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guinea pig hard skin

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pokeypanda

hello, my guinea pig lost about 90% of his hair two months ago but seemed fine. his female companion recently gave birth to 4 babies and they all died within a week, one by one. could this have been passed on to them by the father? the mother looks fine. now the male's skin on his back and tummy is hard and he's got white specs on his skin. can anyone help, we're new to all this.
 
Welcome to the forum.

The hair loss is, in itself, a cause for concern. The hard skin (crusty?) sounds like a fungal infection, but a parasitic infection could also be to blame. The white specks are perhaps more likely to be flakes of skin, as opposed to a visible parasite such as lice, since most parasites live in the depths of the hair shafts.

It is best to treat for both parasitic and fungal problems. I recommend you see a guinea-pig-experienced vet for treatment, and take both the female and the affected male along as they will both need to be treated.

The vet should give Ivermectin - ideally three injections, 10-14 days apart. This will deal with any mites.
For the fungal, an antifungal shampoo is advised such as Malaseb or Nizoral, although if the skin is as hard as you say you will likely need to moisturise the skin for a number of days prior to bathing in order to get the crust off.

When you say his tummy is hard, do you mean his actual abdomen, or just the skin on it? A very tight and "springy" feeling of the abdomen suggests bloat, which could effectively have been brought on by the fungal infection. If the pig ingests the fungal spores which have caused the skin condition, the infection can become systemic, which would eventually affect eating and digestion and lead to problems such as weight loss and bloat.

I advise getting in contact with an experienced vet as soon as possible. If you can give us an idea of your location we may be able to recommend a good vet for you.

Also, please separate the male and female. This forum does not support intentional breeding, we advise everyone to separate intact males and females in order to prevent pregnancies.
 
Welcome to the forum :)

Just to echo the above post, the pigs do need to see a guinea savvy vet. In addition, it's worth contacting Chrissie at Gorgeous Guineas www.gorgeousguineas.com for a nice gentle product that can help soften the skin as well, she has natural specialist products for skin conditions. I would also strongly agree about seperating them, especially if they have health issues as the stress of pregnancy and birth is likely to be quite damaging for the sow.
 
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i had a case of mites once, which caused Bootle to have white flakes of skin on her back.
Did you not take him to the vets when he lost all his fur in the first place? =\
 
If it is a fungal infection it can spread internally therefore eventually killing your piggy if no vet treatment is given!
i strongly advise you get to a vet now,it should have been done in the first place,piggies never just lose there hair for no reason.
i also agree with the others that the boar and sow need to be seperated.
 
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