Ringworm and Pets at Home

[woo]

This is an update on my piggies ringworm and half a thumbs up for PaH.

My hubbie popped into the store on his way home tonight and told them about the ringworm problem, they said they have had lots this year and many have come back, not just in this store. Their vet apparently checked them and said they were clear to go, and to be fair they probably were at the time, mine didn't show signs until 2-3weeks after i got them.

Anyway, they have agreed to treat them for 12 weeks and refund ALL vets fees so far plus what we paid for the piggies and have spent for extra bedding etc since, thankfully i have all the vets receipts but my vet said she will write a note if needed.

I hope no one else has had similar problems, but if you have, just talk to them.

I would have posted under my original thread but i felt others in the same situation may miss it.

 

[carrot_and_parsnip]

Gosh, just read your other thread, you've had a bad time of it That's good p@h are paying your fees. Everyone should do the same, they seem to sell that many sick animals that I can't see how it is profitable for them. They had an £80 bill from me, it could have been more but I lost a receipt. Good luck to you and your piggies xox

 

[threelittlepigs]

That is great news for you and hopefully and other forum members in the same situation will be able to benefit from your experience.

 

[Abi_nurse]

Ive had this problem. I posted something about it a few weeks ago but no one replied. PAH near me have it and my herd of girls and a boar got ringworm, damn PAH. They were housed on PAH hay, and now they are on fleece. Obviously the hay isnt treated! We got a baby boar from them last winter and he had a horrible skin condition and he died on xmas day. I hate the place now. I wish they wouldnt sell pets. Sorry - rant over.

x.

 

[claremw92]

glad your getting everythign sorted...
and well done for getting thr bills payed by p@h...

when i got nuzzle, she had an awful case of mites... it escalated (regardless of them treating her) to the point where she was fitting...

i ended up going to a vets that was seperate to p@h and didnt even bother to get the bills payed... if I'm honest didnt cross my mind... lol
I'm such a turd at times...
well done for getting the piggies the care they needed and getting those pennies back...
x

 

[mikulinek]

You know there are many things we don't like about P@H but for this sort of thing they're really very good. I think it's that commercial/consumerist side that's actually positive for once.

We got our two boars from P@H and one had ringworm (no prizes for guessing which one!). It was the big P@H in Stockport which has its own vet. They also found Biscuit's first chest infection (URI). They treated both piggies for ringworm free of charge and offered to take Biscuit in to treat him, or we could treat him at home or we could swap him all free of charge. Naturally, after having owned Biscuit for 5 days by then, there was no way we were going to swap him so we treated him at home and had another 2 free check-ups before he was fit and we swapped vets to one closer to home.

For all that I think they shouldn't sell animals and stick to what they're really good at (food, toys, cages etc...), in cases like your unfortunate case, they are really very good.

From experience also, don't worry about ringworm. Now that you've caught it and you're treating it, it can be cleared up very easily and quickly and won't affect your piggies' long-term health.

Positive vibes from us
x

 

[sgilmour47]

I work at pets at home! I dont know about other stores but from when we get the animals in they are really well looked after actually compared to places like just 4 petsand independant pet shops. We dont have an in store vets but we take them to the local vet straight away if we spot any problems, money seems to be no issue there. Also I like the way we are trained straight away on educating customers about caring for the animals, we arent allowed to sell them until we pass training. And we have to fill in a scribe to make sure the customer knows all the care info before we let them go. We are allowed to refuse sale to anyone without specific reasons other than we think they will not care for/ will breed the animal, and dont sell to under 18's. I REALLY think these should be minimum requirements by law, as local pet shops are a joke and sell to little kids. We have not been told about putting guineas on sawdust and the implications however... I wonder if the high ringworm rates is down to the hay, I may look into that. I am only a part time shop assistant, I just took on the job because I like animals and I'm unsure what to do at uni! But I'm a major hippy and I try to make the pets there happy and the customers too . I cant say a lot on here but I think certain businesses would save a lot of money if they went to more reputable breeders instead of the kinds I've encountered... But if anybody gets any health issues, go straight back because they have an amazing customer care policy, nothing seems to be too much trouble actually, I was shocked when I started working there!

 

[woo]

A little update..

My hubbie spoke to the manager and he said they have had 18 back with ringworm and are all in quarantine, he said they were all from the same supplier, who also supply Sheffield. (maybe other stores too i don't know) but he said they have had lots of stores with the same problem.

He said they should change supplier but it's all down to head office, lets hope they will do something. I guess that means we can rule out the hay from PaH as far as this outbreak goes.

