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Mites?

He’s had the treatment on about 2/3 hours now. Suddenly I feel very dumb — do I need to change all the fleece bedding now and give the cage a clean?
 
He’s had the treatment on about 2/3 hours now. Suddenly I feel very dumb — do I need to change all the fleece bedding now and give the cage a clean?
I’ve just had similar with taking on Cleo last week and discovering lice on her on weds (:yikes:), I’ve cleaned everywhere with F10 today and all new fleece, hay and beds etc then treated them and back in their cages.
 
You don't need to clean the bedding immediately. I normally leave it 24-48 hours because if there's anything on the bedding that might want to jump back on let 'them - that they may perish with their buddies! Basically when the scratching's calmed down and it's a convenient time I do it.

I hope everything clears up! Once applied this stuff works pretty quickly so you should see a difference by tomorrow, then he shouldn't be scratching for a while. Eventually he'll likely start again as I think ivermectin doesn't kill the eggs, so you have to wait for them to hatch before the new mites can be killed off - hence the repeat dosage! I reckon everyone reading this itchy thread will be scratching by now XD

I would keep an eye on lovely Little - I have not heard this about old Guineas not getting mites before but I remember that when mine got lice that last time and old Daisy didn't seem to be scratching like the others... but one day while she was eating I saw her little back leg come up as if to scratch and it just paused halfway, hanging in the air there, and then kind of wave around. It was so weird. But Daisy had arthritis and was stiff - she couldn't manage slopes or steps - so I think she perhaps wasn't flexible enough to scratch like the younger pigs even if she wanted to.
 
I’ve just had similar with taking on Cleo last week and discovering lice on her on weds (:yikes:), I’ve cleaned everywhere with F10 today and all new fleece, hay and beds etc then treated them and back in their cages.
Bless her, she’s lucky to have found you! I know in your case she came from a pet shop so I suppose it wasn’t as much of a surprise seeing as health isn’t always top priority there. But I have no idea how BB got mites! He’s been with us 2 weeks now and the bald patch only happened a couple of days ago so not sure if he came to us from the rescue with them or something else? I’ve never dealt with them at all in 8 years so I don’t think they’ve come from the hay as we’ve been using the same bag for over a month 🤔 Do I let the rescue know it could’ve potentially come from them?
I’ll give everything a clean in about 2 or 3 days then, if that’s a decent amount of time? It’s funny, mites/lice/bugs are universally known about by every pet owner that you think you’d already know what to do when they get them, not so much in my case!
 
You don't need to clean the bedding immediately. I normally leave it 24-48 hours because if there's anything on the bedding that might want to jump back on let 'them - that they may perish with their buddies! Basically when the scratching's calmed down and it's a convenient time I do it.

I hope everything clears up! Once applied this stuff works pretty quickly so you should see a difference by tomorrow, then he shouldn't be scratching for a while. Eventually he'll likely start again as I think ivermectin doesn't kill the eggs, so you have to wait for them to hatch before the new mites can be killed off - hence the repeat dosage! I reckon everyone reading this itchy thread will be scratching by now XD

I would keep an eye on lovely Little - I have not heard this about old Guineas not getting mites before but I remember that when mine got lice that last time and old Daisy didn't seem to be scratching like the others... but one day while she was eating I saw her little back leg come up as if to scratch and it just paused halfway, hanging in the air there, and then kind of wave around. It was so weird. But Daisy had arthritis and was stiff - she couldn't manage slopes or steps - so I think she perhaps wasn't flexible enough to scratch like the younger pigs even if she wanted to.
Thank you for all your advice. The vet also told me that the mite treatment isn’t good for older piggies either as it can be quite strong. But, she isn’t an exotic vet so it could be true but couldn’t easily not be.
Does the ivermectin stay in their system for a while? For example if BB is being treated now, but Little gets a bald patch in two weeks will that cause problems? Such as the final dose of Little’s treatment being 2 weeks after BB’s, meaning that in that 2 weeks the mites could’ve already been passed back to BB? If that makes any sense, lol. I think I’m overthinking this 🤣
 
