• Discussions taking place within this forum are intended for the purpose of assisting you in discussing options with your vet. Any other use of advice given here is done so at your risk, is solely your responsibility and not that of this forum or its owner. Before posting it is your responsibility you abide by this Statement

fungal shampoo

Status
Not open for further replies.

sarahchad

Junior Guinea Pig
Joined
May 31, 2009
Messages
173
Reaction score
15
Points
220
Location
sheffield
Hi there, i have just come back from the vet as baby pig has a fungal infection.The vet recommened a shampoo to do all my pigs with incase they have it too. the thing is it was £25 so i said no thanks! i'll get it elsewhere. its called Malaseb and it's around £12 on the net but says its for cats and dogs, will it be the same one? does anyone know?
 
Malaseb is a good one, but I've always thought it was prescription-only - did the vet give you a prescription? Many products used with piggies are also for cats and dogs, so although I have no personal experience of using Malaseb on guinea pigs I wouldn't be surprised if it was advertised for other animals.

As Kira said, Gorgeous Guineas do a good range of products, some specifically to treat fungal infections - one of the Marvellous Melts and the Manuka & Neem shampoo has worked wonders for many piggies.

Failing all that, Nizoral from the chemist - sold for humans with dandruff - can be used; I have used Nizoral with success on one of my past fungal pigs.
 
I have used Nizoral (human shampoo) on my pigs with fungal too, it's good stuff.
 
Quite interested in this thread. I need to get some good quality shampoo for the piggies, that comes in bulk quantities because how how many pigs I have.?/

Where would you get Alphosyl from?
 
Thanks for all the advice guys. Malaseb is perscription only but vet says would write one for me. Might try human one first and then if it comes back get the malaseb as the vet did say how good it was. i let you know how i get on anyways.
 
I've just used Gorgeous guineas lice and easy and also Neem shampoo on one of my piggies that had a skin complaint and it's cleared it very well after two baths. Very happy and feel much safer using herbal products on them :)
 
Quite interested in this thread. I need to get some good quality shampoo for the piggies, that comes in bulk quantities because how how many pigs I have.?/

Where would you get Alphosyl from?


Are you specifically looking to get anti-fungal shampoos, or shampoos for regular bathing?
 
just noticed a few lice in babies fur now:(
Do the shampoos mentioned on this thread treat both fungal and lice issues or will i have to deal with each seperately? ( i don't want to over bath baby)
 
To be honest, i think I need general bathing shampoo. Apparently bathing the pigs every three months helps fight against lice etc?

But my sister said not to bathe piggies because they catch cold easily. Now I am not so sure about it.
 
Bathing is fine so long as you keep the pigs in the warm until they are totally dry. Make sure the bathwater is warm, wrap them in a towel if any shampoos need to soak in for a time, and ideally dry the pig with a hairdryer at the end. The risk is when you take a damp pig to a place where the temperature is noticeably lower than where you bathed them, or exposing them to draughts; that's when they risk catching a chill.

Some people don't bath their pigs at all. Some bathe them every 4-6 weeks. Personally, I've noticed a big difference in the skin and coat health of my pigs if I bath them every 2 months, although I do bath the long-haired pigs pretty much every month.

The fungal shampoos are unlikely to deal with lice. I highly recommend visiting Gorgeous Guineas:

www.gorgeousguineas.com

Not only do they sell a fantastic range of general bathing shampoos (personal favourites here are Just for Boars, Posh n Go and EasiRinse), but they sell some therapeutic shampoos to treat fungal and parasitic problems. Lice 'n' Easy is the shampoo you will want for dealing with lice; you get instructions with each shampoo, but the basic idea is you wash the pig, rinse, then wash again and leave it to soak in for five minutes before rinsing and drying. You would then repeat the bath a week later, and again a week later if the lice are being extra-stubborn!

Best tips I can give in general for ridding lice, along with using the Lice n Easy shampoo, is using a nit comb and conditioner. GG sell conditioner, and the nit combs you can buy very cheap, but I found they help a lot!
 
