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Hi guys, I would really appreciate some more experienced opinions on my guinea pigs. I have rescued 5 older girls who had been used for breeding by an evil lady who lives nearby. She has given up keeping them or i would have reported her to animal welfare as they were in horrible conditions. They are apparently 2 or 3 years old but look older to me, although I have only had 2 before, they just look old. They have blatantly been bred from a lot of times, have large saggy tummies and droopy eyes. Anyway, I have had them for a month in a large hutch and they have most of the day in the garden.
They have really long hair and I decided to trim it down and bath them because they really needed it and had I not been working loads recently I would have preferred to do it right away. They had a lot of urine around their back end in their fur. I found that in the londer haired ones, they had urine scald, and after trimming the fur away its practically healed in a week. However I think they have either mites, or a fungal infection. One has like spored coming out of her nose, like shafts or something in a very small blob, dark brown and yellow and about 3mm long. The others have dandruf in flakes through their fur around their back ends. There is no visible cuts or redness at all, making me think it is not mites. One has crusty yellow stuff in a specific area and a lot of heavy dry skin piled up, but the others it is scaling, quite heavy against the skin, but the fur does not pull out. I tugged (though not too hard) at the fur on each pig in the scaly area, and it stays in firmly. So is it not a fungal infection? The symptoms dont fully match either thing. They have obviously had this a while too, does anyone know how quickly it would spread for each infection? As I guess mites would be all over them by now, and these are only infected around their rear ends. It is like very bad dandruff, but the fur is not loose so I am confused. Not is it an iverted V, nor is there redness or sores. The local vet told me he will treat them for mites. However he is not an exotic vet and he is SO rubbish. I work at a pet shop and we use this vets, he said a rabbit 'needs the toilet' and is not pregnant, she gave birth the next day. He also said ring worms was mites, and generally seems to have no idea. Please help! I have an antifungal shampoo I have washed them all in, but I am unsure if they ahve improved yet. Shall I treat them for mites? It is expensive for all 5 and I am just not sure that is what it is as there is no redness and I dont see them scratching themselves.
Thanks,
Sarah
They have really long hair and I decided to trim it down and bath them because they really needed it and had I not been working loads recently I would have preferred to do it right away. They had a lot of urine around their back end in their fur. I found that in the londer haired ones, they had urine scald, and after trimming the fur away its practically healed in a week. However I think they have either mites, or a fungal infection. One has like spored coming out of her nose, like shafts or something in a very small blob, dark brown and yellow and about 3mm long. The others have dandruf in flakes through their fur around their back ends. There is no visible cuts or redness at all, making me think it is not mites. One has crusty yellow stuff in a specific area and a lot of heavy dry skin piled up, but the others it is scaling, quite heavy against the skin, but the fur does not pull out. I tugged (though not too hard) at the fur on each pig in the scaly area, and it stays in firmly. So is it not a fungal infection? The symptoms dont fully match either thing. They have obviously had this a while too, does anyone know how quickly it would spread for each infection? As I guess mites would be all over them by now, and these are only infected around their rear ends. It is like very bad dandruff, but the fur is not loose so I am confused. Not is it an iverted V, nor is there redness or sores. The local vet told me he will treat them for mites. However he is not an exotic vet and he is SO rubbish. I work at a pet shop and we use this vets, he said a rabbit 'needs the toilet' and is not pregnant, she gave birth the next day. He also said ring worms was mites, and generally seems to have no idea. Please help! I have an antifungal shampoo I have washed them all in, but I am unsure if they ahve improved yet. Shall I treat them for mites? It is expensive for all 5 and I am just not sure that is what it is as there is no redness and I dont see them scratching themselves.
Thanks,
Sarah