Bless her, she’s lucky to have found you! I know in your case she came from a pet shop so I suppose it wasn’t as much of a surprise seeing as health isn’t always top priority there. But I have no idea how BB got mites! He’s been with us 2 weeks now and the bald patch only happened a couple of days ago so not sure if he came to us from the rescue with them or something else? I’ve never dealt with them at all in 8 years so I don’t think they’ve come from the hay as we’ve been using the same bag for over a month 🤔 Do I let the rescue know it could’ve potentially come from them?
I’ll give everything a clean in about 2 or 3 days then, if that’s a decent amount of time? It’s funny, mites/lice/bugs are universally known about by every pet owner that you think you’d already know what to do when they get them, not so much in my case!
Thank you! :)Yes poor girly, wasn’t nice to see them crawling all over her head! :yikes: Already out and about more today rather than hiding which is lovely to see so guessing the treatment yest has made her feel a bit better already (not surprised, nasty critters!). Poor BB too with those horrible beasts!
I called the pet shop to let them know and hopefully they’ve passed the info on to the original breeder she came from 🤞 It’s definitely worth ringing the rescue and letting them know in case they may have others with the same issue and can treat them. I’ve treated all 4 of my pigs and obviously will have to again in a fortnight, then again 2 weeks after that. I’m going to clean them all out again in a couple of days to get rid of the dead lice etc (yes my flat looks like I’ve had a piggy explosion atm!), all fleece, beds etc are being washed on a 60deg wash.
No same here, pigs for 10 years and never an issue! I should know a lot more too! Dealt with cat fleas but not these horrible buggers! :doh:I just panicked, especially as she’s not been in quarantine and I’ve got my other 3! :doh:
 
Thank you! :)Yes poor girly, wasn’t nice to see them crawling all over her head! :yikes: Already out and about more today rather than hiding which is lovely to see so guessing the treatment yest has made her feel a bit better already (not surprised, nasty critters!). Poor BB too with those horrible beasts!
I called the pet shop to let them know and hopefully they’ve passed the info on to the original breeder she came from 🤞 It’s definitely worth ringing the rescue and letting them know in case they may have others with the same issue and can treat them. I’ve treated all 4 of my pigs and obviously will have to again in a fortnight, then again 2 weeks after that. I’m going to clean them all out again in a couple of days to get rid of the dead lice etc (yes my flat looks like I’ve had a piggy explosion atm!), all fleece, beds etc are being washed on a 60deg wash.
No same here, pigs for 10 years and never an issue! I should know a lot more too! Dealt with cat fleas but not these horrible buggers! :doh:I just panicked, especially as she’s not been in quarantine and I’ve got my other 3! :doh:
I think I would’ve been freaked out if it were lice that BB had! I like insects and all, but to see the lice crawling all over him would’ve grossed me out! I'm glad she’s feeling better, it must be such a weird feeling for them to have them crawling all over their body. Especially lice since they’re bigger creatures. BB has still been itching a lot today, fingers crossed tomorrow it dies down. There was no test for mites done, the vet just said it looked like mites due to the fur loss. Fingers crossed it is, as it seems an easier fix than anything else it could be. I’ll let the rescue know once I see an improvement as that means we definitely know it’s mites and needs no further investigation.
Hmm, with you saying that about treating all your pigs now I’m wondering if I will need some for Little. I’ve noticed he’s quite itchy but I think I’m on scratch alert so not sure if it’s more than usual. We’re going to change the fleece tomorrow, will do a 60 degree wash too. I’m really hoping Little doesn’t have any, as I think that’ll make things a lot harder at this point in regards to treatment and bedding changes.
We also have dealt with cat fleas in the past. I remember my dads cat had them once when I was about 9 and I saw the excrement on the cat’s neck and told my dad. My dad dismissed it, I told him about it many times, but he just wasn’t bothered. Then, fast forward a couple of months when he was moving houses, I had to sit on the carpet and I got absolutely covered in fleas. They were all over me, it was horrifying. Unsurprisingly, he said it was my fault for sitting on the floor. I had nightmares about the fleas crawling all over me for months. It was horrible :yikes: .
The bugs on guinea pigs seem to be very undetectable and because guinea pigs are in groups, it makes it that much more difficult. But, if you catch it soon enough like you have, none of the piggies will be worse off for it. They’re more of a nuisance really!
 
