Ringworm

[Janey]

Oh my! I took Dori to the vets yesterday as I suspected the tiny patch at the corner of her eye wasn’t just crud after I tried to clean it off without success. In my 15 or so years of piggy ownership, I’ve never experienced this at all and now I’m in a bit of a panic. I’ve read through the guide but my head is still spinning . I don’t even know how this happened.

The vet has prescribed some oral meds which hubby is collecting now. She said I’ll need to give one dose daily for 21 days, eeek. Think it’s 2.5ml daily.

My 2 piggies share a Plaza 160 cage at night and a 120 cm square floor pen during the day. I’m going to deep clean the cage today with F10 spray and put clean fleeces in. They’ll have to go in the pen whilst that’s done on yesterday’s fleece (that was clean but will now have spores on). I will have to bath both in head and shoulders before going back to their cage tonight, yes? Will soaking the logs in the cage with F10 be ok or do I need to get different F10 to make up a bucket of solution to soak them in - or just do without logs? Sorry head is in overdrive

 

[Roselina]

Hello I’m so sorry about lovely Dori

Illness, Emergencies, Vets & Home care Guides

In sub section 4 about care there is all the info you need about Ringworm
It is very contagious and you or members of your family could get it.
Good luck @Janey

 

[Wiebke]

Oh my! I took Dori to the vets yesterday as I suspected the tiny patch at the corner of her eye wasn’t just crud after I tried to clean it off without success. In my 15 or so years of piggy ownership, I’ve never experienced this at all and now I’m in a bit of a panic. I’ve read through the guide but my head is still spinning . I don’t even know how this happened.

The vet has prescribed some oral meds which hubby is collecting now. She said I’ll need to give one dose daily for 21 days, eeek. Think it’s 2.5ml daily.

My 2 piggies share a Plaza 160 cage at night and a 120 cm square floor pen during the day. I’m going to deep clean the cage today with F10 spray and put clean fleeces in. They’ll have to go in the pen whilst that’s done on yesterday’s fleece (that was clean but will now have spores on). I will have to bath both in head and shoulders before going back to their cage tonight, yes? Will soaking the logs in the cage with F10 be ok or do I need to get different F10 to make up a bucket of solution to soak them in - or just do without logs? Sorry head is in overdrive

Hi

I would recommend to also give the oral antifungal (what brand, please?) to the companion for a week in order to prevent them from coming down with ringworm as well; at least 3-4 days. It's usually done the trick for me whenever I had to put a bonded couple with only piggy acutely affected through quarantine - of course a bath for all piggies.

You use the same top strength concentration disinfectant F10 for any hard furniture and cage elements. If you have a spray instead of a concentrate, you can either decide to spray tunnels thoroughly including every little nook and cranny or to just get rid of them and buy new.

Please give your piggies a bath now and then again at the end of treatment. This removes any ringworm spores from their coats that could cause a new outbreak. This is the blind spot with oral treatment. My own ringworm outbreaks were caused by that because of previous exposure or having been cured of ringworm but not been given that important bath at the end of treatment.

Ringworm can cause an outbreak up to ca. 2 years or even longer later if just one live spore is still sitting in the coat. It can be carried in by pets (dogs, cats etc.) or be carried in with supplied or even blown in by accident. All it needs is just one live ringworm spore...

All you can do is to please follow the advice in our guide and ask any questions for clarification if and whenever needed. We are here to help you prevent another outbreak and keep it from going any further. Hygiene is essentially the big battle but also where you win it.

Here is our very detailed Ringworm Guide link, into which all our experiences have gone. It systematically cuts off all possible transmission angles and routes which we have usually found the hard way and which vets usually don't take into consideration since they are about healing and not about preventing further outbreaks. The guide really does work.
Ringworm: Hygiene, Care And Pictures

 

[Janey]

Hi

I would recommend to also give the oral antifungal (what brand, please?) to the companion for a week in order to prevent them to come down with ringworm as well. It's usually done the trick for me whenever I had to put a couple through quarantine.

You use the same top strength concentration disinfectant F10 for any hard furniture and cage elements. If you have a spray instead of a concentrate, you can either decide to spray tunnels thoroughly including every little nook and cranny or to just get rid of them and buy new.

