Guinea pigs still itchy after treatment

[amynatasha]

I realised my guinea pigs were very itchy and constantly scratching recently and so I checked them over and found that one of them had a very small but long, yellow thing crawling on them I couldn't find anything on the other two, they just had dry skin.

So the next day I took them to the vets, and they said that they couldn't really see anything but they think its hair mites and prescribed them some xeno 450 to just apply once.

It's now 4 days after I put the treatment on them and they're still very itchy so I dont know what to do!

 

[Piggies&buns]

Xeno has to be given as part of a course of treatments - One treatment alone won’t deal with a problem. If you could see something though then it won’t be mites as they are invisible. It could be lice though.
I would suggest that you go back to the vet and have them check them over and If they do think There is an issue then a full course of treatment will be needed.
New guinea pigs: Sexing, vet checks&customer rights, URI, ringworm and parasites

 

[amynatasha]

Xeno has to be given as part of a course of treatments - One treatment alone won’t deal with a problem. If you could see something though then it won’t be mites as they are invisible. It could be lice though.
I would suggest that you go back to the vet and have them check them over and If they do think There is an issue then a full course of treatment will be needed.
New guinea pigs: Sexing, vet checks&customer rights, URI, ringworm and parasites

Yeah, I googled it when I saw the crawling thing and thought it was lice and that's why I took them to the vets because that's what it was saying to do. I also told the vets that I thought it was lice, but they said it was hair mites, which also is contradictory to what Google says:') the vet said to apply the xeno 450 and if the itching didn't stop to go back, but I'm not sure how long it should take to work after the first treatment? The vet also said not to bath them for a month, but online comments have said that bathing them in between the course of treatment helps?

 

[Lady Kelly]

There is not really a need to bathe them at all but treatment should be repeated to capture any mites hatching from the eggs. Where are you based? I would expect most vets to be able to determine between lice and mites and I would be inclined to try and find a more knowledgeable piggy vet for a second opinion

 

[amynatasha]

I'm based in Bristol. I think the problem was that because of the pandemic at the moment I wasn't allowed to go in with my guinea pigs, i had to stay outside in my car and they were picked up and given back to me from a student vet and so all the information from the vet was relayed back to me by the student vet. I was also only given enough xeno 450 for one dose, so should I buy some more and give them the same dose in 2 weeks?

Sorry, I'm new to having guinea pigs, and I'm trying by best with them!

 

[Piggies&buns]

I'm based in Bristol. I think the problem was that because of the pandemic at the moment I wasn't allowed to go in with my guinea pigs, i had to stay outside in my car and they were picked up and given back to me from a student vet and so all the information from the vet was relayed back to me by the student vet. I was also only given enough xeno 450 for one dose, so should I buy some more and give them the same dose in 2 weeks?

Sorry, I'm new to having guinea pigs, and I'm trying by best with them!

A cavy savvy vet would still know what the correct treatment is regardless of whether you were relayed the information by a student or not.
I would try to find a more knowledgeable vet as Lady Kelly has advised and get them seen again.