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vivien

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hi everyone I am new to the forum and in fact a new guinea pig keeper, il try to make this as brief as i can. I live in Italy but I am English I got my piggy from a local feite unfortunately animals arn't proteced here like in England and America anyway she was tiny a ball of soft fur and i fell in love with her but she has a scatching problem that seems to be getting worse, I took her to a vet but here no-one specialises in rodents and he told me it could be fungal and gave me a lotion to put on the scabs and any itchy area but this does not seem to have worked, she seemes to get small areas with iether a spot or a scab but iv noticed that she has a place on her rump were it is a bit red and itchy so I'm not sure if it might be mites or fungi ,also she gets a bit bad tempered now when shes handled and jumps a lot when you suddenly touch her, I have been using almond oil with esential oil of tea tree, lavender, lemon grass and patchouli as I read on a guinea pig site but as yet still cant see much change one heals up and another breaks out pigletta and myself would be eternally gratefull for any help and advise that can be given thank you Vivien
 
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Hi,

It does sound like mites. Xeno 50 (for smaller pigs) or Xeno 450 is ideal its just like drops you put behind the ears and it works a treat. Can you ask your vet for this. If not you can order online as a last resort.

Louise
 
I would recommend Stronghold which is usually for kats and dogs.

If you want me to find out what dosing should be used, just let me know.

For fungi Ivamerol is perfect. Just ask your vet. He should be able to order it for you.

To minimize itching, Fenistil is perfect. But the piggy should not lick it.

If you don't do anything agains the itch, the piggy could die during a cramp.
 
Isn't stronghold is a flea treatment and treats ear mites in larger animals I think it would be too agressive for guinea pigs?

Fenistil treats coldsores in humans and as pigs lick I wouldn't use it incase indigested.

Pigs can die from mites sadly, they can cause fits.

Ivomectin is the drug of choice for mites this is in Xeno products or can be given by a vet through injections which can be stressful for pigs so the drops is far beneficial for piggy.

Gorgeous Guineas is a website that does shampoos kind to pigs it may be worth dropping Chrissie a mail to see what she suggests http://www.gorgeousguineas.com/
 
thanks

thanks both of you for such a quick reply, il try the local vet and hope he recognises the meds, I'm afraid vets here dont seem to know much about piggies my vet is very nice but treats dogs cats and large animals unfortunately here in italy I seem to think that small animals are rarely taken to the vet and this is why they dont treat them often. My pigaletta as I call her, is so beautiful and is eating well I have had her for four months now and she seems to be growing well, she is just under a kilo in weight, 950 grms, is this al right for her age she must be comming up for 6 months now, I woiuld be grateful for any dosing information any site that I could order the meds if I cant get them here thanks again Vivien
 
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Bless her, 1Kilo is 1000 grams so yes that is actually a very good weight! I have much smaller pigs at that age but they are all different.

I know what you mean about not finding a vet who know about little animals, it is the same here. I have two vets now one that knows about guineas and a much closer one that doesn't know as much but is ideal for certain things like claw clipping on a couple of mine who have awkward claws probably due to them being imbred slightly.

Keep us posted on her, oh and any photos? ^)
 
Stronghold is recommended by all of the vets in Germany. You just need to take a very small dosis.

I treated my piggies with Stronghold too.

I know a German girl who runs a guinea pig forum in Italy. She has similar problems finding a propriate vet like you. But maybe she can help you finding the medis.

This is the E-Mail Adress of her : [email protected]
 
I have just looked up the dose :

Selamectin / Stronghold / Spot-on

15mg/kg
One time and the next time after 4 weeks

For Fungi :

Imaverol / Enilkonazol
1x daily (1:50) external
over a few weeks - every 3rd day

Maybe you can take a picture of the sore spot.

Strong-Hold is good against all types of parasites even for fleas.

