggies then worth paying them a visit. If in doubt over whether it is parasitic or fungal, you can always treat for both. Schedule is as follows:

Day 1 - Anti-fungal bath
Day 3 - Ivermectin
Day 8 - Anti-fungal bath
Day 13 - Ivermectin
Day 15 - Anti-fungal bath
Day 23 - Ivermectin

This covers the usual guidelines of:

- No baths inside 48 hours of an Ivermectin dose.
- One week between anti-fungal baths (for non-severe infections).
- 10 days between Ivermectin doses.

You can give ivermectin after the bath (same day), personally I prefer not to unless the skin problem is severe and I wouldn't use a spot-on ivermectin product on the same day the skin has been treated for fungal.