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Scabbing On Face

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Jess NZ

Jess NZ

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I had 2 guinea pigs dropped off to me just now. Below is a picture of Honey's face. There is scabbing under her eye, on the tip of her nose, cheek and ear. Only on her left side and I can't see it anywhere else. I am still searching throughly for anything else. Her companion has no signs of anything wrong with her at all.

We are going to the vet sometime this weekend to pick up ivomectin for mange treatments and if necessary I will take her in for a checkup too if it's something to be even slightly worried about.

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it could also be ringworm aswel.
what is she bedded on? as my lot used to be on woodchips until roxy developed a reaction which caused her to go bald around eyes and tummy and now theyre all on fleece
 
It looks like ringworm, she'll need to see the vet for a definate diagnosis.

You can keep her with her companion as shes already been exposed but PLEASE ensure you keep her away from all your other pigs and babies, as i know you have alot of them at the moment. Strict hygiene protocols will need to be put in place to prevent this spreading throughout them all. With having so many, you really dont want it passing to anyone else.

All the best x
 
Jess NZ said:
I had 2 guinea pigs dropped off to me just now. Below is a picture of Honey's face. There is scabbing under her eye, on the tip of her nose, cheek and ear. Only on her left side and I can't see it anywhere else. I am still searching throughly for anything else. Her companion has no signs of anything wrong with her at all.

We are going to the vet sometime this weekend to pick up ivomectin for mange treatments and if necessary I will take her in for a checkup too if it's something to be even slightly worried about.

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It looks very much like fungal, potentially ringworm. You may find the pictures and tips in our ringworm guide here helpful. Please be aware that you will need to treat both piggies; the time between the infection and the actual outbreak is 10-14 days.
Keep in mind that ringworm is the one most transmittable issue that can affect all mammals, including humans and other pets, so you need to be very careful with your hygiene.
Ringworm: Hygiene And Pictures
 
Thank you guys! I'll take her to the vet in that case. I've never had an outbreak of ringworm, only mange mites.

I think they had wood shavings and hay as bedding. Not entirely sure. My guinea pigs live outside since New Zealand doesn't get as cold as other places around the world. I bed mine on straw and hay and sometimes wood shavings.

I'll take a look at the guides and I'm not sure when we will be going to the vet but I did tell dad we needed to go this weekend because we've run out of ivomectin and we've caught a bit of mange again. Especially with my next 3 additions coming in rather heavily infected.

I'll keep you updated on what happens and hopefully everything turns out ok.
 
Another little question, you said the time between infection and outbreak is 10-14 days. The previous owner said she only noticed it over the last couple days. She has been living close in a cage by the herd, would the herd have been infected? I was told it's been about 3-4 days since it started so the spores would not have been sent out yet? If I understand that correctly. Obviously if I have enough money to get enough treatment I will treat everyone in the herd just in case but in case I can't, they could be ok? I have moved the 2 to the other side of the yard from all the rest. All the others in different cages around the yard haven't had any close contact with them at all.
 
We'll be off to the vets tomorrow to get a check up on them.

Until then I have rubbed in some diacotamnous earth into the infected areas, being careful of the eye, as I have read that that kills fungal spores.
 
Ringworm is very contagious (including to humans), so you need to be very careful with your own hygiene and let the previous owner know too. Get a firm diagnosis of Ringworm first, but other types of fungal infection can spread betwenn piggies quite easily.
 
I've told the previous owner and she's willing to pay for it all, which is really nice since I don't quite have the funds at the moment for it.

We're off to the vets after school for a proper diagnosis though the diacotamnous earth is doing amazing at the moment! I rubbed some into her scabs last night and this morning most of them had flaked off.
 
