How Should I Apply Ivermectin Mite Treatment to my Guinea Pigs?

[PiggiaWiggia]

Hi,

I have two 3 year old female guinea pigs and both of them have quite bad mite infestations (not mange mite, thankfully!). I first noticed them scratching more than normal about a year ago and immediately checked their fur, but couldn't see anything. Just to be sure we took them to the vet, who administered a "very effective and guaranteed to keep mites away for 6 months" treatment pipette behind their ears, and told us to disinfect everything thoroughly before we put them back in their cage or gave them any of their toys, which we did as soon as we got home. However it didn't seem to work as they were still itching badly a week later, so I groomed them and that seemed to do the trick, and they stopped scratching for a while after that. But just over 3 months ago they suddenly started scratching really badly again and trying what looked like to "barber" parts of their fur, and I realised that every time I handled them I had been coming out in rashes on my arms and neck, inflamed with raised bumps, so I checked them again. To my horror I saw hundreds of tiny brownish insects imbedded in the white parts of my piggies' fur! (I'm pretty sure that they're the type of mites, or lice, that cause skin rashes and allergic reactions in people.) So we took them back to another vet and this time they put on a different type of treatment, Beaphar Anti-Parasite Spot On for Rabbits and Guinea Pigs. I was a bit confused as the vet put all of the contents of the pipette onto the back of their necks (could someone here please explain why they do that, by the way, I know it's probably to stop them being able to lick it but I'm still confused?) but it really seemed to do the job and the infestation went down by 50%. But it must have flared back up again because I checked them yesterday and it's a bad as before. So I'm going to try to apply the Beaphar stuff myself because I can't get another appointment! Can someone please advise me:
1. How much to put on each piggy?
2. Whereabouts I should apply?
3. If I can/should apply it to multiple areas?

Many thanks, please get back to me ASAP!

 

[Bill & Ted]

Hello and welcome to the forum
Sadly I think the Beaphar Anti-Parasite Spot On for Rabbits and Guinea Pigs is a rather weak application that you can buy over the counter at P&H, other pet stores and online. I don’t think it is very,powerful. There are better treatments which are prescription only Xeno 450 rings a bell, I’m sure someone will be ago and give you more advice x

 

[Piggies&buns]

Treating mites is done via a course of treatments - multiple treatments over the course of several weeks . This means all life cycles of mites are caught (treatment only kills the live mites, not the eggs - so the treatment has to be done at the correct intervals to catch the mites that hatch from the eggs and prevent further eggs being laid). If only one treatment is given then the eggs that are present hatch and starts the whole thing off again.

you put the contents of the pipette on the back of the neck
Dosage is calculated by the piggies weight.

We recommend that any treatment is of prescription strength from the vet (the treatments you can get from pet shops, such as the beaphar one, are generally not quite strong enough to completely deal with the problem).

it can also be recommended to source new hay.

I can only really recommend that you go back to a cavy savvy vet and get a good strength prescription treatment, and for it to be completed via the correct length course of treatments to ensure the full life cycles are captured.

the guide below explains further

New guinea pigs: Sexing, vet checks&customer rights, URI, ringworm and parasites

 

[tabelmabel]

You can get xeno50 online which is vet strength but it wont do hay/fur mites. It will clear lice and mange mite - it's ivermectin.

Xeno 50 will do pigs weighing up to 1250 g.

Pigs heavier than that need xeno 450 size pipettes.

It's on amazon. These are the instructions for it





It is always best to get a vet to make a correct diagnosis, but when i last called the vet about mites in lockdown, they just posted out a prescription for this stuff!

 

[PiggiaWiggia]

Thank you everyone for your replies!
I did a lot of research on piggy health care when I first got my two girls three years ago, but I'm guessing I was misinformed because all of the books and people I got advice from said Beaphar was the best treatment method for lice and mites and never mentioned that you would need to treat the cycles over the course of a few weeks (just to say, I have no idea whether they have mites or lice as it's quite hard to tell!). All of the vets I went to used Beaphar because they said it was the strongest available and after treating told me to come back in 2 weeks if the infestation hadn't cleared up - again, they never said anything about stopping cycles! This is a lot more complex than I thought it would be
I've never heard of Xeno 50 or 450 but will definitely buy some ASAP! The hay I get for my GPs, along with literally everything else except their bedding (which is from Kaytee), is from Pets at Home so maybe I'll switch to a new brand? I have had problems with their products before so it probably is a good idea. If I do switch can anyone recommend a good place to buy good-quality pet hay (and other stuff in general) from?
Thank you again for all your advice, links and pictures, it's super informative and much appreciated!

 

[Piggies&buns]

Thank you everyone for your replies!
I did a lot of research on piggy health care when I first got my two girls three years ago, but I'm guessing I was misinformed because all of the books and people I got advice from said Beaphar was the best treatment method for lice and mites and never mentioned that you would need to treat the cycles over the course of a few weeks (just to say, I have no idea whether they have mites or lice as it's quite hard to tell!). All of the vets I went to used Beaphar because they said it was the strongest available and after treating told me to come back in 2 weeks if the infestation hadn't cleared up - again, they never said anything about stopping cycles! This is a lot more complex than I thought it would be
I've never heard of Xeno 50 or 450 but will definitely buy some ASAP! The hay I get for my GPs, along with literally everything else except their bedding (which is from Kaytee), is from Pets at Home so maybe I'll switch to a new brand? I have had problems with their products before so it probably is a good idea. If I do switch can anyone recommend a good place to buy good-quality pet hay (and other stuff in general) from?
Thank you again for all your advice, links and pictures, it's super informative and much appreciated!

I would go to a cavy savvy vet for a diagnosis and to be given the correct treatment.

If they have lice you will see the actual lice - small pale crawling creatures.
If they have hay mites, then you will only be able to see black specks on the hair usually on their back end. They are the egg casings. The mites themselves are too small to see

In terms of hay, I personally use Haybox.club which is a subscription company - my regular hay order turns up at my door every few weeks!

 

[weepweeps]

Hello. Hope you get on top of the problem soon. When my piggies had mites the vet said I could dot the xeno450 along the spine. Not just on one spot on the neck. You have to get as much of it on their skin as you can and if you put it all in one place it tends to run down the fur. Hope this helps. Also get vet strength xeno450 as the weaker shop stuff is no good. I had to treat my two piggies every two weeks for six weeks (3 treatments in all). After each treatment you have to disinfect everything again and throw away all cardboard hides that can’t be cleaned or washed.

 

[PiggiaWiggia]

Thanks so much guys! I'll try doing that