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Possible ringworm? Or something ese

Kate0

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Picked up our long awaited baby guinea pig today to complete our herd. The lady I bought her from pointed out an red mark on her skin and said she it hadn't been there the nght before and she wondered if she'd been nipped by a cage mate.

I took her home and the guinea pigs have spent the day hanging out in a neutral space and are getting on ok so now all in together.

However, I've been looking into treating the injury and now concerned that it could actually be a fungal infection or ringworm. I'm going to take her to the vets tomorrow but in the meantime, wondering if anyone has any ideas? The red mark is raised and hard. She's doesn't seem that bothered by it but flinched when I touched it. Not sure whether to quarantine her now or not.
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Any chance of a slightly closer photo? Looks like potential ringworm to me I'm afraid, but the vet will be able to tell for certain
 
I would get her checked out by the vet. If she is under four months then you can’t quarantine. At that young age their need for companionship and guidance from older piggies is of utmost importance. If it does turn out to be fungal/ringworm then you will just have to deal with it with the whole herd.
 
Ok, that's interesting and good to know. They are all in now anyway so was wondering how she'd cope on her own, she's so tiny. I've ordered F10 anyway to be on safe side.
 

Please have her vet checked. I would not want to call it just from that picture. It looks like somebody may have used some cream on the spot, which makes a diagnosis much more difficult.

In any way, in order to get on top of the issue once and for all, it is much better to treat properly with vet grade products and not with home DIY. In the case of ringworm, the real problem are the thousands of long-lived invisible spores that can cause a reinfection up to around 2 years later and that affect lots of species (including humans). Hygiene and a vet grade disinfectant are absolutely crucial in getting on top of ringworm once and forever. A little DIY creaming won't prevent spores from spreading and affecting other areas of the body.
You need to treat both piggies together; but since the period between infection and outbreak is 10-14 days you can prevent your boy from going acute if you do it right.

Here is more information. Please take the time to read it and to follow the advice, even more so in terms of ringworm hygiene. In nearly 15 years of running this forum, we have had plenty of time and opportunity to work out all the possible transmission angles and how to deal with them. The guide is very practical, precise and step and step. It also contains pictures that show how a ringworm spot runs its due course.
New guinea pigs: Sexing, vet checks&customer rights, URI, ringworm and parasites
Ringworm: Hygiene And Pictures
 
To put your mind at ease, if the piggies have spent the afternoon together I would say it's too late to think of quarantining anyway. I do suspect that you haven't been told the full truth though, it doesn't look like a bite or scratch from a cage mate and if it is ringworm I would imagine it's unlikely to have appeared like that overnight.
 
Really stressed out! Just took her to the vet who said they don't know what it is. Theres a small mark in the middle which could be a bite but it's thickened suggesting inflamation. They've given Fuseslieve, cleaned it up and said to bathe with salt water and come back in a week if it doesn't improve and charged £70. I asked if they'd taken a scrape and they haven't, said it wouldn't show anything at this stage.

Does this sound right?

Just feel so sorry for her and want it resolved as quickly as possible.
 
Poor piggy won't leave the area alone now, constantly biting it. Vet has shaved off the hair around the red bit. Is there anything I can do to help her?
 
Really stressed out! Just took her to the vet who said they don't know what it is. Theres a small mark in the middle which could be a bite but it's thickened suggesting inflamation. They've given Fuseslieve, cleaned it up and said to bathe with salt water and come back in a week if it doesn't improve and charged £70. I asked if they'd taken a scrape and they haven't, said it wouldn't show anything at this stage.

Does this sound right?

Just feel so sorry for her and want it resolved as quickly as possible.

With all due respect; this is NOT a fighting bite but self-inflicted.

If it is ringworm, the crusty exudate will form again and the patch will get bigger in the coming days. At this stage it is impossible to tell whether it is mange mites or ringworm. But it looks rather like somebody has just slapped some cream on it instead of treating it properly before getting rid of the piggy and in the process very much muddied the waters.

Just be patient; things will become clearer soon. With the right treatment, your own piggy will never reall fully get it. It is just waiting until the nature of the patch is becoming clear.

