Guinea pig mass hair loss no obvious cause - please help

[Mummybean]

Hi, I really need some help and guidance with my guinea pig, Digby.

This is my first time posting here, so not entirely sure I’m doing this right, but my guinea pig, Digby, isn’t at his best.

Almost all of the lower half of his body has lost all hair, and the few remaining strands are grey rather than black.

He had some breathing issues, which have mostly (though not fully) cleared up with an anti inflammatory.

We have been to the vets multiple times for the hair loss, but they cannot identify any cause. We would rather not do any invasive or extensive tests unless we have to, but we are starting to feel desperate.

Has anyone experienced this before? Think we have ruled out fleas, wringworm, mites and cancer is unlikely though not ruled out.

They’ve check everything, but don’t seem to have an answer

Any help would be appreciated

 

[Wiebke]

Hi, I really need some help and guidance with my guinea pig, Digby.

This is my first time posting here, so not entirely sure I’m doing this right, but my guinea pig, Digby, isn’t at his best.

Almost all of the lower half of his body has lost all hair, and the few remaining strands are grey rather than black.

He had some breathing issues, which have mostly (though not fully) cleared up with an anti inflammatory.

We have been to the vets multiple times for the hair loss, but they cannot identify any cause. We would rather not do any invasive or extensive tests unless we have to, but we are starting to feel desperate.

Has anyone experienced this before? Think we have ruled out fleas, wringworm, mites and cancer is unlikely though not ruled out.

They’ve check everything, but don’t seem to have an answer

Any help would be appreciated

Hi

I am very sorry.

Can you please answer these questions here in order to clarify and give us more background information to work with.
- How long have you had your piggy and how old are they?
- Can you please specify: Have these issues been just ruled out by your vet or have they been actually unsucessfully treated for?

 

[Merab]

So sorry that you are in this situation.
Holding you in my heart

 

[weepweeps]

Poor Digby. I hope you can find out what the problem is.

 

[Mummybean]

Hi,

Thank you for your reply.

We’ve had them for about 3 and 1/2 years, and they are 4 years old.

The vets prescribed wringworm medication, which was completely unsuccessful. They also did a scraping to check for mites, flees or anything else abnormal but found nothing.

They checked him everywhere for lumps, and asked us some other questions which made them doubt it was cancer, although it hasn’t been completely ruled out.

Thank you for all your support, I hope this information helps

 

[Wiebke]

Hi,

Thank you for your reply.

We’ve had them for about 3 and 1/2 years, and they are 4 years old.

The vets prescribed wringworm medication, which was completely unsuccessful. They also did a scraping to check for mites, flees or anything else abnormal but found nothing.

They checked him everywhere for lumps, and asked us some other questions which made them doubt it was cancer, although it hasn’t been completely ruled out.

Thank you for all your support, I hope this information helps

Thank you for the extra information.

Would it be worth doing a vet grade 3 rounds course of ivermectin for potential skin parasites, just to be on the safe side?

Apart from ringworm (which is the most aggressive form of a fungal skin skin infection but it doesn't look like it), there are milder forms of skin infection that are not lab tested for.

Is there any weight loss and more haphazard baldness? Cushings in guinea pigs is very rare, though, and it doesn't quite look like it to me but since we are out of the standard range, I am just bringing it up because we see it perhaps once every year or two on here.

This link here contains more aspects for your vet to consider, from bacterial skin infections (crypto- or staphococcus), scurvy (vitamin C deficiency - rare in well-looked piggies and you want to see more symptoms), protein deficiency from less than 15% protein diets. Hormonal hair loss is usually connected to ovarian cysts in sows and doesn't apply here.
Guinea Lynx :: Hair Loss

These are the further potential avenues that I can come up with. Whether they apply is another matter but I hope that you and your vet can get to the bottom of it!

 

[Mummybean]

Hi

Thank you so much for all the help and support! We have a vet appointment booked in and we will definitely bring these things up

He has had weight loss, although recently he’s gained a bit more weight, but he quite quickly lost weight just before these issues arose.

We will look into getting some ivermectin and seeing if that helps.

Thank you so much for all the useful information - it really helps and both me and my family are very grateful

Hopefully we can get to the bottom of this and get him back to his normal self