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piperazine for guinea pigs

Ritika

Ritika

Adult Guinea Pig
Joined
Nov 6, 2019
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Location
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hey guys two of my guinea pigs deworming and we went to the vet yesterday. He prescribed 4ml of fenbendazole but we weren't able to find it anywhere. Today he saying either to give them an injection (he didn't tell which medicine injection) for deworming and i said no for that as i am scared as he is only a dog specialist vet and we dont have any exotic animal specialist anywhere near my city. Now he's asking me to give my piggies piperazine and i don't know if its safe or not can anyone help me out?
 
Piggies&buns said:
Have they been diagnosed with worms?
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actually one of my piggy (the one in my profile picture) was twitching her head and kind of giving it a shake often times at night. It happened for two nights but in the day she was usually normal so i decided to take her to the vet. we took her yesterday hr saw her ears and he found nothing no lice or ear infection so he asked us to deworm them as she was also shedding alot recently. he said deworming once can make us rule out if she has any worm problem or does she has something else as he is not professional for guinea pigs and i am quite a bit scared to let them experiment with my piggies:(
 
I wouldn’t deworm unless they have been found to have worms. You say shedding a lot, what exactly do you mean? Does she have bald patches? Is the hair coming out in clumps?
 
Siikibam said:
I wouldn’t deworm unless they have been found to have worms. You say shedding a lot, what exactly do you mean? Does she have bald patches? Is the hair coming out in clumps?
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nope she doesn't have bald patches just a lot of hair falls down when we stroke her and also her diet is fine:) we are just scared about her twitching of head but that has been minimised now what should i do next?
 
Siikibam said:
I wouldn’t deworm unless they have been found to have worms. You say shedding a lot, what exactly do you mean? Does she have bald patches? Is the hair coming out in clumps?
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and how is it found that they have worms? because my vet didn't check any worms or anything
 
For piggies to have worms in this country is rare, but to my knowledge, worms would cause symptoms such as losing weight, lack of appetite, diarrhoea, perhaps seeing something in their poop
 
I read a thread where a piggy’s faeces were checked and that’s how they found worms.
 
Piggies&buns said:
For piggies to have worms in this country is rare, but to my knowledge, worms would cause symptoms such as losing weight, lack of appetite, diarrhoea, perhaps seeing something in their poop
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i casually checked her poop and its normal no diarrhoea or lack of appetite and i ll constantly check her weight daily if there's anything suspicious but for now she's fine he just said that give her fenbendazol or piperazine so that we can rule the option of her having worms and then he would start a new treatment on her if she still don't gets fine with her head twitches and shedding of hair
 
Piggies&buns said:
The first thought when you hear head twitching is something wrong with the ears, or potentially a dental issue.
@PigglePuggle is the best health advisor to offer advice on such parasites.
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i really hope it's not a dental issue as we dont have exotic vets here and i ll be scared for my piggy to let her go in surgery 😭
 
Ritika said:
i really hope it's not a dental issue as we dont have exotic vets here and i ll be scared for my piggy to let her go in surgery 😭
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Its most often associated with an ear issue, but sometimes they can shake their heads if there is something caught in the teeth for example.
 
Hey @Ritika not seen you here for ages!
Ritika is from India @Piggies&buns :)
Piperazine is a safe medicine for deworming rabbits, so should be fine in piggies, though it is debatable if they need deworming! If the vet suggests an injection, do find out what it is first- ivermectin may be safely given as an injection.
The head twitch may suggest E. cunniculi infection (a parasite which affects the nervous sustem) and fenbendazole is the appropriate treatment for this, piperazine or ivermectin would not be appropriate for that.
No harm in giving any of these medicines at an appropriate dose if that is the best the not very good vet can offer, and certainly outside the UK and Europe there can be all sorts of parasites lurking in the hay and local.wildlife that a local vet may be more knowledgeable about that us British piggy keeper!
Hope piggy will be ok x
 
Piggies&buns said:
Yes I know, the tone of my post was more that due to it being rare in the UK that's why we dont have a huge amount of experience with such issues!
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Ritika was here a lot at the start of the first covid lockdown, I remember she was having to sneak out at night for a secret rendezvous with a rabbit lady to get any hay for her piggies due to the restrictions on going out they had there where pets werent included as essential as they are here!
 
Shedding hair can be a sign of mites (skin mites - also you will see pigs scratching more than usual) and these are effectively treated with ivermectin here in the UK. We get spot-on-the-skin medication which has to be repeated after 2 weeks and again two weeks later but I don't know how this would work with injections... the repeat doses are because the meds kill the mites but not eggs. I'm assuming that if she had ear mites this ivermectin would work for those too but we have not had ear mites before. Skin mites and lice we've seen regularly!

I have heard that bacterial ear infection can sometimes cause a bad smell in the ear - I assume her ears smell fine? I have one pig with long hair and her hairy ears get waxy (with no infection or anything) so I cannot comment on wax or discharge as any indicator of ear trouble!

Worms and skin mites are contagious so do any pigs she lives with might also have to be treated? Perhaps @PigglePuggle could advise?
 
thank u so much everyone for the warm welcome 😊 i have been really sick recently and i am still at the hospital for my covid test😔 it's been a tough year and i am happy to be back plus i ordered fenbendazole for my piggy via the vet and he said he could bring it in 3-4 days so lets hope for the best
 
Welcome back @Ritika i did hope you weren’t ill. I hope you feel better soon and the test comes back negative ❤️
 
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i found this poop in their cage which had this worm mucus thing wrapped on it can someone see this?
 
hey guys my another vet just saw this and asked me to give all my piggies Bayer Advocate can someone please check if this medication is appropriate for this case of my piggies?
 
Advocate contains moxidectin which is similar to ivermectin but much stronger so dosing would have to be very precise- HOWEVER it also contains imidacloprid, an insecticide, which is for fleas and has no effect on mites or worms or protozoa or any parasite affecting piggies. This product doesnt sound too safe or appropriate here, there is no safety data on imidacloprid for piggies or rabbits because they dont tend to have flea issues.
Its a no from me I'm afraid :(
 
PigglePuggle said:
Advocate contains moxidectin which is similar to ivermectin but much stronger so dosing would have to be very precise- HOWEVER it also contains imidacloprid, an insecticide, which is for fleas and has no effect on mites or worms or protozoa or any parasite affecting piggies. This product doesnt sound too safe or appropriate here, there is no safety data on imidacloprid for piggies or rabbits because they dont tend to have flea issues.
Its a no from me I'm afraid :(
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🤯thank u so much for explaining i ll just stick to good old fenbendazole then!
 
hey guys just got my covid results today and i am covid positive 🥲
 

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Rivervixen said:
so sorry for your bad news :( wishing you a speedy recovery :hug: :hug: :hug: :hug:
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i changed my room😭 i used to sleep in the same room as my guinea pigs but just right now i moved to an isolated room in my house so that my piggy stays safe😭😭
 
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