summerleaze
Adult Guinea Pig
A lady seeking advice today had been treating her guineas for recurring fungal skin problems for several months now. I asked her about her hutch hygiene and she was suprised to learn how fungal spores are so difficult to eradicate. Sadly her inadequate hutch hygiene was adding to her guineas problems.
She had been treating the piggies but not their environment.
There are thousands of types of fungal spores and bacteria that will cause infections in animals and many of them we come into contact with every day and are harmless.
However, if you have had recurring fungal/skin problems in your piggies it's worth looking at your cleaning methods and the disinfectants you use.
Fungal spores thrive in dark, damp and warm environments so thoroughly cleaning with a good disinfectant on a regular basis is essential - Virkon and Trigene are both excellent and animal friendly.
Personal hygiene and handwashing are essential too. If you suffer from anything like athlete's foot it's worth wearing disposable gloves until it's cleared up as this is a human fungal infection too :red
If you have an outside hutch give it a thorough wash then soak with disinfectant and turn it on it's back so that the sun can really dry it out.
Wooden housing and hidey holes also need disinfectant treatment too.
If you have soft bedding such as fleece or vetbed unfortunately the lower temperature washes in the machine do not kill off fungal spores. In the old days everything was "boil washed" so in effect killed off the spores. Few spores are killed off at anything below 65 degrees. Most washes are around 40 degrees.
I use an antifungal prewash called Eradicil and then wash as normal - that certainly helps keep things clean. Leaving bedding in the sun for a while helps too as spores don't like sunlight.
Finally bowls and bottles need regular cleaning too - a soak in Milton is fine and a cotton bud removes debris from the spout.
It's great to get the piggies treated but their home needs it too.
I'm sure there are some other ideas on cleaning thoroughly too?
Louise at Little Brambles
She had been treating the piggies but not their environment.
There are thousands of types of fungal spores and bacteria that will cause infections in animals and many of them we come into contact with every day and are harmless.
However, if you have had recurring fungal/skin problems in your piggies it's worth looking at your cleaning methods and the disinfectants you use.
Fungal spores thrive in dark, damp and warm environments so thoroughly cleaning with a good disinfectant on a regular basis is essential - Virkon and Trigene are both excellent and animal friendly.
Personal hygiene and handwashing are essential too. If you suffer from anything like athlete's foot it's worth wearing disposable gloves until it's cleared up as this is a human fungal infection too :red
If you have an outside hutch give it a thorough wash then soak with disinfectant and turn it on it's back so that the sun can really dry it out.
Wooden housing and hidey holes also need disinfectant treatment too.
If you have soft bedding such as fleece or vetbed unfortunately the lower temperature washes in the machine do not kill off fungal spores. In the old days everything was "boil washed" so in effect killed off the spores. Few spores are killed off at anything below 65 degrees. Most washes are around 40 degrees.
I use an antifungal prewash called Eradicil and then wash as normal - that certainly helps keep things clean. Leaving bedding in the sun for a while helps too as spores don't like sunlight.
Finally bowls and bottles need regular cleaning too - a soak in Milton is fine and a cotton bud removes debris from the spout.
It's great to get the piggies treated but their home needs it too.
I'm sure there are some other ideas on cleaning thoroughly too?
Louise at Little Brambles
