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Losing Fur Around Eyes

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lawz

lawz

Junior Guinea Pig
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hi...so I'm back again, with yet another of piggies.
Took Roxy to vets as she was losing fur under her right eye....vet tested for fungal and mites and all tests have come back negative. She also used an eye drop and checked if ran out of nose to see if her tear ducts were blocked, and confirmed they wasnt. Vet listed to her heart, lungs and gut and all sounded good
Roxy has now started to lose fur above her left eye. Vet gave me isathol ointment which has made no change in skin at all. Skin isnt inflamed or flakey, just looks unsightly.
Shes perfectly fine in herself, hoovering her pellets, hay and veggies right up and giving Beau a run for her money in the appetite stakes
None of her cage mates are displaying any signs at all .
So does anyone have any ideas?
 
This has me a bit stumped, could you post a photo?
 
@helen105281 I will get a photo over the weekend.
Could it be allergies?
also with tear ducts, inflammation seems to typically be at front of eye, whereas Roxys fur loss is more under and towards her ear and her left eye is losing fur above ducts...so I'm inclined to think her ducts are fine as confirmed by vet
 
It's possible. What bedding do you use?
 
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they used to be on woodchips, but theyve been on fleece a wheek now (see what i did there ;) sorry only way i can not burst into tears with one prob after another is joke)
 
It can all get a bit much can't it. Was the problem there before you switched to fleece? if so it is possible that he was sensitive to shavings, some pigs are.

What tests did the vet do for fungal? is just that only Ringworm tends to show up in tests, all of the other types of fungal don't and so just because the test is negative it does not necessarily mean it is not fungal. Was a skin scrape done to rule out mange mites?
 
yes was there before the switch
Obviously I'm not so naive to think that pigs dont get problems, but all bar 3 of piggies are rescue, and its the rescue ones that keep getting problems.
she put the drops into eye to check if ran out of nose (all ok)
she took some fur and skin samples and put into a dish with a jelly substance (negative)
and she got some sellotape and stuck that to skin under eye to check also negative, as she was reluctant to get a blade so close to eye to get a scrape...even tho i offered to do it, as roxy is so placid anyway.
I dont entirely trust that vets will do it awake and will say she struggled even tho she didnt.
with mange mites would they create localise patches around eyes alone?
or over body...as the rest of her is fine
 
I am not 100% sure. One other thought is ear mites as am sure that can cause strange patches down towards the eye. If you post a photo over the weekend we can go from there.
 
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I think ear mites come out at night and feed around the eyes (pig might be rubbing at them as it would be quite irritating), perhaps ask for another mite test just to be sure? That's all that comes to mind for me XD
 
I think it may be the water around the eye that stopes the fur from growing
 
@helen105281 Heres the pics. Shes not irritated by them, still eating and drinking normal.
Have ordered a lotion and shampoo recomended by chrissie at gorgeous guineas and going to purchase some xeno spot on to. Going to start giving her some metatone to give her a bit of boost.
If she doesnt improve ile take her to vet whose very good but didnt see last time as ahe was on holiday.
As i said vet wants to ideally do a skin scrape but would be under anesthetic which I'm reluctant for for roxy but also would be approx 150 for consult, test anesthetic etc.
I'm onv not a vet but i believe if tear ducts were the prob the losing fur would be more from front point of eye towards nose surely .20151018_125108.webp 20151018_125050.webp
 
Looks very much like a fungal infaction
Vet would be your best bet for her
 
I agree it looks fungal. I'd recommend seeing the vet again and asking for either Itrafungol which is an oral medication or Imaverol which is used as a dip. Both treat the whole pig and not just the affected area in case it spreads.
 
Its bad that your vet dinennt recognize that it could be fungle .
I would see another vet ! There are plenty of fungal treatments , but with it beeing around the eyes, cartion is needed, and a vet should know which brand to use
My vet usualy pescribes Suralan
 
To be fair i wasnt in a position where i could wait for my regular guinea vet to come back from holiday and wanted Roxy to be soon soon as, but Alison is adament its tear ducts but my gut says otherwise and now confirmed by you and helen its fungal, so i will be speaking to regular vet and seeking a 2nd opinion as this has been dragged out a while now and still shes no better.
Have spoken to Chrissie from Gorgeous guineas who has advised a lotion and shampoo to help in mean time
 
I would also suggest fungal. If it was tear duct problems then you tend to get problems below the eye and towards the nose as you said and fur is often clump and sticky around the eye.

Hope you get to the bottom of it as it's probably not very comfy for her bless her. Some piggies are more prone to fungal than others regardless of their origins so don't worry about the fact it is bothering her and not the others, sometimes it's just a constitutional thing in the same way as some people are more prone to things than others.
 
Thank you @MerryPip .
I received the kwench lotion yesterday, so i got roxy out last night and using a cotton ear bud i dabbed it around eye and rubbed it in and she actually pressed her head into me, so she found some comfort.
Stupidly i didn't think to ask about why she thought was tear ducts when there, obviously her being the vet you take for granted that they know what they're doing, but i know in my gut its not her tear ducts so i shan't be putting her through getting them flushed or paying for further tests until i get 2nd opinion by my usual vet AND IF these treatments chrissie at gorgeous guineas has provided don't work - not to mention a helping of Xeno.
I know the tests in general can take a couple of weeks to get back, but she could have given me some oral meds instead of eye drops just so she's getting something inside her to help her…
Any way I've written a complaint so will see what happens
 
I hope you get some answers soon. The Kwench may ease it but if it is Ringworm it ideally needs veterinary medication like Itrafungol or at least Imaverol dips. Apparently Sporanox is now available in the UK too which is similar.
 
thank you helen, the tests came back as negative for ringworm so thank fully its not that that I'm dealing with
 
Well that's good. In which case I recommend Imaverol as it is effective on all types of fungal. Anyone would think I sell it I recommend it that much.
 
I will be phoning vet next week if I don't get a response from complaint and go from there.
@gizzy she's doing fine, just applied ointment and again she leaned into my finger...she's lost fur nearer to ears but all looks like fur is growing back...I know that's not the ointment this quick and that's providing relief as Helen said..but she's not looking too bad with fur growing. She's still giving beautiful a run for money in appetite stakes....
Ask me again how she is after her bath at week end and I'm sure she will argue it.haha
 
Meant beau. ... not beautiful stupid chubby fingers and auto correct
 
Hi All,
So....Roxys fur is growing back nicely, am still going to treat her with xeno, as when i rubbed in the ointment, i felt the tiniest lumps under skin and i reckon mites....theyre literally between back point of eye towards ear.
so my question would be with the xeno spot on as my scales arent the most reliable and always get them lighter then they are (I'm going to invest in a new pair)
would i be best getting the xeno 450...or mini? Ide say roxy is on or around the 1200g mark for the xeno 450 but could be slightly lighter, but dont want to guess and get it wrong..but shed def over the 800g for the mini.
what would you suggest?
 
If it is mange mites that is suspected, would your vet be able to give it by injection? it is more effective due to mange mites being under the skin and not running about on the surface.
 
yes, however xeno treats internally anyway as its absorbed into the body is it not?
 
I have always been told the injections are more effective, so have not used spot on. An old member on here (Pebble) did a comparison once of the different treatments and that said that the injections were better for mange mites.
 
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