In Germany we do have the same problem in finding a vet how has knowledge in rodents. Many vets think that it is easy to treat guinea pigs.
In their study they concentrate only on big animals. To get knowledge in rodents they need to educate oneself. I lost one piggy because the vet was incompetently.
I know it because one of my friends is a vet.
I am so glad that I found a really good vet who is concentrated on rodent.
On the other hand I try to find as many information as I can to have an ey on the vets xx>>>
 
Thanks for the extra info on the meds Patricia. Selamectin is used in UK, more usually to treat against lice. It's not an ideal treatment but it has been used with some success against mites. Ivermectin is the norm here, the 2.5% sheep or cattle suspension.
 
thanks everyone for all the usefull info. I think that the xeno is probably the best way to go do i need the 50 or the 450 for a piggy 950 gm and is there a site on the web that I can buy itfrom if not here, thanks again for all the help it is much appreciated, also il try contacting the site in italy maybe this lady will know of somewhere local that sell guinea products. I will try and download a couple of photos although I'm not sure how to go about it. Vivien and Pigaletta
 
thanks SunshineandTwinkle, Il try to get it here first and the if no go il see if one of the sites you gave will send the meds to Italy. Vivien
 
advise please

Hi all been unable to get the xeno 450 here in Italy however my local chemist who is very helpfull contacted her local dealler and found out that I could get the injectable ivermectin and the dealer said that it can be used topically as well as by injection, does anyone have any experience with this, any advise please thanks everyone Vivien Also is it alright to use this after I bath her, as I am going to bath her today as her coat is sticky due to the esential oils I put on her.
 
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Sometimes when a piggie has mites the vet will inject with ivermectin.
 
Yep Ivermectin can be injected, although I would only recommend a vet do it. Whichever method you choose - topically or injection, your pig needs to have more than one treatment to get rid of mites. Ideally these should be 7-10 days apart.

It does sound like mites and not fungal to me. I wouldn't personally use strong hold unless a vet helped guide me through it, and the doses were carefully measured. It does contain ivermectin, but strong hold is primarily for larger animals.
 
She is lovely. Can you get the medication from the pharmacy and maybe the vet will inject. It wouldn't be my usual way of doing things but there aren't many options. Perhaps the vet can talk to the pharmacist?

Hope you manage to get something sorted out. :)
 
Thanks everyone

Thanks for all the tips, I have decided to take your advise and let the vet do the injection, he wasnt there yesterday so il take her this evening to the surgery, i found some info on dosage and il take this with me in case hes not sure. Pigaletta is beautiful if a little funny looking at times with that crest on her head and long hair on her rear, she is a real little caracter and plays with me, she jumps about and threatenes to bite me even following my hand when i pull it away but she never sinks her teath you just feel them, makes me jump though as she is very fast. She ,likes to climb up to my kneck and then seems to be licking me I dont like it very much it gives me gooses but she gets cross with me if I take her down before she is ready. I'm not very good at enclosin photos I dont seem to be able to do it can anyon help me? il try another but it takes mes o long and then the picture is really small. Vivien As you see she is very at hoe with my husband and loves the computer I'm afraid making life a bit difficult for him sometimes.
 

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Aww she is beautiful! I'm sure he loves her really.
And i can see the photos perfectly. if you click on them they enlarge on the screen.

I'm glad you have had some answers on here. Keep us posted on her.

xx
 
Yes he is very fond of her and you can see how content she is laying out on him, he was watching TV and not aware I was taking the pic. I found a site that explaines how to use ivermectin topicaly so I am going to try this first to save her the stress of an injection. I hope its not against the rules to give this url if it is I do apologise and I understand if you remove it. thank you for all your help Vivien
http://www.guinealynx.info/topical_ivermectin.html
 
Olive oil

I have used olive oil directly on sore spots when I knew my guinea pig Magenta had mites - behind ears and on the top of the thigh where there were itchy red patches she had scratched. It kills the mites that are currently attached to the skin and itchy, mites may be microscopic and difficult to see but they are there and they breathe through their rumps so the layer of oil stops them breathing and kills them. The guinea pig takes no damage from this, it can soothe the itchy skin and if your piggie licks it off then it does no harm. A heavier oil such as olive oil makes a decent layer and I personally applied it, after warming the oil slightly, with my fingertip very gently.
I have used this technique on very young stressed piggies too, with lots of black mites in itchy ears that I could see because there were so many of them(!) and it really works. I hope this helps, at least you can give some loving care and soothe your piggie's sore skin with some warmed olive oil.
 
Hi!

Welcome to the forum. If your piggy has mites, Spot-On is brilliant. I've used it on all of my piggies when they had the same problem and it worked really quickly. You don't even need to bathe them afterwards. You can get over the internet as well (which is where I got mine from) and it's not that expensive. It's called Beaphar Spot-On.

If it's fungal, that's trickier because it depends on the fungus. However, you can check of GuineaLynx, which has some really good information.

Hope that helps!
 
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