We've just gotten home from the vets. Dave, the vet, shined a UV light on her but nothing flouresed - did I spell that correctly? He said that not all species of ringworm flouresed though and he offered to do a skin scraping to be sure on what it is but it cost $130 which we definitely did not have. He gave us some cut up pills which we feed once a day for a month. Golly I'm going to be busy! I think Dave said that the pills would fight the fungi and help the hair and skin to grow back. I told him about the earth I was using and he said that if it worked then to continue using that as well.
 
Just gave her one of the tablet chunks. Dave advised adding it into some mashed up pellets but I decided to first just attempt giving it to her. She spat it out twice before she finally swallowed. It was quite easy really thankfully. I also rubbed some more diacotamnous earth into the scabs to help too.

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Not heard of them before, but it is obviously being used to fight ringworm in cats.

Please read our guide re. ringworm care and use disposible gloves whenever handling her in order to avoid picking it up. Ringworm is the most infectious thing you can catch from your guinea pigs and transmit to any other mammal.
 
The vets in our town only really know about cats and dogs and very little about Guinea pigs so that would explain it.

I've read the guides and I know how to handle it. I only handle her when treating her and just open the cage to give her her food otherwise. Disinfecting the cage will be a mission but I'll look into that once Honey has been treated.
 
Looks like it is Griseofulvin which I am sure I have seen as being ok in one of my piggy books. I think vets in the UK don't tend to use it anymore now Itrafungol is available which is why we are not that familiar with it.
 
Day 3 of treatment.

She's doing really well.

Her nose looks horrible in the picture but I think it looks like that because we're making progress. It was grey and scabby but now it's red and less scabby so I think that means the scabs and fungi are falling off which is a good sign I believe.

Hair is beginning to grow back in under the eye I think unless that's just hair that didn't fall out. It's still a bit scabby but with diacotamnous earth and the medicine it should be all good soon.

The small scab on her ear has completely gone but I'll continue to put the earth on it just to be sure.

She doesn't appear to be eating much but I'm pretty sure that's just me. She's a little pig and I think I feed her too much! She gets a handful of hay probably 2 times her size a day so she probably it's going to eat that much. She happily consumes the tablet and a chunk of apple I just gave her so I'm pretty sure it's nothing to worry about.

Tomorrow I'll be away for a week but dad will give her a piece of tablet each day.

image.webp
 
Jess NZ said:
Day 3 of treatment.

She's doing really well.

Her nose looks horrible in the picture but I think it looks like that because we're making progress. It was grey and scabby but now it's red and less scabby so I think that means the scabs and fungi are falling off which is a good sign I believe.

Hair is beginning to grow back in under the eye I think unless that's just hair that didn't fall out. It's still a bit scabby but with diacotamnous earth and the medicine it should be all good soon.

The small scab on her ear has completely gone but I'll continue to put the earth on it just to be sure.

She doesn't appear to be eating much but I'm pretty sure that's just me. She's a little pig and I think I feed her too much! She gets a handful of hay probably 2 times her size a day so she probably it's going to eat that much. She happily consumes the tablet and a chunk of apple I just gave her so I'm pretty sure it's nothing to worry about.

Tomorrow I'll be away for a week but dad will give her a piece of tablet each day.

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If you have a look at the pictures in our guide, you will find that ringworm has to run its due course, and that things have to get worse before they can get better until the spread has been stopped and all affected hairs have come out, which is in a larger area than initially visible.

PLEASE do NOT handle a ringworm guinea pig with your bare hands and ALWAYS thoroughly wash your hands before and after treating, ideally with a hand gel that has anti-fungal properties! There are literally thousands of tiny spores being shed. You are not only risking an infection yourself, but also a cross infection to any other guinea pigs, mammalian pets and humans you or your clothing come into direct contact with.
 
All is going really well! All scabs are now gone and she's growing her hair back. She just has a bare nose now and we're still treating her as we were told to give a pill a day for a month. Since there are no scabs and spores, would it be safe to put her back with the herd? She can still stay seperate if need be but if she's safe I'd love to introduce her to the herd.

image.webp
 
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