Hair falling out

[cyndyt]

My guinea pig that had the babies this am has devoloped a spot about a 25 or 50 cent piece size that is completely bald.

Can anyone tell me what it might be?

 

[shiny]

Is it red, itchy or flaky? How old are the babies? What are you feeding your piggie? How is she otherwise (eating, drinking, pooing etc)?

 

[Rodentopia]

Whats the skin like on the bald spot?

 

[cyndyt]

The babies were literally born yesterday am and the spot appeared in the afternoon.
Nothing has changed in her diet and her behaviour has not changed.

The bald spot looks like someone shaved her.

I looked at pitures of mitesand it doesn't look like them

 

[shiny]

Has the bald spot changed today? I was asking about food as pregnancy & lactation can be tough on an animal's body & hair falling out could indicate a nutritient deficiency. What do you feed your pig on? I would want to rule out mites & fungal though with a bald patch. Have you noticed any if the babies nibbling there? Could be barbarism maybe?

 

[cyndyt]

think tomorrow I will try to get her in to see the vet.

I suspect mites but thought they would show up before now if she them. When I got her in January her dad was naked/just starting to regrow hair from mites. The lady had only treated the one piggy that had them not the rest.

 

[shiny]

Mites (or their eggs anyway) can lie dormant & emerge at times of stress so this could be possible but I would expect to see lots of scratching & redness. Be wary of putting treatments on a guinea who is feeding young as any spot-on treatments could be toxic for such young pigs. I agree that seeing the vet is a good idea. You will probably need to take babies too as they are a bit young to be away from mum.

 

[Rodentopia]

I agree vet trip is the best course of action. The fact one of the males lost all his fur would indicate a serious mite problem, possibly mange but again i agree with Shiny i would have expected there to be more scratching and soreness there. I think going to the vets is the best idea so they can look over them all

 

[PingandChipy]

Sometimes it can be hormonal, especially when pregnant or after pregnancy. But always best to check with the vets.

 

[cyndyt]

I took all to the vet this am and all have been treated for burrowing mites.
I have to retreat them in 10 and 20 days.

 

[KaitRoo]

Not long after my guinea mouse gave birth her fur started becoming shorter and looked almost like someone had hacked her fur with scissors, it turned out to be one of her babies was literally eating her hair, she never had bald spots as they were clipping as oppose to yanking it out.

If the spots are on the face I would say it's most likely to be a fungal infection, as the bald spots do just appear overnight. Also you may notice small itchy red patches on your skin which would mean that you have caught it too (your doctor can prescribe anti fungal tablets). I'm currently going through this with me and a few of my pigs, thigh I think we're through the worst of it now.

Thanks for letting us know what the outcome was x

 

[cyndyt]

I have ivermectin that I am to treat her and the babies with every 10 days.
So far the babies arent affected with the mites but apparently they are high contagious so they will be treated.
Everything I have read is that they can't be treated until they are 300g but they are all just over 100. They are on a very small dosage so I hope he got it correct.

 

[KaitRoo]

I thought it was 800g for ivermectin treatment but I might be mistaken. Mouse caught mites off her partner, fortunately she didn't have it badly and I managed to use the spot on pipettes on her a few days after she gave birth, the babies never caught it thankfully. She stopped scratching and her fur grew back pretty quick. I hope it all clears up soon xx

 

[Rodentopia]

I would ask your vet again as i thought babies had to be heavier then 100g for sure. I thought it was mites of some kind especially when you mentioned the male being bald.