Question

[Darylisamaz]

My friend has a pig with mites does she separate from her other pig?

 

[Betsy]

They will both have mites now so not worth it. What she needs to do is treat both of them and be scrupulous about cage/hutch hygiene.

 

[Wiebke]

My friend has a pig with mites does she separate from her other pig?

Hi! You always need to treat all guinea pigs in cotnact as transmission has most likely already happened. This goes for any skin problems, whether that is parasites or a fungal infection.

Please do not treat on spec with broad spectrum low dosed shop products that will only suppress, but not cure.

There are two types of mites:
- mange mites, which burrow their egg cases in the increasingly inflamed and painful skin. Advanced mange mites cause fitting, loss of appetite and eventually death.
- hay/fur mites, which fix their eggs to the hairs especially at the bum end and that live mostly on the debris on the hairs. In this case, please throw the hay away and change the brand.
An outbreak of fungal skin infection or ringworm can look very similar to a mites outbreak with bare skin patches in the early stages (much more so than textbook pictures suggest). It requires different treatment.

Please see a vet for good quality treatment; it is ultimately much cheaper to have it treated properly straight away than to waste money on products that do not work, prolong the needless suffering of the pets and then spend more money on the vet for curing an advanced case instead of a mild one.

If the outbreak has happened within 2-3 weeks of purchase, your friend can reclaim any vet cost from the pet shop by presenting the vet bill together with the sales receipt since exposure and transmission must have happened at the shop.

Please also save up for a vet fund right from the start on a weekly or monthly basis. Vet cost are highest budget post throughout any pet's life. There are no 'cheap' pets. Illness and emergencies never happen at a good time, but ill piggies cannot wait; they die a miserable, painful death if you fail them.

 

[Janani.R.S]

Now it's too late for your friend to separate them because, now, they both have mites. You're friend will have to treat them both, separation won't help now and it would be useless because the two guinea pigs both have mites and they are now lonely for no reason. I hope that you and friend will be able to treat them and I hope they will get better.

 

[Merab]

Hope the guinea pigs’ treatment works quickly.
Welcome to the forum