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Fur Chewing

cmcginnis31

cmcginnis31

New Born Pup
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Jan 25, 2021
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Hey! I am new to the forum and I have a question about fur chewing. I have a male guinea pig and he is five years old. Over the last year he has started chewing his fur on his front legs. He then started in his stomach and his sides. It wasn’t too bad and he stopped chewing for a while. However, lately he has been chewing worse and he has two really big bald spots in his side and his back legs are pretty bald. We have consulted our vet numerous times. His skin isn’t irritated, he doesn’t have any scrapes or scabs or scratches at all and his skin isn’t red or have a rash or anything. Our vet says it seems something is stressing him or causing him anxiety. We have given him different chew toys, we researched and sprayed him with lemon juice, that it tastes bitter but won’t hurt him. However, he seems to not mind the lemon juice and is still chewing. What is a good but safe chewing deterrent we can try? Any suggestions would be much appreciated!
Thank you!
 
Hi and welcome!
Is your piggy recently bereaved of his cage mate? It's really important for them to live with and have interaction with at least one other piggy, if he doesn't that could be an explanation, as he could be pining and stressed for that reason.

If you could give some more background information about who else your piggy lives with and his accommodation that would help😊 Some photos of the bald spots too, then perhaps some more experienced forum members should hopefully be able to advise. Does he appear to show any signs of being in pain or discomfort?
 
:agr:
These would be my questions also
A bit more information about his life and living arrangements would help.
 
Has your vet treated him for mites? I have a piggy who started chewing the fur on her legs and belly and also had no wounds, redness, etc and no scratching on her back but it turned out to be mites even tho it didn't present how you would expect.

Also piggies with arthritis sometimes chew their legs because of the discomfort.
 
He has two other cage mates, both males. One is four years and the other is a year. They all have their own separate huts and food dishes and water bottle. They have chew toys as well. They all get along really well. Not fights for dominance or anything. Our vet did check him over and didn’t see any mites. He doesn’t appear to be in any type of pain... but for the last 6 months he has been getting what we have learned are “semen rods” and I have seen this can cause chewing. But obviously being his “parents” we hate to see him seem to be stressed and are just trying to give him relief if we can.
 
cmcginnis31 said:
He has two other cage mates, both males. One is four years and the other is a year. They all have their own separate huts and food dishes and water bottle. They have chew toys as well. They all get along really well. Not fights for dominance or anything. Our vet did check him over and didn’t see any mites. He doesn’t appear to be in any type of pain... but for the last 6 months he has been getting what we have learned are “semen rods” and I have seen this can cause chewing. But obviously being his “parents” we hate to see him seem to be stressed and are just trying to give him relief if we can.
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Mites can't be seen as they live in the skin, it's just something that would be easy to treat and rule out.
 
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