Sad Guinea Pig (lonely And With Ring Worm) - Advice

[charlotte35]

Hello all...

I posted a little while ago about having bought 3 male guinea pigs (Sammy, Blaze and Iggle-Piggle) 2 of which were having horrendous fights. I have separated the two conflicting guinea pigs (Sammy and Blaze) and have them living beside each other in the cages...

I've kept the guinea pig that did the most damage (Sammy) paired with the docile pig (Iggle) as figured as he seems the most dominant, he would be harder to find a good companion.

Utter nightmare..... Blaze and Sammy (who is no where near as bad and appears to be clearing) have got ring worm on the areas they were injured from fighting and I am treating them both every evening with Lamisil.

Blaze HATES (!) me! I have been bathing him and cutting his fur around the ringworm areas as he is a Lunkarya and he is so miserable. I feel awful.

I am reluctant to give them all play time in the house because of the ringworm as I have 3 kids under that age of 7 (one of which has now got ringworm on his face!) and a 20 week kitten that used to love playing with the pigs and I don't want her to catch it!

I feel so sad for Blaze. He doesn't like me and just appears to sit in his little house all the time. I desperately want to get him a friend but recognise I should wait until the ringworm has cleared but have heard it can take weeks/months!

Have messaged 3 rescue centres and have had no responses about adopting!

Am really concerned about getting him a companion and him not getting along but also recognise I can't exactly take him to meet other pigs with ring worm! I have heard ringworm can also be as a result of stress and considering he is on his own and much worse than Sammy I wondered if being alone isn't helping him get better.

Advice welcome:

Should I wait.... its been about 3 weeks of treatment with Lamisil. I have ordered some Beapher anti-ringworm spray which had good reviews on amazon which I was thinking about trying.
I will take him back to the vet again....even though they charged £65 to look at both guinea pigs and told me to go on to buy the Lamisil afterwards and are really encouraging me to have them all neutered (at a whopping £56 per guinea pig!)

If I went down the companion route would I be better off getting him a younger companion or an older companion? I couldn't get him a neutered female as cant move the cages away from each other. Figured a baby would be less competition...but guess he would reach the "teen" years whilst Blaze is still in his adolescent phase....

 

[Wiebke]

Hello all...

I posted a little while ago about having bought 3 male guinea pigs (Sammy, Blaze and Iggle-Piggle) 2 of which were having horrendous fights. I have separated the two conflicting guinea pigs (Sammy and Blaze) and have them living beside each other in the cages...

I've kept the guinea pig that did the most damage (Sammy) paired with the docile pig (Iggle) as figured as he seems the most dominant, he would be harder to find a good companion.

Utter nightmare..... Blaze and Sammy (who is no where near as bad and appears to be clearing) have got ring worm on the areas they were injured from fighting and I am treating them both every evening with Lamisil.

Blaze HATES (!) me! I have been bathing him and cutting his fur around the ringworm areas as he is a Lunkarya and he is so miserable. I feel awful.

I am reluctant to give them all play time in the house because of the ringworm as I have 3 kids under that age of 7 (one of which has now got ringworm on his face!) and a 20 week kitten that used to love playing with the pigs and I don't want her to catch it!

I feel so sad for Blaze. He doesn't like me and just appears to sit in his little house all the time. I desperately want to get him a friend but recognise I should wait until the ringworm has cleared but have heard it can take weeks/months!

Have messaged 3 rescue centres and have had no responses about adopting!

Am really concerned about getting him a companion and him not getting along but also recognise I can't exactly take him to meet other pigs with ring worm! I have heard ringworm can also be as a result of stress and considering he is on his own and much worse than Sammy I wondered if being alone isn't helping him get better.

Advice welcome:

Should I wait.... its been about 3 weeks of treatment with Lamisil. I have ordered some Beapher anti-ringworm spray which had good reviews on amazon which I was thinking about trying.
I will take him back to the vet again....even though they charged £65 to look at both guinea pigs and told me to go on to buy the Lamisil afterwards and are really encouraging me to have them all neutered (at a whopping £56 per guinea pig!)

If I went down the companion route would I be better off getting him a younger companion or an older companion? I couldn't get him a neutered female as cant move the cages away from each other. Figured a baby would be less competition...but guess he would reach the "teen" years whilst Blaze is still in his adolescent phase....

Hi! Please have your piggies seen by a vet and do not treat on spec. The most effective treatment for ringworm is oral itrafungol, which is prescription only from a piggy savvy vet. But you can keep any topical treatment to a minimum (at the end of the acute phase to wash any spores out of the coats in order to prevent re-infection) and spare your piggies and yourself a lot of stress. It also means that your fungal treatment gets into all areas, especially with long-haired piggies with thick coats as the affected area is always much larger and all affected hairs (ringworm sits at the roots) need to come out.
It is most likely that what you have thought is bite wounds has been actually the start of the ringworm where your piggies have bitten/scratched themselves raw.

Please also be aware that the time between infection and outbreak is 10-14 days. If see you see a vet promptly within 2-3 weeks of buying the guinea pigs from a pet shop, you can reclaim any vet cost from the pet shop if you present the diagnosis and bill together with your sales receipt because exposure and infection have happened at the shop, so the whole procedure doesn't cost you what you are wasting on cheap pet shop products instead on good quality treatment.

Please read our tips on ringworm hygiene. We have learned them the hard way; they are not over the top, but they WORK! Ringworm: Hygiene And Pictures
Guinea Pig Vet Locator

Please also disinfect all areas they have been with F10 disinfectant. Do not let them roam until the risk of s[preading ringworm spores has gone and to not get any companions until the ringworm is safely over. Make sure that you either get a companion from a rescue that has a mandatory quarantine/vet care or quarantine any new arrival first to make sure that you do not get ringworm carried in again.
Importance Of Quarantine
Guinea Pig Rescue Centre Locator