Never ending fungal problems :-(

[LordBernieBouffant]

Lord Bernie has never been completely clear of his fungal problems, so another visit to the vets today with all the piggies. They have all tested clear of mites and lice and ringworm.

I have been using Sporal-D for the last 6 months and although it's very good, Bernie, without a weekly bath in it will just errupt again in a different area.

He's kept inside, C&C cage (thinking this may help him) along with his daughter Holly. The bottom is newspaper, towels, fleece and the hay loft is lined with newspaper, litter tray containing megazorb and top quality hay. Holly has no signs of anything - we checked today at the vets - and as they sleep close together it's not catching.

I have also cut his long and flowing bouffanting locks short to allow air around his skin 8... The vet mentioned butchering until I said I'd done the "butchering" with a pair of scissors :red - He's not that bad, honestly rolleyes

My vet has now recommended 4 treatments, every 3 days of Imaverol - soak and dry.

I have noticed from previous posts that someone suggested bathing in sporal-d and then soaking in the Imaverol. Is that the best way?

We need to get to the bottom of this fungal thing. The next course of action is to send the skin scrapes to the labs but they take weeks to come back and by then he would have errupted all over

Advice would be greatly and thankfully received.

I did mention Nizoral, but my vet couldn't get a correct dosage for a guinea pig as it's for humans.

Thank you from Lord Bernie Bouffant xx>>>

 

[LordBernieBouffant]

Oh, well worth a try - fungal problems are probably the worst of all piggies problems - there doesn't seem to be a cure as such.

If I find one, I will let people know what I found.

Jo

 

[Emzmum]

I'm sorry LordBernie, I'm a relatively new piggie owner and so have no advice. I hope you do find the answer to the problem though. X

 

[Katie Krafter]

Hi there, try the gorgeous guinea range of melts and shampoos. They've worked wonders on my piggies although you do need to bathe regularly in order to be an effective preventative (every month). You need to apply melts and shampoo off several times before it's all clear.

 

[missy]

Sorry I can't really offer any further advice apart from making sure that their cage is not in direct sunlight as apparently this won't help fungal skin conditions.

Hope you get a breakthrough soon x

 

[Pebble]

How frustrating for you....and annoying for LordBB, especially as he has to lose his flowing locks!

If he has a persistent fungal problem that keeps recurring I would suggest that it would be better to do a culture when he has his next episode so you know what you are dealing with. Some fungi are quite particular about their sensitivity to some of the normal anti-fungals that are used. Also some bacterial skin inections look like a fungal infection - hence again it might be worth ruling this out.

Imaverol is good for fungal infections and also helps prevent piggies catching it from another infected pig. Fot heavy infestations I know some rescues use sporal D first followed by imaverol diluted appropriately and syringed into the pigs coat right down to skin level and left to dry. It;s also kind on the ears. Sporal D is quite harsh though and I think is probably best saved for an active infection rather than as a weekly preventative.

Persistent recurrence may also indicate he has some type of immune deficiency (or maybe he produces a lot of grease which creates an ideal microclimate?) - might be worth giving him extra vit C via a syringe 50mg daily - as this can help improve the skin/coat and reduce the possibility of a further recurrence.Although my pigs get plenty of veggies I am conscious that as the dried food ages it loses its vitamins so I have found that supplementing with extra Vit C improves their coats especially over winter months.

Hope you manage to get to the bottom of this and LBB's locks can be restored to their former glory!

x

 

[Glynis]

Oh dear poor boy he has been thru it all
Lord Bernie i'm sure you still look dashingly handsome......silly vet saying you'd been butchered!
Whee have never been thru this but wanted to offer some support XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

HEALING WHEEEEEEEEEEEKS LORD BERNIE BOUFFANT XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

 

[CandyFloss]

Sorry I dont really have anything else to add. When mine had fungal I used Imaverol once and another time used gorgeous guineas kwench.
Hope you can get something to stop it recurring
x

 

[suzanneb]

Hi, my vet prescribed imaverol for my piggies fungal problem
with almost instant results. The dosage was 1 ml of imaverol to every 50 ml warm water. I had skin swabs done which only took 3 days for results to come back, not weeks! hth's xx

 

[BonBon2010]

Are you sure he's not just allergic to something? Could have started out as a fungal infection, but he may have had a reaction to an ingredient, creating vicious cycle? Symptoms can be identical ?/

 

[LordBernieBouffant]

Thank you to everyone for your replies and good wishes x>>

It's very much appreciated because we've felt a bit down about it all recently - well actually Lord Bernie hasn't - he's still popcorning and doing excited running when out on floor time, but I've felt really bad because I thought I must be doing something very wrong.

Especially grateful to Pebbles for that in-depth reply. We shall try the soaks - we have to do 4 soaks 3 days apart and with the 1 in 50 ratio and it's heartening to hear good responses to the Imaverol.

He's also a very good eater and I always feed the freshest of the food - he eats all his veggies and fruit - nothing refused but it's a very interesting point about the vit C :^- Also the allergies and the greasy coat - he does seem to be greasier than Holly, but I just thought that was being a boy {:|

I will post a pigture of him in his "butchered" rolleyes state and then again when his lovely coats comes back to full bouffantleness -fingers crossed.

Oh yes and Holly has to be soaked too - she's sure not going to like that pow-pow

Jo x

 

[LordBernieBouffant]

Well we've got through 2 of the soaks now. The first one, both Lord Bernie and Holly sulked that much they refused to eat until the next day. Even their favourite grass was left But both recovered next day to popcorn about and eat all and everything

Second bath and I notice that AT LAST no new erruptions for Lord Bernie but he does look like he's fallen into a vat of Brill Cream. His hair is really greasy from it - so is Holly's but she doesn't look as bad. He is still itchy but not that I notice him doing it very often.

Hey ho, only another 2 soaks to go, but I think things are looking better (apart from his 60's look but we'll sort that after the last soak )

Jo x

 

[lily 74]

Hi there, try the gorgeous guinea range of melts and shampoos. They've worked wonders on my piggies although you do need to bathe regularly in order to be an effective preventative (every month). You need to apply melts and shampoo off several times before it's all clear.

Hi,

I would echo this post, I had a piggie with a fungal ear and I contacted gorgeous guineas and they suggested kwench lotion I put this on his ear for a week and it disappeared

 

[LordBernieBouffant]

Hi,

I would echo this post, I had a piggie with a fungal ear and I contacted gorgeous guineas and they suggested kwench lotion I put this on his ear for a week and it disappeared

We already tried GG's - very early on, as I am a great believer in "natural remedies" - I use nearly all homeopathic remedies on my dogs - sometimes they just don't work on specific spores

Jo x