Guinea pig in pain from open wounds

[roserobinson]

Hi there, this may be a long one. We got 2 guinea pigs from a previous home back in December. They are 2 boars and have had mites for a while from their previous owner but we didnt pick up on it until recently. One of our guinea pigs, Muffin, had open wounds/ various scabs so we took him to the vet and they gave us a powerful mite prescription. The problem was, it was sold out so we have only got it now, about a month after. Muffin has bigger wounds now that we presumed were from the itchiness of the mites and because they were all scabbed over, we thought it was okay. However, i picked him up this morning to find them all bleeding. What do we do? Is this just from mites? I cleaned them out with an antiseptic gel. He is almost a year old. Should we just wait for the mite treatment to work? We are fairly new piggie owners but we are unsure what to do as he seems to be in a lot of pain but dont know if we can afford to go to an exotic vet.

 

[weepweeps]

Hello and welcome to the forum. I’m sorry they are poorly.

I would get them seen by a normal vet. They will need some pain medication at the very least and I’m sure a normal vets will be able to help with that. Good luck I hope they are soon on the mend.


PS could you change your location. Just a general area will do.

 

[roserobinson]

Hello and welcome to the forum. I’m sorry they are poorly.

I would get them seen by a normal vet. They will need some pain medication at the very least and I’m sure a normal vets will be able to help with that. Good luck I hope they are soon on the mend.


PS could you change your location. Just a general area will do.

Thank you! I didnt realise others could see my location, lol. Changed now and we are going to try and get him into the vet.

 

[Wiebke]

Hi there, this may be a long one. We got 2 guinea pigs from a previous home back in December. They are 2 boars and have had mites for a while from their previous owner but we didnt pick up on it until recently. One of our guinea pigs, Muffin, had open wounds/ various scabs so we took him to the vet and they gave us a powerful mite prescription. The problem was, it was sold out so we have only got it now, about a month after. Muffin has bigger wounds now that we presumed were from the itchiness of the mites and because they were all scabbed over, we thought it was okay. However, i picked him up this morning to find them all bleeding. What do we do? Is this just from mites? I cleaned them out with an antiseptic gel. He is almost a year old. Should we just wait for the mite treatment to work? We are fairly new piggie owners but we are unsure what to do as he seems to be in a lot of pain but dont know if we can afford to go to an exotic vet.

Hi and welcome

Piggies can bite open quite large areas of skin because of the irritation.

Please disinfect the wounds with a mild F10 antiseptic solution. Do not wash or bathe or you could trigger heart damaging seizures.

There is at the moment a shortage of ivermectin but please see a proper vet.

Pain meds are usually not prescribed for mange mites as they are not very effective for the sort of discomfort in the skin but that will depend on your vet's hands-on examination.

@Eriathwen has more experience with advanced mange mites cases and their care at home in connection with an effective vet grade product, which you will have to repeat at the product specific interval for as long as needed (and then one extra to make sure that really all stragglers have gone, so I am linking her in for you.

New Guinea Pigs Health Problems: URI - Ringworm - Skin Parasites

 

[roserobinson]

We

Hi and welcome

Piggies can bite open quite large areas of skin because of the irritation.

Please disinfect the wounds with a mild F10 antiseptic solution. Do not wash or bathe or you could trigger heart damaging seizures.

There is at the moment a shortage of ivermectin but please see a proper vet.

Pain meds are usually not prescribed for mange mites as they are not very effective for the sort of discomfort in the skin but that will depend on your vet's hands-on examination.

@Eriathwen has more experience with advanced mange mites cases and their care at home in connection with an effective vet grade product, which you will have to repeat at the product specific interval for as long as needed (and then one extra to make sure that really all stragglers have gone, so I am linking her in for you.

New Guinea Pigs Health Problems: URI - Ringworm - Skin Parasites

We gave them ivermectin drops (prescribed by vet) yesterday and are just hoping it gets better.

 

[Wiebke]

We

We gave them ivermectin drops (prescribed by vet) yesterday and are just hoping it gets better.

The first two days after are worse because the mites wiggle when they are killed.

The problem is that you can only kill the emerging mites but not the mites eggs still in the skin. Hence the repeated treatments. Any further mites killing treatment has to wait until this application has worn off since ivermectin/selamectin can do permanent damage if overdosed.

Treating advanced mange mites is more of a marathon. But members with relevant personal practical experience should be able to give you the tips you for the wound care and how to best prevent your affected piggies from biting themselves raw. Not all tips making the rounds are online OK or work in practice. Please hang on in there. It's a weekend.

 

[Eriathwen]

Unfortunately it's going to be a case of waiting out the medication, as it kills the adults but then a new generation hatch out and need killing off too, on top of hair regrowth which is also itchy, scabbing is also itchy, so it's a massive itch/scratch cycle that can become worse before it gets better. I have had to treat for up to 6 weeks in some severe cases, it will depend on each individual product what the cycle looks like/how often you re-treat, and it can be a very gruelling and hard to watch process.

Pain medication will be hit or miss, there's certainly no harm in asking for it as it will help with inflammation from the thickened skin etc and taking the edge off even a little bit may help with the self mutilation, but unfortunately there's no guarantee.

You might also want to ask their opinion on infant Piriton (chlorphenamine) which can really help with the itchiness, it will need to be properly dosed by a veterinarian but I have had good success with it in the past. As Wiebke says though, don't try any shampoos or any product that requires bathing or getting them wet, as this causes the mites to freak out and burrow deeper, the extreme itchiness and distress from this can cause seizures.

 

[Merab]

Welcome to the forum.
Sorry that you are dealing with mites.
Hope the medication helps soon