Hey guys, so my little guy has been diagnosed with mites and has been given some ivermectin to combat them. I've washed the fleeces and his bed etc but wanted to find out if there's anything else I should be cleaning or throwing away? Should I bin the open hay and replace? Do I need to clean any carpets or anything? Just want to be sure we do everything that we can to give the best chance of ridding them.
Hi and welcome
There are two types of mites; which ones are you dealing with? Hay/fur mites (chirodiscoides caviae) or mange mites (trixacarus caviae)?
Hay mites fix their egg cases to the hairs mainly at the bum end; they are comparatively harmless although a nuisance. They come with hay; these days not so much with cheap untreated farmers hay (which used to be very easy to get on top of) but a more resistent strain turning up in imported shop hay. Getting rid of the infected hay and may be switching the brand should do the trick.
Mange mites burrow theirs into the painfully inflamed skin; because of the immense discomfort this causes, an advanced case can cause fitting and even death. In many cases guinea pigs have mange mite eggs already in their skin. These are generally kept under control by a fully functional immune system. Mange mites can also be found in the environment but don't generally cause any problems.
There is not much else you can do apart from deep cleaning/disinfecting the cage and doing a full course of invermectin. You will notice a decrease of increase of the itching abot 2-3 days after the first application, then an increase again in the days leading up to the second round, but in most cases the itching should stop completely 2-3 days after the second round. The third round is there to catch any stragglers and prevent a return.
Please see your vet again if that is not the case. Because hay mite eggs are not in the skin, they are much less easy to kill. I find it rather more effective to simply cut off any affected bum hairs, especially in long-haired piggies and to simply physically remove the eggs. The hair will grow back, even in short-haired piggies.
Both mites are usually treated with a full 3 rounds course of ivermectin; in advanced cases with more. The interval between the rounds depends on the product used. The higher dosed the product, the greater the interval (1-2 weeks).
Insectical shampoo may only kill living mites (which the ivermectin already does), but it won't penetrate egg cases, so it is not much use in my experience. Especially as you cannot use it before you see your vet (will make a diagnosis and immediate good quality treatment very difficult/impossible) and you cannot use it until at least 48 hours after the application of ivermectin, by which time the ivermectin is kicking in fully anyway.
PS: I find F10 disinfectant concentrate very helpful, as I can simply dunk all their hideys into the solution (follow tips on the product label) and let them dry.