I think I would’ve been freaked out if it were lice that BB had! I like insects and all, but to see the lice crawling all over him would’ve grossed me out! I'm glad she’s feeling better, it must be such a weird feeling for them to have them crawling all over their body. Especially lice since they’re bigger creatures. BB has still been itching a lot today, fingers crossed tomorrow it dies down. There was no test for mites done, the vet just said it looked like mites due to the fur loss. Fingers crossed it is, as it seems an easier fix than anything else it could be. I’ll let the rescue know once I see an improvement as that means we definitely know it’s mites and needs no further investigation.
Hmm, with you saying that about treating all your pigs now I’m wondering if I will need some for Little. I’ve noticed he’s quite itchy but I think I’m on scratch alert so not sure if it’s more than usual. We’re going to change the fleece tomorrow, will do a 60 degree wash too. I’m really hoping Little doesn’t have any, as I think that’ll make things a lot harder at this point in regards to treatment and bedding changes.
We also have dealt with cat fleas in the past. I remember my dads cat had them once when I was about 9 and I saw the excrement on the cat’s neck and told my dad. My dad dismissed it, I told him about it many times, but he just wasn’t bothered. Then, fast forward a couple of months when he was moving houses, I had to sit on the carpet and I got absolutely covered in fleas. They were all over me, it was horrifying. Unsurprisingly, he said it was my fault for sitting on the floor. I had nightmares about the fleas crawling all over me for months. It was horrible :yikes: .
The bugs on guinea pigs seem to be very undetectable and because guinea pigs are in groups, it makes it that much more difficult. But, if you catch it soon enough like you have, none of the piggies will be worse off for it. They’re more of a nuisance really!
Yes it wasn’t pleasant, can’t imagine how she must have felt when all I could see were a few on the crest of her little head and she must have had them everywhere (shudder!:eek:)!
Poor BB, yes that sounds like a good plan rather than them having to treat everyone unnecessarily.
I went by the advice on her (mites but really lice!) thread from the lovely people on here, my local vets are pretty useless sadly but wanted to get her in ASAP as she must’ve felt horrible! Obviously with the eggs everywhere they’re hatching everywhere! I’ve not seen any itching from any of mine but definitely seemed the best option. The treatment hasn’t really bothered them, they just looked like punks yesterday with little mohicans after grooming overnight really! Yes it puts you on edge watching these scratches as soon as you know something’s going on! :doh:
Oh no, how horrible with the fleas!:yikes::yikes: Sure that’s a childhood memory you’d rather forget! Thankfully my experience not that bad, but my cats (well only got Daisy now) were covered in them as kittens when I took them on so bathing screeching 8week old kittens was quite a sad experience where I felt very evil!
Yes these mites are invisible so not sure if I’m happy it’s lice so I could see and treat quickly or not! Just hoping all this works and poor little Cleo gets rid of the lot of them very quickly! Definitely a blooming nuisance! Really hope Little isn’t affected bless him 🤞 Hope BB feels much better soon with the treatment!
 
We got bitten by cat fleas as kids - over a year after she'd died. We had a lovely shaggy 70's carpet. A council guy came round to spray and he said this was actually very common in ex-cat households: the fleas drop off the cat and lay eggs in the 'environment' and when they hatch they get back on the cat - unless there's not a cat anymore! She was flea-treated regularly but there's always one or two that get through and we had her for quite a long time. It was not great for your dad to blame you though! I was a particularly delicious child and always had insect bites but mum got pretty good at spotting ones which might be flea bites and dosing the cat (although I played with lots of cats 😉 ) My sister very rarely got bitten by anything but I still think that's because she's a smelly elephant 😁
It’s funny, mites/lice/bugs are universally known about by every pet owner that you think you’d already know what to do when they get them, not so much in my case!
We all have a first time - and we only knew about them because we've had quite a high turn-over of guinea-pigs so we've had new ones coming in more regularly from different places. That sounds awful doesn't it - but about half of them were older local 'left-over' pigs and they came here to find company so we only had them a year or so (yes - a lot of heartache) and the others were rescue so they were 'mature' when they arrived too. Sometimes piggies pick things up outdoors - things can hop off passing wildlife and find a new home. Some things are pig-specific but some are more general.

At my baby group (when it was on!) I occasionally mention 'worms' in small children and most people looked really surprised but there's usually a first time for that too and it's wise to get a heads-up so you know what to look for. Especially once they get a bit older and start playing in sandpits!
And don't get me started on bl**dy 'moths'!

