persistent hair shedding/skin problem

[hetherj]

one of my boars has been shedding hair for a while. I took him to the vet who found a patch of scaly, flaky skin on his back and told me he had seborrhoea. She gave me some coatex oatmeal shampoo to treat it. This didn't work. I looked seborrhoea up in the guineapiglopedia and found that it could be caused by skin mites. The piggie has had problems with skin mites previously so I treated him with ivermectin without success. Then I tried shampooing him with lyclear shampoo and, when this didn't work I tried full marks shampoo. I've treated him successfully with both of these shampoos (and ivermectin) before, but this time neither of them have worked. In fact, the full marks made things worse - his skin turned from light pink to a darker angrier colour, but has since gone back to its usual colour. The guineapiglopedia also said that skin allergies could cause seborrhoea. I've taken away the piece of vetbed he had for a sleeping area which I washed with ecover washing up liquid in case this was irritating his skin or causing an allergic reaction. So far he is still shedding. The piggie is well in himself; he's as enthusiastic as usual about his food. He isn't scratching more than usual, but the patch of flaky skin on his back is sensitive. It hurts him if I stroke some of his hair the wrong way to see it. Does anyone have any experience of this problem. All advice gratefully received!

 

[Laura-CCC4]

Hi Hether, sorry to hear your guinea is struggling with these problems.

Has fungal infection ever been considered? It sounds very suspicious of that to me and it's something you've not treated for yet. Nizoral shampoo (from the chemist) can be effective, or Gorgeous Guineas Manuka & Neem if you'd prefer a more 'natural' and species specific remedy. Such shampoos need to be left on for a period of time before being rinsed off - it often works well to do an initial wash and rinse, then lather up and allow to soak in for the recommended time (usually around 5-10 minutes) before doing a final rinse. These anti-fungal baths need repeating once weekly, usually for 3 weeks.

When dosed with ivermectin, were 2-3 doses given, not just a one-off dose?

 

[hetherj]

the vet didn't mention fungal infection, but I daresay it's a possibility. His symptoms don't quite match the ones given by Peter Gurney (hair coming out in clumps with white bits on the ends) which is why I hadn't considered it before. Thanks for the tip about shampoos
I did give him 3 doses of ivermectin - I think that and the full marks and lyclear treatment being unsuccessful probably rules out mites