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Hair Loss

Pearl and Zip

Pearl and Zip

Teenage Guinea Pig
Joined
Nov 4, 2017
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Location
East Bay Area, California
Pearl is losing more hair! I posted this awhile ago. She got medicine for mites and fungal infection but she is still losing more and more hair! It’s much worse now!

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Please help! I don’t know what to do.
 
Sorry I wasn’t able to explain much in my post above, I was freaking out! I’ll try to explain more here:

I’ve had Pearl since she was just a year old. She was my first piggy, along with her companion (who sadly passed last year), Jenna.

Pearl would always be energetic and popcorning around her cage. Now that she’s older, at 4 years and 9 months, she’s lazy but will still do anything for food.

I’m really concerned for her, now that she has these health problems. She has hair loss, and the fur near her bottom is constantly brown and matted (I’m able to clean it though).

We showed the vet the hair loss and she gave us mite and fungal infection medicine. But Pearl is just losing more and more fur.

Please help me help her!

Here are some pictures of the hair loss and matted fur:
 

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Maybe Ringworm? My piggies have had ringworm for the past few months and it has finally cleared up. I also treated my piggies with mite treatment and a fungal spray but they kept losing hair :soz:
 
That's quite a large area to have thinning over and there doesn't seem to be any scabbing on it which indicates it's not itchy. Usually with fungal/ringworm and mites there are bites and scratches and scabby areas where the piggy is trying to relieve the itch.

Personally I would be more inclined to have an ultrasound scan for ovarian cysts. It looks like the matting is around the bum and wet which could mean that she is leaking urine which could be another indicator of cysts
 
Pearl and Zip said:
Sorry I wasn’t able to explain much in my post above, I was freaking out! I’ll try to explain more here:

I’ve had Pearl since she was just a year old. She was my first piggy, along with her companion (who sadly passed last year), Jenna.

Pearl would always be energetic and popcorning around her cage. Now that she’s older, at 4 years and 9 months, she’s lazy but will still do anything for food.

I’m really concerned for her, now that she has these health problems. She has hair loss, and the fur near her bottom is constantly brown and matted (I’m able to clean it though).

We showed the vet the hair loss and she gave us mite and fungal infection medicine. But Pearl is just losing more and more fur.

Please help me help her!

Here are some pictures of the hair loss and matted fur:
Click to expand...
I maybe wrong but doesnt ovarian cysts in female guinea pigs cause hair loss?
 
The vet says at this age with so many health problems, the best we can do is give her a good life. Her lymph nodes (sorry if I spelt that wrong!) are swollen too. If we tried to get rid of these health problems, it would cost over $500 and she might die in the process. If she’s acting miserable, he says we should consider putting her down, because there’s really nothing else we can do.

I think I’ll wipe her feet everyday and soak them weekly. They are turning red because she pees on herself. Please let me know if I should do differently, or if there is anything else I can do. I want to give her the best life I can.
 
Oh I'm sorry I wasn't aware that she had other health problems too. Does the vet think the hair loss is from one of her other health concerns?
 
Pearl and Zip said:
He says she may have cancer. I wasn’t aware of the swollen lymph nodes either until the vet checked!
Click to expand...

I thought this might be the feeling so the vet probably believes the hair loss is down to the cancers effect on the glands and hormonal system. I'm really sorry you are going through this but often in this situation an operation could cause the cancer to spread more
 
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