Hello everybody! Recently I bought a beautiful long haired (curlyish too) guinea pig (2 months old) from a pet shop. I know it's not the best to buy from pet shops but I really could not find any rescues in my area (Coventry) that had appropriate pigs for my existing piggy to befriend.
Anyway, I saw him and I noticed he had a few scabs in various places on his body. (Nose, ears) the ones on his ears healed and I thought initially that the scabs were just due to fighting with his pet shop friends but unfortunately I don't believe that's the case anymore as he has roughly 5 scabs altogether that I've counted - 1 on his back, 2 on his belly area, 1 on his nose and 1 on his bum. This made me think it could be mites of some kind? Though he doesn't seem itchy at all from what I've observed, he cleans himself an average to normal amount.
I then looked through his fur to see if there were any signs of lice, I didn't see any but I did see a lot of tiny black specks in his fur which brushed out quite easily.
On top of all this he has entropion in one of his eyes, which has been seen by a vet who said that it's a very minor case and he'll likely outgrow it.
I'm very worried about these scabs! I'm not sure where they've came from and of course the pet shop didn't tell me of any medical issues beforehand (they never do!).
If I have to I'll take him to the vet though consultation alone is quite expensive (£30) and I usually get told that they can't do anything for my animals, so I am hesitant. I don't want to bathe him as he is so young and I don't want to stress him anymore than he already is.
I will say he's settled wonderfully with my other guinea pig and he's very sweet and lively, he doesn't act sick but they're prey animals so of course he could just be hiding it.
(I'm sorry if any of this is very obvious I'm new to guinea pig ownership)
Anyway, I saw him and I noticed he had a few scabs in various places on his body. (Nose, ears) the ones on his ears healed and I thought initially that the scabs were just due to fighting with his pet shop friends but unfortunately I don't believe that's the case anymore as he has roughly 5 scabs altogether that I've counted - 1 on his back, 2 on his belly area, 1 on his nose and 1 on his bum. This made me think it could be mites of some kind? Though he doesn't seem itchy at all from what I've observed, he cleans himself an average to normal amount.
I then looked through his fur to see if there were any signs of lice, I didn't see any but I did see a lot of tiny black specks in his fur which brushed out quite easily.
On top of all this he has entropion in one of his eyes, which has been seen by a vet who said that it's a very minor case and he'll likely outgrow it.
I'm very worried about these scabs! I'm not sure where they've came from and of course the pet shop didn't tell me of any medical issues beforehand (they never do!).
If I have to I'll take him to the vet though consultation alone is quite expensive (£30) and I usually get told that they can't do anything for my animals, so I am hesitant. I don't want to bathe him as he is so young and I don't want to stress him anymore than he already is.
I will say he's settled wonderfully with my other guinea pig and he's very sweet and lively, he doesn't act sick but they're prey animals so of course he could just be hiding it.
(I'm sorry if any of this is very obvious I'm new to guinea pig ownership)