Does the ivermectin stay in their system for a while? For example if BB is being treated now, but Little gets a bald patch in two weeks will that cause problems? Such as the final dose of Little’s treatment being 2 weeks after BB’s, meaning that in that 2 weeks the mites could’ve already been passed back to BB? If that makes any sense, lol. I think I’m overthinking this 🤣
You're not overthinking... if Little ends up being treated it might be a juggling act. I think the ivermectin stays in the system for a few days but I'm not sure how long. If BB has no adverse reactions it probably won't hurt him to have an extra cycle of treatment if you end up having to treat Little so that both complete treatment at the same time. I must say - I've not heard of doses four weeks apart before but I know there are different regimes out there for different critters and you might have been given a different product to the one I usually get. However, on the general instruction leaflet (that comes with the Dechra Xeno450 spot-on tubes) it says, "For the treatment of an existing infestation, repeat doses are required two weeks and four weeks after the initial application". I'd be a bit sensitive as to whether my vet had perhaps misread? And I would be tempted to e-mail in and just confirm that. If they're only treating pigs with symptoms and Little gets symptoms he should be treated... but you've not had BB that long have you? Little might just be scratching because he's a lovely fluffy boy rather than because he's got passengers.

As I understand it with mites the irritation isn't so much caused by them scampering about it's a side-effect of them feeding. Some mites digest the top layer of skin cells to feed - and some of these are loose anyway - but it's their saliva (if you can call it that) that causes the irritation so even if the mites are killed off it might take a little longer for the sensation to calm down. With mine the scratching usually calms down within say, 36 hours... but BB might be a sensitive boy!
 
We got bitten by cat fleas as kids - over a year after she'd died. We had a lovely shaggy 70's carpet. A council guy came round to spray and he said this was actually very common in ex-cat households: the fleas drop off the cat and lay eggs in the 'environment' and when they hatch they get back on the cat - unless there's not a cat anymore! She was flea-treated regularly but there's always one or two that get through and we had her for quite a long time. It was not great for your dad to blame you though! I was a particularly delicious child and always had insect bites but mum got pretty good at spotting ones which might be flea bites and dosing the cat (although I played with lots of cats 😉 ) My sister very rarely got bitten by anything but I still think that's because she's a smelly elephant 😁

We all have a first time - and we only knew about them because we've had quite a high turn-over of guinea-pigs so we've had new ones coming in more regularly from different places. That sounds awful doesn't it - but about half of them were older local 'left-over' pigs and they came here to find company so we only had them a year or so (yes - a lot of heartache) and the others were rescue so they were 'mature' when they arrived too. Sometimes piggies pick things up outdoors - things can hop off passing wildlife and find a new home. Some things are pig-specific but some are more general.

At my baby group (when it was on!) I occasionally mention 'worms' in small children and most people looked really surprised but there's usually a first time for that too and it's wise to get a heads-up so you know what to look for. Especially once they get a bit older and start playing in sandpits!
And don't get me started on bl**dy 'moths'!


You're not overthinking... if Little ends up being treated it might be a juggling act. I think the ivermectin stays in the system for a few days but I'm not sure how long. If BB has no adverse reactions it probably won't hurt him to have an extra cycle of treatment if you end up having to treat Little so that both complete treatment at the same time. I must say - I've not heard of doses four weeks apart before but I know there are different regimes out there for different critters and you might have been given a different product to the one I usually get. However, on the general instruction leaflet (that comes with the Dechra Xeno450 spot-on tubes) it says, "For the treatment of an existing infestation, repeat doses are required two weeks and four weeks after the initial application". I'd be a bit sensitive as to whether my vet had perhaps misread? And I would be tempted to e-mail in and just confirm that. If they're only treating pigs with symptoms and Little gets symptoms he should be treated... but you've not had BB that long have you? Little might just be scratching because he's a lovely fluffy boy rather than because he's got passengers.

As I understand it with mites the irritation isn't so much caused by them scampering about it's a side-effect of them feeding. Some mites digest the top layer of skin cells to feed - and some of these are loose anyway - but it's their saliva (if you can call it that) that causes the irritation so even if the mites are killed off it might take a little longer for the sensation to calm down. With mine the scratching usually calms down within say, 36 hours... but BB might be a sensitive boy!
Lol it was a miracle that I didn’t actually get bit! I was diagnosed with OCD as a child so you can imagine my absolute horror when it happened, as well as me obsessively checking myself constantly to make sure none were on me. When he took me home to my mums, the fleas were crawling all in the car and everything. I got my mum to douse me in flea spray when I got home, but even then I still felt like they were all over me. My mum was so mad at my dad.