Please give your piggies a bath now and then again at the end of treatment. This removes any ringworm spores from their coats that could cause a new outbreak. This is the blind spot with oral treatment. My own ringworm outbreaks were caused by that because of previous exposure or having been cured of ringworm but not been given that important bath at the end of treatment.

Ringworm can cause an outbreak up to ca. 2 years or even longer later if just one live spore is still sitting in the coat. It can be carried in by pets (dogs, cats etc.) or be carried in with supplied or even blown in by accident. All it needs is just one live ringworm spore...

All you can do is to please follow the advice in our guide and ask any questions for clarification if and whenever needed. We are here to help you prevent another outbreak and keep it from going any further. Hygiene is essentially the big battle but also where you win it.

Here is our very detailed Ringworm Guide link, into which all our experiences have gone. It systematically cuts off all possible transmission angles and routes which we have usually found the hard way and which vets usually don't take into consideration since they are about healing and not about preventing further outbreaks. The guide really does work.
Ringworm: Hygiene, Care And Pictures

Thank you @Wiebke. It’s Itrafungal 10mg/ml at 2.4ml once daily. I’ve already sprayed the cage logs with F10 that I had already but will need to get more as I need it for the cage, logs in the pen and the pen itself. How often should I change the fleeces and use the F10 on everything please? I’m planning to bath them both today - Dori has a very small patch at one corner of one eye and a larger patch on one ear. I’m a bit unsure about putting the shampoo there. Is that where I just use the suds as the guide says? Do I wipe off with clean water/cloth as I can’t pour water there? Sorry for the novice questions.

 

[Claire W]

I’m afraid I have no advice as I’ve never dealt with Ringworm but I hope Dori and her friend recover well. It sounds like you’ve caught it super early though x

 

[Wiebke]

Thank you @Wiebke. It’s Itrafungal 10mg/ml at 2.4ml once daily. I’ve already sprayed the cage logs with F10 that I had already but will need to get more as I need it for the cage, logs in the pen and the pen itself. How often should I change the fleeces and use the F10 on everything please? I’m planning to bath them both today - Dori has a very small patch at one corner of one eye and a larger patch on one ear. I’m a bit unsure about putting the shampoo there. Is that where I just use the suds as the guide says? Do I wipe off with clean water/cloth as I can’t pour water there? Sorry for the novice questions.

You change the bedding as normal but wash at 60 C (may shrink liners).

Personally, I still have a bag with cheap 'ringworm' baby blanket fleeces from Primark and underlay cheap beach towel in the attic that I only use when dealing with a fungal outbreak so I only have to hot wash the regular nice bedding once. I also keep used old second hand plastic huts for the same purpose and in the same 'ringworm' bag - easy to clean and put away, including a 'ringworm' log tunnel that I only used for ringworm outbreaks.

Ideally you deep clean and make up the cage at the same time so the bathed come into a spore-free environment. You hot wash the bedding and throw away any underlay that is not permanent.

Then you repeat the whole cage deep clean, hot wash and piggy bath once the acute outbreak is over and there is no more white crusty exudate forming and any crusts have all come off. This means that you can start afresh in a spore-free environment with ringworm-free piggies even if the acute outbreak is over before the three weeks are over. But please finish the full course of itrafungol (UK product).

Since you have caught it very early on, the acute outbreak should be over within a week, so you can if needed just poo patrol the cage for the coming week as it is but then throw the kitchen sink at it again once it is over. The most crucial thing is not to carry any spores across. I would not put any log tunnels back during an acute outbreak.

 

[Janey]

You change the bedding as normal but wash at 60 C (may shrink liners).

Personally, I still have a bag with cheap 'ringworm' baby blanket fleeces from Primark and underlay cheap beach towel in the attic that I only use when dealing with a fungal outbreak so I only have to hot wash the regular nice bedding once. I also keep used old second hand plastic huts for the same purpose and in the same 'ringworm' bag - easy to clean and put away, including a 'ringworm' log tunnel that I only used for ringworm outbreaks.

