Itchy Pig

[Countrylass]

My 17 week old boar Sweep was diagnosed with mange by the vet around 7 weeks ago just a few days after I bought him home. He has had 3 doses of Ivermectin and with is last dose just over a week ago he had an anti inflammatory injection I think to break the cycle of scratching. As I've never had pigs before I don't know how often piggies scratch to know whether I should take him back to the vets for a skin test and an overnight stay. Does anyone know what is normal? His cage is plastic and scrubbed every week and I have changed his bedding from wood shavings to megazorb to see if that's better for him. He doesn't have any dandruff on his underside and only about 3 very small dots of white on his back. The vet said he may be lacking in vitamin C but I can't get him to drink water with it in as he doesn't like the taste and he doesn't like peppers or kiwi so I don't know what to do. Sorry for rambling but I feel like a bad parent!

 

[Wiebke]

Hi! Welcome!

Does your piggy like parsley and broccoli? They contain a lot of vitamin C as well. You can also put a bit of a tablet straight into his mouth or syringe him vitamin C dissolved in a bit of water.

Many young guinea pigs haven't learned to drink from a bottle yet. Putting vitamin C in water is not a good idea anyway, as you can never control the intake and it breaks down very quickly while encouraging the growth of algae.

Your piggy should be OK after three rounds of mite treatment. He has either dry skin or some fungal complaint, also you'd expect to see more skin flakes. To be on the safe side, you could give him a bath to remove any remaining flakes.
A very good place to get advice and special shampoos is gorgeous guineas - especially as your piggy is comparatively young. Perhaps you can try something antifungal if he is old enough? http://www.gorgeousguineas.com/

 

[flips]

My girls had mites recently and had 3 rounds of ivermectin injections. Flumpet also had steroids to ease the itching. After the third injection I gave them a good bath to get rid of any scurfy skin/ parasite debris and this definitely seemed to ease the scratching. The vet also suggested I get rid of the hay I'd been using and start fresh in case they were getting re-infected.

As Wiebke says, Broccoli and parsley are great for vit C. Have you tried all colours of bell pepper? Some pigs like some and not others.

I also got my pigs to accept a previously disliked food (carrot) by putting it in when I went to bed. I think they decided there was nothing better to eat so they chowed down. Now it's a nightime fave (they don't realise I take it out of their teatime allowance...ssshhhh). Might be worth a try.

Hope Sweep feels more himself soon. x

 

[Countrylass]

He's just been popcorning round on the floor in between trying to avoid 7 week old Fudge who keeps trying to hump him which he doesn't like although he does purr at Fudge and rub noses with him so progress is being made there I think, it's only their third time being out together. He loves purple sprouting broccoli leaves and broccoli stalks but he eats all the way up to the underside of the top of the floret and leaves the rest, he also likes clover, fennel, celery and carrot. I tried red pepper which he ate 2 bites of then left and he didn't try it at all the second time I gave it to him. I'm hoping once he's in with Fudge that Fudge will teach him to eat kiwi and that he will teach Fudge to eat broccoli which Fudge will not eat at all. I'll try giving him a bath although if it's anything like bathing a chicken I could end up soaked

 

[flips]

You might want to have a quick read of Laura's post on bathing
http://www.theguineapigforum.co.uk/showthread.php?t=47314

I don't know anything about bathing chickens, lol, but when it comes to pigs, always have an extra towel handy. |)

 

[Amy1218]

If your piggy is not drinking enough water with vitamin C in, try sprinkling it on their veg. xx