Mange mites - i think?!

[FrankstaH09]

Hello everyone,

I have just returned home from holiday to find my gorgeous guinea pig Arnold is absolutely covered in deep cuts and scratches and also has lots of hair loss (from biting himself). I was away with parents looking after the piggies who cleaned them twice a day, but just the past 2 days Arnold has begun to bite himself causing the wounds.

I'm very short on cash at present, but i'm almost positive it's mange mites.

I can't take him to the vet until next week, but i have gone to pets at home and bought "Anti-Parasite Spot on" - i explained in detail to the staff the problem and they said that the above "should work". The above contains Ivermectim (150ug per pippette) but due to the size of Arnold i used two. I put them on his neck and rubbed them in deeply. I have also cleaned his cage thoroughly and removed all hay for the time being (as i believe this is where the mites began) - I have also bought some anti pest spray and sprayed the cage after cleaning and left it for 1 hour before returning Arnold.
I have also rubbed Tea Tree Skin cream over all of his wounds, which he seemed to enjoy.

Since i did the above he isn't really biting himself, just small scratches here and there (i did the above 1 hour ago).

Also i have another Guinea named Dillon who lives with Arnold - who is not showing any of the symptoms at all? Despite this... I have still treated Dillon in the exact same way, giving him 2x Pippetes of the above and rubbing it in. As he has no wounds - I didn't put any tea tree skin oil on him.

I have also bought a set of brushes etc to groom Arnold as soon as he shows signs of improvements, to get rid of all the dandruft / loose skin.

I feel absolutely terrible, but I simply couldn't afford the mange mite treatment at the Vet at this current time... and due to that it makes me feel terrible.

Has anyone else got some tips for me / help / advice as all is welcome.

p.s. I would have sacrificd the holiday for my guineas if i had known this was coming... I clean them twice a week, always feed them fruit and veg & can almost guanratee they get just as much love as any normal owner, if not more.

 

[Toffeewoffee]

Oh no, how awful.

You need to bath them in a mites shampoo, available from pets at home, i use the johnsons one, or Nizoral shampoo, with the nizoral leave on for 4 - 5 mins then rinse.

I would make him a little jacket by cutting up an old sock and cutting holes for his legs to go through to stop him scratching and biting himself.

I really think you should beg borrow or steal money to get him to the vets for proper treatment, it could be any number of things, fungal for one, he could be in alot of pain and need pain relief aswell and antibioti'cs possibly.

They need hay to eat 24/7 to wear their teeth down and help their digestive system, without hay you will end up with overgrown teeth and gut statis, meaning £100's of vet bills, not just a consult and some med's for the mites.

Healing vibes to your boy xx

 

[denise]

Poor little piggie these mites cause them so much distress. Please don't take their hay away because although mites can be found in hay, they only get them when they are poorly or stressed. I'm not saying you stressed them they can so easily get stressed. Hope your treatment works, it should do as it has ivermectin in. sending healing vibes.

 

[Wiebke]

Hi! Which country are you in? There are different products.

You always need to treat all piggies living together. please make sure that you are not dealing with a fungal problem and have them double checked by a vet as soon as you can. Fungal needs very different treatment and products. Both are opportunists and can make an unwelcome appearance when a piggy is stressed due to a change of circumstances, like a holiday.

Here are some informative links. Generally we do not recommend using supermarket or pet shop products; they tend to be too low dosed to do the job and can ultimately do more harm than good.

http://gorgeousguineas.com/indentification.html
http://gorgeousguineas.com/photogallery.html
http://www.guinealynx.info/mites.html
http://www.guinealynx.info/fungus.html

 

[MishImpossible]

I was told that the stuff sold by pet shop only kills the mites, not the eggs