Since i have contracted scalp ringworm and am now on the antifungal pills and steroid creams and struggling to cope I have had to give them back for PaH to treat, I'm so gutted, this last week has been hell but i had hand surgery last year and although I could cope with cleaning and treating them, cleaning the whole room everyday to try to control any spores, i can't physically do it I never knew piggies could get this let alone me getting it too.

 

[carrot_and_parsnip]

Sorry, I might not have read your post correctly, but did you have to give your piggies back? I'm so sorry if you did, it's awful it turned out that way and can totally understand your situation 8... hope you are okay, and your problem is cleared up quickly
I have learnt since coming on here that rescues are the way forward. When I got mine I didn't even know you could get them anywhere other than pet shops
Again, hope I haven't got the wrong end of the stick and I hope you're doing alright xox

 

[Glynis]

Oh nooooooo you sure have been thru hell 8...
I hope all is sorted out soon and they're back with you again in no time
Best of luck love and i hope you also get well soon HUGE HUGS XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

 

[flintstones]

To me this says a lot about how Pets at Home treat there Guinea Pigs. I wouldn't give them any thumbs up, they shouldn't be selling sick animals in the first place.

I'm sorry you've had such an awful time of it, and I understand not everyone knows about rescues but at least now you are on this forum now and should you be looking for more pigs, we can put you in contact with a good rescue where you can give a neglected pig a second chance .

My mind boggles as to why anyone on the forum uses Pet at Home - your pigs unfortunately aren't the first sick pigs from Pets at Home and they won't be the last all Pets at Home care about is Money. The only reason they are paying the Vet Bills is to appear like they care. In return you will continue to shop there so in time they will make there money back and probably more money as people continue to buy supplies for there pets which is one of the reason they sell animals.

Boo to Pets at Home! pow-pow

I do hope your new pigs get well soon and other people present there Vet Bills to Pets at Home then BOYCOTT resulting in them losing money and reviewing there policies about selling animals.

 

[Suzygpr]

As Pets at Home get 95% of their sales from non-animal sales it makes very good business sense to keep their pet owners coming back to buy their supplies for the lifetime of their pets. It is a business decision to sell animals in order to get people through the door, by not only refusing to buy animals from there but also not to buy your supplies will have more impact than any other action.

The company was sold last year for £995K and it is stated in their business report that their animal sales are only 5%, it is a business like any other - same as supermarkets have loss-leading products to get customers through the door, P@H have animals to get the footfall through the doors so they can sell the profit making items.

Suzy

 

[Bracken]

Hi

I'm a new guinea pig owner. We had our pigs less than 2 weeks before I noticed scabs on them. I took them to the vets in pets@home and she said that it was likely to be ringworm caused by stress (probably from moving to a new home). Reading this and other threads I am starting to doubt this and wonder if I should ask that p@h pay the bill given that I had had them for such a short time before they showed symptoms.

I have also wondered about taking them back but the thought of this upsets me as it's not their fault and I'm quite attached to them. The vet prescribed baytril for 7 days and intrafungal to be taken for 7 days (0.25ml 1xday) then a break for 7 days, then intrafungal for another 7 days. Does anyone know if this means that they won't be free of ringworm until the medication is finished? Or could it go on even longer? At the moment I am keeping my kids out of the garden, where they're kept, and I'm just handling them once a day to give them their meds so we're all a bit miserable about it and wondering how long it will go on for.

 

[clairelove]

please please read this and email me your story please
http://www.theguineapigforum.co.uk/showthread.php?t=70786&page=6

ringworm is contagous for 7-14 days or until the scabs have gone and hair is regrowning.

ask the vet for malaseb shampoo and bath every 5 days for around 4-5 treatments this will clear it as well as the oral meds= intrafungal.

if you have them in a hutch ringworm lives in the wood for yrs so can flare up anytime yrs later so you need to get pets at home to give you a new hutch for when they are clear of the ringworm, then flame your other one.

always wear gloves and an apron when handling them and wash all clothes on a 90 wash, do not touch any other animals after handling these until their hair is regrowning.

please please complain to pets at home HQ as everyone needs to complain as they know they are infected and are still selling them, read the thread above

also tell pets at home as they have to pay all your vets bills too, also its very unlikely stress has brought this on as they can incubate ringworm for 4 wks before showing signs of it, its likely they have got this from the breeding farm as they are not very nice places at all it will get better but the first 3wks on treatment if its the correct treatment are the worst so do bare with it as the out come of these guineas if they go back isnt good x

Hi

I'm a new guinea pig owner. We had our pigs less than 2 weeks before I noticed scabs on them. I took them to the vets in pets@home and she said that it was likely to be ringworm caused by stress (probably from moving to a new home). Reading this and other threads I am starting to doubt this and wonder if I should ask that p@h pay the bill given that I had had them for such a short time before they showed symptoms.