PS: My money is on mange mites. The one thing you can do is to bandage the body to prevent your piggy from biting itself bloody and not wait for a whole week of misery. Painkillers unfortunately don't work. How piggy savvy is your vet?
 
Yes, spot on re. cream -- they lady I bought her had applied some cream minutes before I collected her.

I don't know how pig savvy the vet is - it was a new vet I'd not seen before sadly. There is another practice about 30 mins away which has a good reputation. I've tried getting a second opinion from them in the past but they wouldn't see me without a referal from existing practice. Now wondering whether I should just book an appointment there or wait and see.

Not sure I can deal with a week of her suffering if the treatment isn't helping.
 
Yes, spot on re. cream -- they lady I bought her had applied some cream minutes before I collected her.

I don't know how pig savvy the vet is - it was a new vet I'd not seen before sadly. There is another practice about 30 mins away which has a good reputation. I've tried getting a second opinion from them in the past but they wouldn't see me without a referal from existing practice. Now wondering whether I should just book an appointment there or wait and see.

Not sure I can deal with a week of her suffering if the treatment isn't helping.

Slapping a thick layer of cream onto a skin problem is like wiping the crime scene as far as vet is concerned. The patch has that look of it; we do see unfortunately a fair bit of that when asked for an opinion on here. :(

Unfortunately the only way is forward is to wait so the masked difference between the two possible skin issues is becoming clearer. However, the location and the incessant gnawing are very typical for a well developed mange mites patch.
At the worst, a vet can recommend to treat for both mites and ringworm at the same time; in this case, I would push for one lot of treatment to be oral or by injection.

When you acquire piggies privately, you are unfortunately laying yourself open for situations like these. People keen to get rid of pets will all too often lie through their teeth and then go incommunicado as soon as you have left the premises. :(
You can report them to the RSCPA but as they have no legal powers (contrary to what most people think) and can only intervene on the advice of a vet where a death has happened or animals are at acute risk of dying, not much will come of it.
Anybody selling pets (pet shop or breeders locally or online), you can report to the local council over trading standards because they are selling in effect faulty ware and you can reclaim any vet cost from them as part of your customer rights.
 
I’m sorry you don’t seem to have made any headway. Would you be able to get piggy seen by a more experienced vet? The link below has vets that have been recommended by members on here.
Vet Locator
 
Thank you for your help. I'll see if I can get an appointment at the other vets. In the meantime, is there a chance I can make things worse by applying this cream: Fuselieve (betamethasone 1mg and fusidic acid 5mg).
 
Just a little update. Popcorn's patch was looking better yesterday - essentially a scab and she didn't appear bothered by it. Today, the scab has come off and she's been squeeling when biting it. It sounds like she's crying poor little thing. This isn't continuously, she has bouts when it really seems to bother her and then the rest of the time is nibbling hay etc. I've been using the salt bath and Fuselieve once a day.

It does seem bigger today. There is an indentation which I presume is what the vet thought might have been the bite mark.

I've got an appointment at the further away vets today for my other pig so I'm going to see how savvy they are, and if they seem better, book Popcorn in with them instead.

Sorry for the gruesome pic.

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Are you able to book her in as well? That does look sore.
 
We've had little Popcorn for a week now. I took the photo last night but the scab has since fallen off so the whole area is pale pink, smooth and hairless. Is this a typical pattern for ringworm or mites? It doesn't seem to be bothering her so much. I don't know whether this counts as 'clearing up' or whether I need to make another appointment with vet/see if patch gets bigger rather than smaller.
 

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I would get it checked out by the vet.
 
Update... took her back to vets. A different vet saw her and gave her xeno 450 nearly 2 weeks ago for suspected mites (vet said ringworm was not common in gps :eek:). Since then, the hair has pretty much grown back. Hooray, I thought. However, today, i noticed that one of my other piggies has a bald, scaly ear... I'm so upset. Does this sugggest that Popcorns scab was ringworm after all? Had just started to chill out about washing hands and clothes and now worried that it's ringworm and the spores are everywhere.
 
sorry meant xeno 50 (she was about 400g then)
 
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