Last edited:
I bath my pigs with either Nizoral or Alphosyl, both of which are human shampoos. Effective, cheap and safe.
 
i get nizoral shampoo on prescription for myself as i get psoriasis,,lol,so when i get guineas in with fungal infections i get it free lol,,,:))works brill.i have to say lol,,on both
 
Thank you. Going to check out gorgeous guineas.
 
Just had a look at gorgeous guineas. Looks like good stuff.

Can you not use baby shampoo if it's for a general wash?
 
I'm a bit confused over the whole fungal and shampoo thing.
if it seems my piggy has a fungal skin promblem, am i right in thinking regular bathing with an anti dandruff shampoo or one of the shampoos off gorgeousguineas will clear the problem, without a vets intervention?
 
I think it depends how bad it is. I went to the vets who gave me some cream which I am putting on everyday and I have bought some selsun today and bathed her so i'll let you know in a few days if it has worked.
from what people have advised me i think i may have got away with just the shampoo as she only has a small patch on her bum, but i am no expert!
 
We had 2 piggies in with a fungal infection, GG are great but they didn't help at all in this case, the piggies had to be bathed in Malaseb everyday for 2 weeks, even though only the one had a small bald patch both had to have the treatment.

After bathing them we had to disinfect the whole cage with the shampoo as well as all their toys, food bowl etc every day. After 2 weeks they were retested and the infection had gone.

The malaseb we used was for cats and dogs, the piggies were fine with being bathed everyday, they were only around 10 weeks old at the time.

Luckily they were in quarintine so we didn't need to treat all the rescue piggies and rabbits, which would have been a nightmare if we had to bath all of them everyday.
 
I had a guinea with a severe fungal infection which I treated with GG shampoo and lotions. It took a few weeks but it did clear up.
 
just been looking on ebay uk at gp shampoos....there are so many out there! what should i be looking for? ive found this one..but does it really help fungal probs? http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=200358959012&_trksid=p2759.l1259

are the johnsons ones any good or are they just for normal everyday use? theres so many that claim to eliminate mites and lice...is it mites that cause fungal problems? its just so confusing!
 
I understand your confusion, it can all get a bit mixed up at times!

Mites are parasites which are best dealt with using Ivermectin - a medication, not a shampoo.

Lice, also parasites, are best treated with shampoos - Fleaordie can be used, but Lice n Easy from Gorgeous Guineas is the most popular and readily available.

Fungal problems are quite different from parasitic problems, although it is possible and fairly common for a guinea to have both fungal and parasitic problems at the same time. To treat fungal problems, an anti-fungal shampoo is necessary. The shampoo you linked to is not anti-fungal, from what I can see, it seems to be aimed more at treating parasites.

www.gorgeousguineas.com really is the "best" place to look if you are after a shampoo specially designed for guinea pigs - and you get the necessary, personal advice along with the products.
 
Last edited:
so the shampoos on GG will actually cure the problem, not just 'soothe' the itchyness (as i originally thought?
ive used ivermectin previously on caged birds for mites...am i right in thinking that is prescription only for guineapigs? (its available in stores for birds?)
 
so the shampoos on GG will actually cure the problem, not just 'soothe' the itchyness (as i originally thought?
ive used ivermectin previously on caged birds for mites...am i right in thinking that is prescription only for guineapigs? (its available in stores for birds?)
sorry again for all the questions, but i dont want to buy something online thats gonna cost £20 and not work,when i could go to a vet and get something straight away (but am guessing its more expensive...so if the cheaper option really works id like to go for that!)

my god I'm itching just typing about mites and lice..cant imagine what the poor piggies feel like!
 
Last edited:
For mites I always use ivermectin (spot on not the injection), if the piggies have sores on them I use the lotions from GG to soothe the itching and help the skin heal.

For lice I use GG lice n easy shampoo.

ETA - mites and lice are parasitic not fungal
 
Last edited:
bought a spot on from pet shop that contains the thinging me bob stuff begining with I that you mentioned is this okay?
Did you get my pm vix about murphy?
 
Yes, I got your pm I've just replied to you.

Ivermectin is good for mites but it doesn't treat a fungal infection, this needs a shampoo. The best spot on I've found is XENO 450 for adults and XENO 50 for babies, some of the cheaper ones don't work very well.

Do you know what type of fungal infection it is?
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top