I have rescued two male guinea pigs 10 weeks old. As soon as I held them I noticed that one had crusty skin around his eye and a scab at the base of his ear. Throughout his fur he has numerous scabs and bald patches. He is also itchy. His new friend is also itchy but no obvious lesions.
(Disclaimer - I used to be a vet but haven't practiced for a few years and as I'm not practising I cant write my own prescriptions. I've kept guinea pigs as pets but when I was practising as a vet I didn't treat many of them).
I know that the skin issue is likely to be either ringworm or mites and ideally I need a skin scrape to check for mites and a ringworm culture.
For now I've treated both guinea pigs with Xeno spot on to cover mites, and I've bought Imaverol to dip them, but I'm curious to know whether this presentation is likely to be ringworm or mites. I'm thinking ringworm as he has a lesion around the eye and I also noticed scabs right in the corner of his mouth and near nostrils so seems a more typical presentation. To be honest it wouldn't surprise me if it was both hence why I'm covering both bases. I think Itrafungol would be a better option given the proximity to his eye. Here's a photo - thoughts? (I've now bought disposable gloves and F10!). I'll head to a specialist if there is no improvement fairly quickly. Poor chap.
(Disclaimer - I used to be a vet but haven't practiced for a few years and as I'm not practising I cant write my own prescriptions. I've kept guinea pigs as pets but when I was practising as a vet I didn't treat many of them).
I know that the skin issue is likely to be either ringworm or mites and ideally I need a skin scrape to check for mites and a ringworm culture.
For now I've treated both guinea pigs with Xeno spot on to cover mites, and I've bought Imaverol to dip them, but I'm curious to know whether this presentation is likely to be ringworm or mites. I'm thinking ringworm as he has a lesion around the eye and I also noticed scabs right in the corner of his mouth and near nostrils so seems a more typical presentation. To be honest it wouldn't surprise me if it was both hence why I'm covering both bases. I think Itrafungol would be a better option given the proximity to his eye. Here's a photo - thoughts? (I've now bought disposable gloves and F10!). I'll head to a specialist if there is no improvement fairly quickly. Poor chap.
Please have your piggy checked over by a vet. I know you were/are a vet but It’s not a good idea to home treat. You don’t know what’s wrong and over the counter meds aren’t the correct strength anyway. I don’t know what it could be but I wouldn’t wait for it to get worse before you take him in.