• Discussions taking place within this forum are intended for the purpose of assisting you in discussing options with your vet. Any other use of advice given here is done so at your risk, is solely your responsibility and not that of this forum or its owner. Before posting it is your responsibility you abide by this Statement

Please help! Worrying skin rash

Status
Not open for further replies.
B

Bubble&Squeak

Joined
Jan 3, 2010
Messages
24
Reaction score
0
Points
0
Location
Staffordshire
Can anyone help please. Squeak, my one year old guinea pig has lost the fur from below her mouth and has a rash. Her skin looks scaly in places, a bit crusty and red and tender where she's tried to scratch it and drawn blood.

It appeared on Xmas Day, she was fine before that. I have her booked in with the vets on Wednesday (the earliest I could get), we've been telling her not to scratch it and miraculously she seems to understand and does seem to be leaving it alone. She's eating fine and seems her happy self. I'm monitoring her and obviously if she gets a lot worse I'll have to use the emergency on-call vet.

What's worrying me at the moment is me and my partner have been arguing over what to do about her in the meantime. I don't like just leaving it but I don't want to put anything on the rash until the vet has seen it and given me the right cream and/or antibiotics for it. My partner wants to put either Savlon or Vaseline on it to try and make it better and less painful, which I think is a bad idea as it could make it worse.

Can anyone suggest anything that is safe to use on their skin? Her skin looks scaly in places, red, a bit crusty and tender where she's scratched it and drawn blood. I can probably get some pictures and post them on here if anyone can help.
 
This is a stab in the dark, but it sounds to me like 'Ringworm'...I'm by no means an expert, but one of my Guinea pigs (who has sadly passed this year...) had something similar sounding, but below his eye...His hair was coming out around the affected area and it was very flaky. I took him to the vets, and they gave me a cream to put on the area, (the name of it escapes me)...

This might not be your Guinea's problem, it's just what it sounds like to me...

I think it's best to wait till you take her to the vet so they can prescribe some cream, rather than using vaseline or savlon...

Please try not to worry though...<3 I wish your piggie good health, and I'm sure the little tyke is gonna be fine. <3 xx
 
Last edited:
Two of my guinea pigs had a fungal infection when they were younger (exactly the same as the link provided in Wiebke's post) - my first boy was only young when he had it (i believe he was about 8-10wks old) and i followed advice on these forums and used Daktarin cream - it was only when he scratched the scab off it (his was rash/scaly area was situated on his bottom) and it started the bleed that i took him to the vets (i panicked and wasn't sure if i could still use the cream on broken skin) - i was given Surolan ointment to be applied at 1-2 drops twice daily and this worked well - it did take a few weeks to fully heal (i think it took around 4-5wks until his fur started to grow back).

His cage mate came down with the same thing a couple of weeks later and was situated just underneath his eye (was about the size of a small pea when i noticed it) - again i used Daktarin cream for the first two days before someone on these forum mentioned that they had good results using Nizoral shampoo with younger pigs. It cost me about £10 for a bottle from my local Sainsbury's chemist - but was well worth it (don't tell the chemist you are buying for a guinea pig else they will refuse the sale). As i recall it started to look much better within the first 2 baths - and he never actually scratched it so didn't have any hair loss.

Personally if your piggies rash looks like the one in Wiebke's post i would recommend Nizoral shampoo.

Can you take a picture of the affected area's and post it? It might give people a better indication of what the rash is and how you can help your piggie to feel more comfortable until the vets visit.
 
This isn 't a great pic but the best I could get -
squeak.jpg


She's booked in with the vets for Wednesday. Is that too long to wait without any treatment?

Having never experienced skin problems with any of my guinea pigs I don't know how urgent the situation is.
 
Last edited:
Aw poor piggie :( It looks like it would be realllly itchy. If she's eating/drinking etc fine then it may be ok until wednesday but if she's scratching/it's getting worse take her in.. x
 
Ouch, that looks sore. I wouldn't put either Savlon or Vaseline on it as I'm not sure they are safe for guinea pigs.

Has Squeak had anything different to eat in the last few days? Some guinea pigs have a bad reaction to tomato or apple.

Good that you are taking her to the vet as soon as possible. x
 
is she having any problems eating? picking food up? or does her front teeth look a little slanted? or broken? the reason i ask is some guineas that have back teeth problems can dribble which can cause fungal infections under their chin, this looks fungal to me...

if you have any canerstan 1% cream used to treat thrush in humans you can apply this twice a day for around 4 wks until the hair has regrown, BUT have a look how she eats, does she move her ears alot when eating and open her mouth alot when eating (like something suck in her mouth) does her front teeth look slanted, or broken?

you can also use oral daktarin from the pharmacy for her as it looks like she has a little fungal on her lip too, this can be used the same as the canerstan 1% twice- 3 times a day, but if you use daktarin there is no need to use the canerstan 1% both are very safe for guineas but best not tell the pharmacy its for a guinea pig
 
Last edited:
Thanks for all those replies

Is Caneston 2% cream okay to use?

She seems to be eating just the same as usual but I'll have a closer look at the way she's eating.

I did change their food on Xmas day from Wagg to Tesco's own (only because I couldn't get to the shops to get their usual) and gave them a little bit of spinach as a treat but the others are all okay (they're housed seperately btw). Though she does have a water bowl rather than a bottle as she was struggling to drink out of it,could that be causing it?

Thanks for those pics Wiebke, it does look similar, although it seems more concentrated in one area and there are a lot of white, raised areas but it does definitely look more like the pics for fungal things than anything else.
 
how long as she been struggling to drink out of a water bottle?

she would need 1% really as 2% is a bit to strong.

i am wondering if its her teeth! or she may even have oral thrush too!
 
hi there, poor piggie it doesn't look very nice. Please get in touch with Laura at guinea pig helpline either email or text and she Will be able to give you some advice until you See the vet on weds. Google guinea pig helpline- sorry on my phone so a bit hard to add a link. Hope she's ok. Alyson x
 
Thanks for all the advice and help. I finally got squeak into the vets yesterday and she's being treated for both a fungal infection and ringworm to be on the safe side.

I was panicking because, in the 4 years I've kept guinea pigs I've only had to take one to the vet before and she died the next day. It wasn't the vet's fault she died - she'd become very ill, very quick, but I was really annoyed with him as he yanked her about so much and she was clearly terrified. I wished I'd said something to him at the time but the vets had a good reputation and I thought he must know what he's doing. I'd never go there again, she deteriorated a lot after the vets and seemed to give up.

This time I went elsewhere and saw a much better vet who was really gentle with Squeak and gave her a thorough health check to rule out anything more sinister. And Squeak was really well behaved and just let the vet examine her. Now, if it had been Beano I'd had to take, it would've been the vet who needed medical attention afterwards!
 
Fungal seems to be rearing its ugly head quite often at the moment. Could we be keeping the piggies a bit too warm and steamy?
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top