We’ve had BB 2 weeks, so it’s likely he’s brought them with him. Little seems to have some irritation today :( I was petting him earlier and everywhere I would pet would send him itching - similar to what BB was doing. Little has really thick, dense fur as he’s an agouti so if I pet on the surface nothing happened, but when I buried my fingers in a little to pet him he would itch.
We’ve called the vets and they’re arranging some for us to pick up.
This is what it says on our box and pipette:
D7AEAC73-63C9-4EFD-B375-0EC33D7787F2.jpeg
A177B8D0-C851-4FA7-BEDF-708772038CD1.jpeg

Have they done it incorrectly? Are we meant to give some in two weeks too?
 
Unless things have changed in 3 years I agree with @Free Ranger when I had to treat mine it was 3 doses 2 weeks apart. I've just looked it up in the notebook I keep on treatments the piggies have had. I think your vets have made a mistake.
I hope your boys are back to normal very quickly, mine were.
 
I'd just do a double-check with the vets by mail or phone - you can blame me, I don't mind. I might be completely wrong and then we've all learnt something. Perhaps there is another vet at the practice they can confirm it with? The vet who prescribed us the 2 treatments/ 3 weeks apart was visiting from Oz and I thought afterwards he either got that the wrong way round or they perhaps get critters over there with different life-cycles. I mean, it worked but the mites came back after the treatments were completed. With 3 treatments/ 2 weeks apart they didn't. If they clearly state 2 treatments / 4 weeks apart tell them you'll be fine to go with it but ask if you have to pay for a second consultation fee if the mites come back!
 
All the advice I’ve been given with Cleo has been three treatments two weeks apart to kill the lice as the new eggs hatch etc to ensure they’re all wiped out and no reoccurrence. 60deg washes to zap them on fleece and beds, and cleaning with F10 in cages. Why Saturday was a bit mad at my house with 3 cages and 4 piggles!
Hope Little isn’t too itchy bless him x
 
Thanks all. It seems to me like there should be 3 doses 2 weeks apart.
We’ve just collected Little’s treatment.
We called the vets again at around 1 and told the receptionist everything. It was on file that Little is to be allowed the mite treatment if we call up so we had done that this morning. This time we mentioned about a 3rd dose, the receptionist says she’ll add an extra dose for Little and give us an extra dose for BB just in case there has been a mistake so that we don’t have to travel back again to collect more. But she told us not to use it until she’s spoken to the vet who prescribed them as she isn’t working today. If the prescribing vet says the extra dose isn’t required, do you think I should give it anyway? I trust you lot more than the vet, that’s for sure!
 
Bit confused by this...
We were only given 3 pipettes but to me this sounds like 3 pipettes per treatment, using 9 in total for 3 treatments?
Or is only 1 per treatment correct? This is a nightmare lol
34DF91E0-155E-4351-9980-61321E1EAB89.jpeg
 
Oh no, what a pain! :doh:
2590AA53-471A-4F1E-BB40-6B90717F6A74.jpeg
I had to get the Xeno 50 for Cleo who’s roughly 600g, so needs 3 pipettes per treatment. And the 450 for my 3 bigger pigs. So they need 1 each per treatment, 3 each for whole course.
 
Oh no, what a pain! :doh:
View attachment 158679
I had to get the Xeno 50 for Cleo who’s roughly 600g, so needs 3 pipettes per treatment. And the 450 for my 3 bigger pigs. So they need 1 each per treatment, 3 each for whole course.
BB has the 450, weighs between 1400-1500. Little can weigh between 1080-1160. So I’m guessing the 3 pipettes of Xeno 50 will only cover one complete dosage? So we’re going to have to call up again and ask for the remaining 6 pipettes? I hope they don’t charge us as we’ve essentially paid about £25 for one dose!
 
Looks like he’ll need 5 pipettes, then? The box only says 9 to cover 3 treatments worth. This is what the vet has written on the system for Little with his weight. This just keeps getting worse, lol
 
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