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Our Baby Guinea's Seem To Still Have Their Mites :((

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Knowles980

Knowles980

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I am quite worried about Daisy and Minnie... we realised they had something wrong the day we bought them home and took them to the vets the next day who said they have mites. He didnt treat them with the ivermectin as the man we got them from had sprayed them with something already. He said to see how they went. Since then i have used the spot on belphar on them both, coming upto the four week now and they both have a couple of dry patches on them, they also seem quite agitated. Although this might be a sisterly thing I'm not sure haha!
Anywhooo I'm going to take them to the vet soon as my fiancee's off work thursday. In the mean time I'm feeling sorry for them. What do you put on their dry patches? Also minnie has a little reddy bit hanging on her tum i dont know what it is :-/
 
Please be aware that mites need to be treated with a good ivermectin product according to body weight and that beaphar is only geared towards the prevention of mites, not the treatment of them. They really need to see a good vet now! Do not home treat on spec, as that can easily make things worse than better. We have got a piggy savvy vet locator on the top bar. https://www.theguineapigforum.co.uk/pages/guinea-pig-vet-locator/

Please also make sure with your vet that they really have mites and not a fungal/ringworm problem.

http://www.guinealynx.info/mites.html
http://www.guinealynx.info/fungus.html
http://gorgeousguineas.com/indentification.html
http://gorgeousguineas.com/photogallery.html
 
Thanks for the reply, vets have no appointments for when i can getvthere today but made one for midday tomorrow in meantime ill keep an eye on them x
 
Please have it checked whether it is indeed mites or rather fungal (which can crop up all over the body).

Could you post a picture of your "dry patches" on here? We have got a video tutorial on how to post pictures on the top bar.
 
keeping you up to date... The vet has given both guineas a dose of ivermectin (injection) and we are to see how they go. if no change after saturday then they will be going back. In the mean time he said i could salt bathe them which might calm the skin. So ill read up on that and may do it later :) I will take a picture at the same time for u.
 
Full mites treatment consists of 3-4 rounds spaced about 10-14 days apart. Symptoms often get worse initially, as the ivermectin is affecting and then killing the mites. It usually takes the second round to kill off all active mites. Rounds #3-4 are to kill off any emerging eggs to prevent a return. Mange mites can kill, so you always need to go through a full treatment.

With a severe mites infection, please do not bathe until the end of the treatment, as the warm water can make things worse for the poor skin.
 
I bathed in salt water as vet said that should soothe their skin, he said not to use any shampoo as may irritate. I wont bathe any more now.

I take it we shall be having a few more vet trips then :(( poor piggies. thanks for the info x
 
This is the best i could do with a photo... I could only keep daisy still enough to get a pic of one bit.. Its when shed had her bath, which is why u cant see flakyness
 

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Mites are not great news, but with sticking to the full treatment, getting rid of them is pretty straight forward.

Make sure that you give the cage and all contents a thorough disinfecting clean and again after the end of the treatment.
 
Disinfecting as we speak and shall defo do again after the next lot :)
 
Has your vet considered a fungal infection? It doesn;t have to be ringworm, so it would likely come back negative from testing. To be honest, that is looking rather fungal to me.
 
Yes i asked hima bout fungal or ringworm and he said he doesnt think so but if we take them back after saturday he can do a skin scrape and look under microscope
 
It may not be conclusive and can still be fungal!
 
Sometimes, even a vet has to take an educated guess! The problem is that there is a range of different funguses around, but as a rule only ringworm is tested for.

Where it is behind the shoulder, it could be either mites or fungal, and it can look very similar in the initial stages; I've been there with piggies of mine with either! The problem is that mites and fungal can sometimes look much more similar than demo pics suggest, especially when they are not in typical textbook places. However, we can only suggest, but not diagnose; that has to be left to your vet. In any case, you need to finish your mites treatment. :(

Have a look at these links:
http://www.guinealynx.info/fungus.html
http://www.guinealynx.info/mites.html
http://gorgeousguineas.com/indentification.html
http://gorgeousguineas.com/photogallery.html
https://www.theguineapigforum.co.uk/threads/ringworm-hygiene-and-pictures.115402/
 
After another trip to the bets today.. And a second opinion they now have said theres no pests on the piggies at all and theres one form of fungal that doesnt show up under the light so theyre looking at that now... Have to go back in a week to pick up a special shampoo to bathe them in!

Poor piggies have gone through it ever since we had them... Their dry patches are bigger and theyre still scratchy. They like their food tho and seem so mich bigger!
 
Yes only ringworm would show up under the light, whereas there are many other types which don't.
 
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