Hi,
Just wondering if anyone has had a problem with their guinea pigs having lice.
I have 2 boys who are now a year old and 3 months ago noticed that the darker pig had a couple of little white lice-like creatures in his fur. They both were scratching too. Took them to the vet who said she had never seen lice in pigs and told me to bath them which I did. Several days later I noticed that there were a large number of lice that could be seen crawling on him. I took them both back to the vets and they were started on a course of injections, which appeared to clear them up. In total they had 4 injections each. However they both had little black dots stuck to their fur above their hind legs and on their bottom area. The vet said that they looked like eggs but the injections would be strong enough to kill them. The black dots remained despite bathing and combing. Have just noticed today that the lice appear to be back again though! I use fleece cage liners for the boys rather than hay so they have hay to eat but aren't burrowing into it. The cage liners are washed at 60 degrees every time and I change them twice a week. Really don't know where they are getting the lice from as they are kept clean and combed regularly.
Has anyone else had a similar problem and is there any advice out there to help me rid them of the lice? Will likely take them to the vet again next week as I suspect another course of injections may be required but is there any way to prevent this happening again? Poor old piggies.
Hope someone can help.
Just wondering if anyone has had a problem with their guinea pigs having lice.
I have 2 boys who are now a year old and 3 months ago noticed that the darker pig had a couple of little white lice-like creatures in his fur. They both were scratching too. Took them to the vet who said she had never seen lice in pigs and told me to bath them which I did. Several days later I noticed that there were a large number of lice that could be seen crawling on him. I took them both back to the vets and they were started on a course of injections, which appeared to clear them up. In total they had 4 injections each. However they both had little black dots stuck to their fur above their hind legs and on their bottom area. The vet said that they looked like eggs but the injections would be strong enough to kill them. The black dots remained despite bathing and combing. Have just noticed today that the lice appear to be back again though! I use fleece cage liners for the boys rather than hay so they have hay to eat but aren't burrowing into it. The cage liners are washed at 60 degrees every time and I change them twice a week. Really don't know where they are getting the lice from as they are kept clean and combed regularly.
Has anyone else had a similar problem and is there any advice out there to help me rid them of the lice? Will likely take them to the vet again next week as I suspect another course of injections may be required but is there any way to prevent this happening again? Poor old piggies.
Hope someone can help.