Hmmm...

[Fantasimo]

So, yesterday I noticed a small scab on Finn’s back where his swirl naturally parts. His skin looked a bit flaky and he has been itching a tiny bit more than normal over the last few days, but nothing major at all.

Anyway, I took him to the vet today and she said she couldn’t see any mites or abscesses, so she gave me some baytril to give him in case the scab became infected, which is fine. However, I was convinced she would say mites, as I thought you had to do a skin scraping I usually ask my best friend who is a vet, but she’s on holiday for the next few weeks and I don’t want to disturb her. I’m thinking I might buy some ivermectin to put on anyway.

Thoughts?

 

[Wiebke]

So, yesterday I noticed a small scab on Finn’s back where his swirl naturally parts. His skin looked a bit flaky and he has been itching a tiny bit more than normal over the last few days, but nothing major at all.

Anyway, I took him to the vet today and she said she couldn’t see any mites or abscesses, so she gave me some baytril to give him in case the scab became infected, which is fine. However, I was convinced she would say mites, as I thought you had to do a skin scraping I usually ask my best friend who is a vet, but she’s on holiday for the next few weeks and I don’t want to disturb her. I’m thinking I might buy some ivermectin to put on anyway.

Thoughts?

Hi!

Please take deep breath and calm down.

One small scab makes neither a fight nor an outbreak of mange mites or whatever. Throwing the kitchen sink at the tiniest thing won't help you or your guinea pigs because overloading them with chemicals on spec just to allay your own fears is in the long term not good for them.

If it is really mites or fungal, then this will become obvious over the coming days. THEN is the time to step in with the appropriate treatment. Right now, I am very much with the vet you have seen is that all that is there to see and treat is a tiny scab and it may well never go any further than that.

There is no indication of what has caused it so neither any vet nor any of us here on the forum will recommend you to treat on spec for the sake of treating your guinea pig for something that is active in your mind but not on the body of your guinea pigs. None of us is in the possession of a crystal ball that will tell us instantly what is going and what has caused it.

In the very early stages of any potential health issue, all you can do is to be patient and wait to see what is happening so you can treat correctly and on target once any symptoms become obvious to allow a clear diagnosis. A vet can only judge and and treat on the basis of the evidence they are presented with. They cannot diagnose and treat for anything they do not have any evidence for even though they will have surely checked for any signs of mites or fungal during the examination but not have found any. Your vet friend, I am sure, will tell you the same.

 

[Fantasimo]

Hi!

Please take deep breath and calm down.

One small scab makes neither a fight nor an outbreak of mange mites or whatever. Throwing the kitchen sink at the tiniest thing won't help you or your guinea pigs because overloading them with chemicals on spec just to allay your own fears is in the long term not good for them.

If it is really mites or fungal, then this will become obvious over the coming days. THEN is the time to step in with the appropriate treatment. Right now, I am very much with the vet you have seen is that all that is there to see and treat is a tiny scab and it may well never go any further than that.

There is no indication of what has caused it so neither any vet nor any of us here on the forum will recommend you to treat on spec for the sake of treating your guinea pig for something that is active in your mind but not on the body of your guinea pigs. None of us is in the possession of a crystal ball that will tell us instantly what is going and what has caused it.

In the very early stages of any potential health issue, all you can do is to be patient and wait to see what is happening so you can treat correctly and on target once any symptoms become obvious to allow a clear diagnosis. A vet can only judge and and treat on the basis of the evidence they are presented with. They cannot diagnose and treat for anything they do not have any evidence for even though they will have surely checked for any signs of mites or fungal during the examination but not have found any. Your vet friend, I am sure, will tell you the same.

Hi, thanks for your reply. I promise I’m not panicking though I was just questioning whether or not mites were visible with the naked eye or whether that was lice? I’ve never had pigs with either, so was just curious on that front.

On the plus side, the vet did confirm something I had been wondering, which is that Finn’s balls are the biggest she has ever seen on a pig...which would explain why his brother always follows him around staring at them

 

[Fantasimo]

But thank you for all the details you typed out for me, and I will keep a close eye on him for now (him and his extra large testicles )

 

[Wiebke]

Hi, thanks for your reply. I promise I’m not panicking though I was just questioning whether or not mites were visible with the naked eye or whether that was lice? I’ve never had pigs with either, so was just curious on that front.

On the plus side, the vet did confirm something I had been wondering, which is that Finn’s balls are the biggest she has ever seen on a pig...which would explain why his brother always follows him around staring at them

Here is our list of guinea pig specific parasites. Only lice are visible. Neither mange mites (which burrow their eggs in the skin) nor hay mites, (which fix their tiny egg cases to hair usually at the bum end) are visible to the naked eye. Please also accept that a skin scrape is not necessarily conclusive; even more so when there is no indication of their presence - the likelihood of catching any is rather small.
New piggy problems: URI - ringworm - skin parasites