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Pregnant Piggies With Lice

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Zoes piggies

Zoes piggies

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Hello. I have a pregnant guinea pig that is ready to drop any day and noticed yesterday that she had lice. I brought some lice treatment today and read the pack and it says "do not use on the pregnant". . So I'm not sure what to do now. I bathed her last night ready for her to be treated today but obviously can't. Will I have to wait untill she's had the babies to treat her?. . Any help would be appreciated. Thankyou
 
:D What sort of lice has your pregnant piggie got? If it is just hay mites (Static lice) then she will be okay. Hay mites feed on dead skin and do not suck blood. Other types of mites/lice can be a bit more dangerous and will need Vet treatment. Do not use shop-bought products, as they are often not the right dosage to do any good and can sometimes do more harm than good. You will have to wait until she has had her babies, and when they are strong enough ( a couple of weeks or so), your Vet will treat ALL of them if the lice have been passed to the babies. He will be able to give each of them the right dosage for their individual weight. Do not bathe your pregnant piggie too often as that can dry out the skin too much. Good luck.
 
Thankyou for your reply. They look like the static running lice (I've done so much research on google lol). . I was just so worried that they were going to make her ill and too weak to get through labour. She's lost all her belly hair but have never seen her scratching. . She's fine in herself and still eats and a squeeks lots. X
 
:D If you are sure that they are Static lice, then she will be fine. I hope the pregnancy goes okay. We would all love to see pictures of the babies a few days after they have arrived! :tu::tu::tu:
 
Zoes piggies said:
Thankyou for your reply. They look like the static running lice (I've done so much research on google lol). . I was just so worried that they were going to make her ill and too weak to get through labour. She's lost all her belly hair but have never seen her scratching. . She's fine in herself and still eats and a squeeks lots. X
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If it is fur mites/static lice, please wait ideally until after the babies have stopped suckling.
Fur mites are the least harmful of the skin parasites that guinea pigs can have; they usually look like somebody has held a pepper mill over the bum end of a guinea pig. What you can see are actually the egg cases being attached to the hairs (and not burrowed in the skin, as with mange mites).
Lice are blood sucking critters, which move around the body.
Please see a vet for a diagnosis and safe treatment that won't harm any pups. Any product that contains ivermectin can harm pups.
Guinea Lynx :: Fur Mites
Guinea Lynx :: Lice
Please do not home treat on spec, especially not with low dosed cheap broad spectrum shop products, which can do more harm than good and at the worst can lead to resistence!

Malnourished pregnant sows can lose the hair around the belly area due to the extra stress their already pressured body is under from lack of minerals. You may want to give an additional sprig of parsley or cilantro/coriander every day, on top of the recommendations of the pregnancy diet. The extra stress on her poor little body also lowers the immune system and can prevent it from fighting off skin parasites. It is not rare that highly pregnant sows from less than pristine backgrounds are afflicted with mites or lice. :(
 
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