Ringworm & Mites Prevention

[sammy07]

Hello! I’m a new piggie mama and have been seeing several posts about ringworm and mites in guinea pigs. What are the best measures to take to prevent these and keep my piggies healthy?

 

[5StarPigs]

Tagging @Wiebke

 

[Swissgreys]

Keeping your guinea pigs in a clean environment and allowing to have a good diet and as stress free life as possible will help.
Also being very careful about introducing new guonea pigs and following strict quarantine procedures.

 

[Wiebke]

Hello! I’m a new piggie mama and have been seeing several posts about ringworm and mites in guinea pigs. What are the best measures to take to prevent these and keep my piggies healthy?

Hi and welcome

A good balanced hay based diet with only a few carefully chosen veg (quality comes a long way before quantity) and a small amount of pellets as well as good care is the best prevention, as it ensures that your piggies are as healthy and long lived as can by with a fully working immune system.
Long Term Balanced General And Special Needs Guinea Pig Diets

Ringworm, mange and hay mites as well as URI are opportunistic issues that are typically spread between highly stressed young pet shop piggies whose immune system is still under construction when their young lives are upturned several times in quick succession and they are exposed to an environment in which bugs can thrive and be passed on quickly.
When you look at the threads, the vast majority of them is dealing with newly acquired youngsters who have been exposed to any bugs either at the commercial supply breeder, during mass transport or in the shop branch they have been delivered to.

There is basically no prevention. Low dosed ivermectin products are not able to heal/prevent an acute outbreak and will only allow any mite eggs sitting in the skin to develop resistance over time; they are normally kept under control by a fully operational immune system anyway.
It is much easier to deal with an acute outbreak by having it diagnosed promptly and properly without playing around with cheap home DIY treatment, so it never gets past the level of nuisance. If you go at it properly, any of these problems can be got on top of comparatively easily as preventing the spread right away is the larger part of the battle already won. Ringworm when caught early can be basically got on top of usually within 7 days and never get past the single infected patch, and mange mites with three treatments for any piggies in contact with the infected piggy if you do things properly.

Please save up for vet care as an integral part of the weekly/monthly living expense so you can at any time pay for vet care, emergencies and a life saving operation.
I would also recommend to get hold of some F10 disinfectant. It lasts for years and comes also in handy when you have a human outbreak of flu or norovirus and need to disinfect any taps, toilets, light switches and door handles etc.

Hay mites typically come with hay that is industrially mass harvested in a way that churns up the soil and allows more bugs to get into the hay. We have seen a steep upsurge in recent years in internationally sold imported hay brands. Look for smaller hay brands that harvest their hay differently and come with a much reduced risk of hay mites if you can.
A Comprehensive Hay Guide for Guinea Pigs (incl. providers in several countries)

Please be aware when doing online health/illness research that you will come across a much larger proportion of problems and horror stories as normality (i.e. the absence of problems or a problem-free recovery) is generally not worth reporting. Our health/illness section as well as our new owners' section is a place where many people come when they have a problem, not when everything is going well!

Adopting from one of our recommended rescues (if you can get to one) with a mandatory quarantine/vet care and pregnancy watch is by far the best way of neatly avoiding all the pitfalls that await the unwary - including the risk of mis-sexed piggies or buying already pregnant sows or fall-outs in mismatched teenage boars.
You can find links to recommended vetted good standard rescues in several countries at the bottom of the New Owners guide collection.

You can find lots of useful information via our new owner owners' guide collection, which is designed to help you to as smooth a start and as long a healthy life in good care for your piggies as possible. It is worth reading the information provided!
Getting Started - New Owners' Most Helpful Guides