I have also wondered about taking them back but the thought of this upsets me as it's not their fault and I'm quite attached to them. The vet prescribed baytril for 7 days and intrafungal to be taken for 7 days (0.25ml 1xday) then a break for 7 days, then intrafungal for another 7 days. Does anyone know if this means that they won't be free of ringworm until the medication is finished? Or could it go on even longer? At the moment I am keeping my kids out of the garden, where they're kept, and I'm just handling them once a day to give them their meds so we're all a bit miserable about it and wondering how long it will go on for.

 

[Bracken]

Thanks for replying so quickly . I had already started reading your other thread earlier. I wish I'd read it before we got them, I'm really regretting buying them from p@h and wish we'd done more research and found a reputable breeder.

I have been wearing gloves and wearing a top just to handle them but didn't realise I should wash at such a high temp as well. Incidentally the vet said nothing at all about hygiene or how contagious it is, she just said to bleach their hutch which I have done but like you say being a wooden hutch I can't exactly soak the whole thing in bleach! I only found out that they could pass it on to me or the kids after looking on the net.

Thanks for all the advice, at least I have some facts to throw at them when I try and reclaim the vets fees.

Do you want me to e-mail my story now, or would you rather wait until I have contacted p@h to see what their response is?

 

[clairelove]

if you can email me now that would be fab and then when you get a reply from them too that would be great
which area did you buy them from?x

Thanks for replying so quickly . I had already started reading your other thread earlier. I wish I'd read it before we got them, I'm really regretting buying them from p@h and wish we'd done more research and found a reputable breeder.

I have been wearing gloves and wearing a top just to handle them but didn't realise I should wash at such a high temp as well. Incidentally the vet said nothing at all about hygiene or how contagious it is, she just said to bleach their hutch which I have done but like you say being a wooden hutch I can't exactly soak the whole thing in bleach! I only found out that they could pass it on to me or the kids after looking on the net.

Thanks for all the advice, at least I have some facts to throw at them when I try and reclaim the vets fees.

Do you want me to e-mail my story now, or would you rather wait until I have contacted p@h to see what their response is?

 

[Bracken]

I will e-mail you my story including details of where we got them from probably over the weekend. I've contacted p@h and they will refund vets bills, give us a replacement hutch and refund the cost of pigs if we decide to return them (I'm still undecided about this bit, it's a very difficult decision). I think if we do return them that we will look into getting some rescue pigs or at least try and find a reputable breeder.

Thanks again for all your help. Had I not found this forum I probably would never have realised that I could have got them to refund vets bills and replace the hutch .

 

[daftscotslass]

Please, please don't take them back as the chances are that unless they are taken on by a kind member of staff, they'll be put down.

 

[clairelove]

which area are you in?

if you do make the choice to return them please dont i help with the potteries guinea pig rescue and would be happy to have them off you and cover all costs of vet bills for the fungal treatment.

i am in stoke on trent are you near there?

 

[elle3]

To mikulinek

We recently bought a boar from P@H Stockport (on 28/6/11) and did not have a good experience with them. He seemed alert and healthy at the time of purchace (only one broken whisker seemed unusual) but I returned to the store to discuss his behaviour in the first week. He bites people a lot, especially hands when he is handled in any way. He also bites in temper - whatever he can get his teeth into. However, after 10 days all the fur fell off his nose (from the tip to his eyes over a few hours - it fell out in big clumps with scabs at the bottom). I contacted the store who told me I had to pay for an examination by their vet to confirm it was ringworm, they would then refund the fee if it could be proved he had the infection before sale and it was not caused by the stress of moving him to a new home! What a disgusting attitude from this store.
A friend who is a vet confirmed the ringworm and I treated him (with great difficulty as he is such a wriggler and biter) but my daughter came out with it two weeks later and a couple of weeks after that we noticed a lesion on the inside back leg of our older gp.
Not one person or pet in our family has ever had a fungal infection before and yet they have the nerve to imply this can just happen due to stress (as though it is not an infectious disease at all).
After complaining to the staff and to a manager I sent an email complaint but I have not had a reply back from them.