Ideally you deep clean and make up the cage at the same time so the bathed come into a spore-free environment. You hot wash the bedding and throw away any underlay that is not permanent.

Then you repeat the whole cage deep clean, hot wash and piggy bath once the acute outbreak is over and there is no more white crusty exudate forming and any crusts have all come off. This means that you can start afresh in a spore-free environment with ringworm-free piggies even if the acute outbreak is over before the three weeks are over. But please finish the full course of itrafungol (UK product).

Since you have caught it very early on, the acute outbreak should be over within a week, so you can if needed just poo patrol the cage for the coming week as it is but then throw the kitchen sink at it again once it is over. The most crucial thing is not to carry any spores across. I would not put any log tunnels back during an acute outbreak.

Thank you. The cage deep clean is done and the bedding washed at 60 degrees. Going to bin all the logs as it’s not worth the risk of having any spores left! I’ve yet to bath the piggies. Sorry to ask again but how do you recommend using the head and shoulders shampoo around eyes and ears? Do I need to rinse afterwards? Guessing so but would appreciate clarification! I think the guide means using suds then carefully wiping them away?

 

[Wiebke]

Thank you. The cage deep clean is done and the bedding washed at 60 degrees. Going to bin all the logs as it’s not worth the risk of having any spores left! I’ve yet to bath the piggies. Sorry to ask again but how do you recommend using the head and shoulders shampoo around eyes and ears? Do I need to rinse afterwards? Guessing so but would appreciate clarification! I think the guide means using suds then carefully wiping them away?

Just gently dab just the suds with a cutton bud so close to the eye because it can otherwise swell up very badly for a little while.

 

[Janey]

Just gently dab just the suds with a cutton bud so close to the eye because it can otherwise swell up very badly for a little while.

Ok, thank you

 

[Janey]

Could anyone advise of different ways to get the Itrafungol into a very stubborn and wriggly piggy please? Dori’s getting very stressed out each day - hubby is having to hold her whilst I give her the meds. Out of desperation today, I mashed up some pellets, and put the Itrafungol in it to try and mask the taste. However, I’m just not sure whether using hot water to mash the pellets up will affect the medicine itself. She’s on 2.4ml once daily, so quite a large volume to get down her. Any ideas much appreciated.

 

[Wiebke]

Could anyone advise of different ways to get the Itrafungol into a very stubborn and wriggly piggy please? Dori’s getting very stressed out each day - hubby is having to hold her whilst I give her the meds. Out of desperation today, I mashed up some pellets, and put the Itrafungol in it to try and mask the taste. However, I’m just not sure whether using hot water to mash the pellets up will affect the medicine itself. She’s on 2.4ml once daily, so quite a large volume to get down her. Any ideas much appreciated.

Hi

Guinea pigs have twice the number of tastebuds and even finer sense of smell compared to
humans so flavour masking usually doesn't work with guinea pigs. You would have to mix the medication into the cooled pellets, which is not very effective.

Generally, it is better to hold an unwilling piggy and follow it up with neutralising water and then a favourite treat (the water is there to prevent the treat taking on the taste of the loathed medication).

This guide here has videos and pictures on how to hold uncooperative piggies in a special chapter dedicated to this problem. All About Syringe Feeding and Medicating Guinea Pigs with Videos and Pictures

 

[Janey]

Thanks Wiebke. It never ceases to amaze me how strong they can be in these situations!

 

[Wiebke]

Thanks Wiebke. It never ceases to amaze me how strong they can be in these situations!

When you are fighting for your life, you can really dig deep. Keep in mind that they are prey animals who have a whole repertoire of tricks and individual quirks for trying to escape.

 

[Janey]

When you are fighting for your life, you can really dig deep. Keep in mind that they are prey animals who have a whole repertoire of tricks and individual quirks for trying to escape.

Indeed! I usually find controlling her head with one hand as described in the link you just posted, works quite well, but she must really hate this medicine, as she’s throwing the kitchen sink at us every day (not just head butting, but corkscrewing too). Will give the other option a try tomorrow and see if that’s more acceptable for her. Thinking I saw some fresh exudate on her good ear today though