• Discussions taking place within this forum are intended for the purpose of assisting you in discussing options with your vet. Any other use of advice given here is done so at your risk, is solely your responsibility and not that of this forum or its owner. Before posting it is your responsibility you abide by this Statement

Info on Mites - Hope this helps

  • Thread starter Thread starter heatherspigs
  • Start date Start date
Status
Not open for further replies.
H

heatherspigs

Dear All,

Just back from my vets and having had my piggies for 10 days now and spent probably 10 hours researching Mites I thought I might share some of what I have learned for others in same position as this seems to be a common problem with some conficting advice.

Please feel free to comment if you believe I have been told incorrect, I am no expert in piggies (10 days only) but I would like to help others:

1. All guinea pigs have mites living in their skin, just like we have in our eye lashes (if this is news look it up really gross but here you are! also in our eye brows). Most of the time they are just there and cause no itching or issues, kind of dormant.

2. Vets believe they cause problems when there is an issue with your piggie and in most cases this is dietary (according to my vet today). Too much dry and not enough fresh or lack of variety in diet. My piggies were bought from a pet shop and I saw no signs of fresh in their cage although they said they were feed on carrots and apple. Stress can also have an impact but mostly it is their diet.

3. They are species specific. I.e. your dog and you can't get it - Confirmed by vet today.

4. To clear up you must use ivermectin either in spot on or injection. Washing will not help.

5. I have spent over £40 treating my piggies at vets. There is a vet web site selling ivermectin for £16.10 for 6 pippettes, almost 1/3 cheaper than charged at vets!

Perhaps to continue with this thread someone could post exactly which veggies you think constitutes a varied diet for healthy pigs.

I feed mine so far: Celery, green cabbage leaves, carrots whole including leaves (their favorite), apple, cauliflower, brocolli, cauliflower leaves. They also have clover from my lawn when in run, my lawn is rubbish all clover hardly any grass, rubbish for gardening awards great for NIbbles and Sooty!

I hope this helps and to reiterate all my issues over the past 10 days NEVER EVER buy a pig from a pet shop no matter how good their reputation. Mine has a wonderful rep but their pigs were suffering and they knew nothing about the care of these wonderful animals. (For those who have been following my plight - no they have not and are refusing to pay anything towards the vet bill and I am now involving Trading Standards.)

Lot's of squeeks, Lorna (Heathers' mum) xxxxx
 
Thanks for summarising everything you have learnt. It all sounds about right to me. The only thing I could add is that Ivermectin (Ivomec) can also be given orally to treat mites.

There is a diet thread going up in the Reference Threads section all about feeding varied diets, and also some info about the Calcium-Phosphorus ratio - will post a link once the thread is visible. The key to a good diet tends to simply be variety, and moderation. Feeding smaller amounts of each of a number of different foods.

Hope your guineas mite problem is solved now. :)
 
Make sure that you do not introduce more than one new variety of veg at a time; too much of a good thing at once can throw their digestive system out! treat them like you would children that won't eat green stuff - try again and again and again! Not every piggy will eat eat everything, but you have a better chance at gettig them to eat a wider variety when they are young. Make it your aim to feed a mix of five different veg and fruit a day, so they get a wide range of nutrients and vitamins.

Unfortunately, even a healthy and varied diet can't completely protect you from ever having to deal with mites; they can pop up again, but are easily treatable, if treated early on.

The food threads mentioned by CCC4 are these two:
http://www.theguineapigforum.co.uk/showthread.php?t=42
http://www.theguineapigforum.co.uk/showthread.php?t=30297
The diet in the latter thread has been worked out on the recommendations of the guinealynx medical website.
 
I've redone the Ca-P and fresh food diet list recently in a new Reference thread, but the old thread and the Shopping List are always useful to look through. :)
 
I give my piggies a lot of greens arounf 35g to 50g og Guinea pig nuggets and a small extra veg/fruit treat in with the greens. Plus loads of grass and hay...

When I got my piggies I was told to feed them on cabbage and potatoe peelings. Will defo go to a rescue centre in the future. Don't know why I never thought of that in the first place....
 
Please don't give them potato peelings, the green areas contain a poisonous substance which is capable of killing a g.pig.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top