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Mites - HELP

Barnyard Boars

Barnyard Boars

Junior Guinea Pig
Joined
Feb 25, 2018
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Location
Vancouver, BC
Hey everyone -

I was cleaning out my piggies cage the other night and noticed little black dots jumping around, I thought fleas, then my SO suggested they might be mites. My Harvey has a spot of hair missing and a bit of scab going on, I thought fungal at first until I saw the bugs. I feel horrid but I absolutely can not afford a vet at this very second, and know it’s not at all ideal but need advice before it’s too late. I love my Harv and need help ASAP.
 
Barnyard Boars said:
Hey everyone -

I was cleaning out my piggies cage the other night and noticed little black dots jumping around, I thought fleas, then my SO suggested they might be mites. My Harvey has a spot of hair missing and a bit of scab going on, I thought fungal at first until I saw the bugs. I feel horrid but I absolutely can not afford a vet at this very second, and know it’s not at all ideal but need advice before it’s too late. I love my Harv and need help ASAP.
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Hi! Please give the cage a good deep clean.

Neither of the two guinea pig specific mites are visible to the naked eye, and guinea pig lice are pale crawly things.
It can happen in summer that other insects use a cage for laying their eggs.

See your vet for a proper hands-on diagnosis and good quality treatment if you have worries over fungal or parasites.
 
If you can't get to the vets right now, maybe you could use a spot-on treatment for mites, lice, etc. just to be safe... You can buy one from Pets At Home (Beaphar) that's suitable for guinea pigs. Also, clean the cage thoroughly, get a good pet safe disinfectant and leave it to soak for a while before giving it a good rinse. Another thing, have you checked their hay/straw? It could be worth doing as some parasites and creepy crawlies live in hay. Wash all of their toys and bowls and any blankets too at a high temperature. Ideally they should be checked over by a vet, but in the meantime i hope this helps. xx
 
Muscy Mel said:
If you can't get to the vets right now, maybe you could use a spot-on treatment for mites, lice, etc. just to be safe... You can buy one from Pets At Home (Beaphar) that's suitable for guinea pigs. Also, clean the cage thoroughly, get a good pet safe disinfectant and leave it to soak for a while before giving it a good rinse. Another thing, have you checked their hay/straw? It could be worth doing as some parasites and creepy crawlies live in hay. Wash all of their toys and bowls and any blankets too at a high temperature. Ideally they should be checked over by a vet, but in the meantime i hope this helps. xx
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Can I please remind any new members NOT to recommend treatment on spec with low dosed ineffective shop brands that can at the best only temporarily suppress a problem and at the worst prolong any suffering or even kill (and, yes, we have seen the latter) when treated for the wrong thing?

Please do not post in this section unless you have personal experience with a problem that you can contribute. We have got some medically experienced members monitoring this section to make sure that any member is getting the best advice possible and can access the best possible treatment for their piggy. We are NOT a hip-shooting free-for-all online place, which is one of the reasons why we are still going after all these years.
Health & Illness Notable Posters

Fungal infections and skin parasites require different treatment. See a vet during regular hours if the patch is getting larger and a diagnosis is possible. it is ultimately cheaper to treat properly from the start than to muck around and finally have to see a vet over an advanced case. If there has been treatment on spec with low dosed ivermectin, a vet can not treat before this has gone out of the system.
 
Definitely scrub and clean the hutch or cage though with a good piggy safe disinfectant, F10 or virkon S. This will help you kill any bugs in their environment. But the piggy needs diagnosis to sort the problem out. Cleaning the cage will help but if the piggy is still infested then the bugs/bacteria will just come back.
Good luck
 
I was only trying to help, sorry. Feel free to delete my post if I've broken any rules. xx
 
Muscy Mel said:
I was only trying to help, sorry. Feel free to delete my post if I've broken any rules. xx
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Please don't worry and welcome to the forum. It's just that we had members in the past who have sadly lost their piggies after giving them the wrong treatment at home without seeing a vet.
 
Muscy Mel said:
I was only trying to help, sorry. Feel free to delete my post if I've broken any rules. xx
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No, you haven't broken any rules; we just have to put out a reminder from time to time when we get a large batch of new members that we work differently to most other online places.

Many of our members find us by googling and even more people read our threads without ever joining the forum. Our advice is going to turn up in searches for years to come, without us having any control over which ones are selected by a search engine, so we have to be careful to try our best to always get the correct message out and help improve and save piggy lives down the line, not just the current case. ;)

Please don't take it personally; reading that reminder may stop another owner from doing the wrong thing at some point.
Many people are unfortunately not aware that pet shops in the UK are not licensed to sell full vet strength products; they are only licensed to carry 'prevention' strength ones, which unfortunately only serve to promote developing resistance in the long term. :(
 
It looks fungal to be honest, I don’t want to at home diagnose but I literally cannot afford a vet at this moment in time unfortunately. I have prescribed fungal treatment for previous fungal infection on my piggie, could I try it for a few days and see if it heals? The vets near me are overbearingly expensive, its a very unfortunate situation. What do these bugs sound like? We did get them a bale of hay that’s been outside for a while. Probably got infested. I’m going to throw it all out, we tried saving a few bucks, and while it saved us a LOT of money, I don’t want to run the risk of sickness.
 
Barnyard Boars said:
It looks fungal to be honest, I don’t want to at home diagnose but I literally cannot afford a vet at this moment in time unfortunately. I have prescribed fungal treatment for previous fungal infection on my piggie, could I try it for a few days and see if it heals? The vets near me are overbearingly expensive, its a very unfortunate situation. What do these bugs sound like? We did get them a bale of hay that’s been outside for a while. Probably got infested. I’m going to throw it all out, we tried saving a few bucks, and while it saved us a LOT of money, I don’t want to run the risk of sickness.
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Hi! We cannot diagnose just from your decriptions and guesses, I am very sorry.
Please accept that fungal skin infections and parasitic infections require different treatment. If you have an infestation of fleas (which are not a guinea pig parasite), then please get hold of a rodent-safe anti-parasite treatment. Please be aware that dog or cat antiparasite treatment can kill guinea pigs when you treat on spec with shop products and that shop staff is not necessarily clued up on this. Fleas And Flea Powders

In any case, you need to deep clean and disinfect the cage and all belongings. You can throw out the hay if you think that the fleas have come with.

But why do you want to treat for a fungal skin infection when you are dealing with an insect infestation?
 
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