Lice / hairloss / stress advice please!

[Guineapigsmcr]

Hi all I have 2 boy guineapigs, both around 8 months old now. They moved into their new cage setup downstairs last week so I could make their enclosure bigger, I have noticed since then one of my piggies moo, has started to loose some hair around the front of one of his eyes, his other is fine. The poorly eye is slightly crusty and I have been trying to keep it clean and remove the crust sometimes little clumps of hair comes off with the crust, I’ll insert some photos. I’ve checked both of my 2 guineapigs and I can’t see anything else wrong with them no hair loss or scabs etc. Until I saw they have some sort of lice on them when I was grooming them! Moo with the poorly eye has the lice a lot worst than Jaffa my other boy. Could they have come off the hay as moo loves to bury himself in hay? They look like small white dots and I can just about see them moving around but they are rather small and around His rump. So I was just wondering if this eye could be to do with the lice ? Or more likely to be stress related from moving rooms and could be something like ringworm. They are both still eating drinking and zooming normally and they live on fleece. I’ve Just ordered the lice and easy shampoo for them both. I am planning to take them to the vets to see if they could work out if it’s fungal related or something else to do with the lice.moos hair loss infront of his eye.Compared to his healthy eye on the other side.Small amount of crust fallen off moos eye with some hairSome sort of lice ? Not sure which but they are very small and around his bum

 

[Wiebke]

Hi all I have 2 boy guineapigs, both around 8 months old now. They moved into their new cage setup downstairs last week so I could make their enclosure bigger, I have noticed since then one of my piggies moo, has started to loose some hair around the front of one of his eyes, his other is fine. The poorly eye is slightly crusty and I have been trying to keep it clean and remove the crust sometimes little clumps of hair comes off with the crust, I’ll insert some photos. I’ve checked both of my 2 guineapigs and I can’t see anything else wrong with them no hair loss or scabs etc. Until I saw they have some sort of lice on them when I was grooming them! Moo with the poorly eye has the lice a lot worst than Jaffa my other boy. Could they have come off the hay as moo loves to bury himself in hay? They look like small white dots and I can just about see them moving around but they are rather small and around His rump. So I was just wondering if this eye could be to do with the lice ? Or more likely to be stress related from moving rooms and could be something like ringworm. They are both still eating drinking and zooming normally and they live on fleece. I’ve Just ordered the lice and easy shampoo for them both. I am planning to take them to the vets to see if they could work out if it’s fungal related or something else to do with the lice.View attachment 143948moos hair loss infront of his eye.View attachment 143949Compared to his healthy eye on the other side.View attachment 143950Small amount of crust fallen off moos eye with some hairView attachment 143953Some sort of lice ? Not sure which but they are very small and around his bumView attachment 143953View attachment 143951

Hi!

You aren't seeing any lice crawling around, just tiny beads fixed to hair?

In this case, you are most likely dealing with hay mites (chirodiscoides caviae). They usually come with imported industrially harvested hay. Make sure that you get rid of the hay, switch to another brand and disinfect the cage its contents thoroughly and wash any fabrics at a higher temperature.
Long Term Balanced General And Special Needs Guinea Pig Diets

Please follow the advice in this guide here and contact your vet: New guinea pigs: Sexing, vet checks&customer rights, URI, ringworm and parasites

 

[Guineapigsmcr]

Hi!

You aren't seeing any lice crawling around, just tiny beads fixed to hair?

In this case, you are most likely dealing with hay mites (chirodiscoides caviae). They usually come with imported industrially harvested hay. Make sure that you get rid of the hay, switch to another brand and disinfect the cage its contents thoroughly and wash any fabrics at a higher temperature.
Long Term Balanced General And Special Needs Guinea Pig Diets

Please follow the advice in this guide here and contact your vet: New guinea pigs: Sexing, vet checks&customer rights, URI, ringworm and parasites

The small white dots attatched to the hair do move around, I’ve managed to pluck one off him and have a closer look and it’s definitely alive!

 

[Guineapigsmcr]

If anyone is experiencing similar issues: We identified the small lice as "static mites" that come off of hay. We gave the guineapigs lice and easy shampoo bath courses.

For Moos eye: we gave him ivermectin in case it was mites - it turned out to be a fungal skin infection with cleared up using antifungal oral meds and an antifungal wash for the eye each day.