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Hi all, I'm a lurker on the forum - I don't actually have piggies myself. I am asking for help on behalf of my mum as her computer is broken at the moment.
She has a guinea pig called Evie who was separated from her friend Honey because of what was thought to be a wound from her on her back. Honey is the more dominant pig and occasionally will chase Evie round the cage. Both pigs belong to my brother but my mum has taken Evie to separate them as he doesn't have the room.
Since they have been separated my mum has noticed that Evie has something wrong with her skin - it's flaky and when you brush her clumps of hair come out with a bit of dead skin holding the fur together. She has been bathed with mite shampoo today and the flakiness seems to have improved but obviously it's early days and they don't want it coming back.
The wound on her back is right in the middle of her back at the top of her body, about the size of a 20p piece, with smaller scabs around it. Evie keeps scratching at it and my mum wondered if it might be irritation because of the flaky skin rather than a fight. They have tried putting a sock on her with holes for her front feet but she's very good at taking it off, does anyone have a suggestion to stop her picking at it?
They would also like to know how often you can bath a guinea pig without stressing them out - apparently Evie seemed to enjoy her bath and wasn't fazed by it. I only have a rabbit and they hate baths so I really have no idea!
So, to summarise;
What could the flakiness/fur clumps be?
Could the scabs be from irritation or is it likely to be fighting?
How can we stop her picking at said scabs?
And how often can you bath a guinea pig?
Thank you for reading my essay, :red any help would be much appreciated
She has a guinea pig called Evie who was separated from her friend Honey because of what was thought to be a wound from her on her back. Honey is the more dominant pig and occasionally will chase Evie round the cage. Both pigs belong to my brother but my mum has taken Evie to separate them as he doesn't have the room.
Since they have been separated my mum has noticed that Evie has something wrong with her skin - it's flaky and when you brush her clumps of hair come out with a bit of dead skin holding the fur together. She has been bathed with mite shampoo today and the flakiness seems to have improved but obviously it's early days and they don't want it coming back.
The wound on her back is right in the middle of her back at the top of her body, about the size of a 20p piece, with smaller scabs around it. Evie keeps scratching at it and my mum wondered if it might be irritation because of the flaky skin rather than a fight. They have tried putting a sock on her with holes for her front feet but she's very good at taking it off, does anyone have a suggestion to stop her picking at it?
They would also like to know how often you can bath a guinea pig without stressing them out - apparently Evie seemed to enjoy her bath and wasn't fazed by it. I only have a rabbit and they hate baths so I really have no idea!
So, to summarise;
What could the flakiness/fur clumps be?
Could the scabs be from irritation or is it likely to be fighting?
How can we stop her picking at said scabs?
And how often can you bath a guinea pig?
Thank you for reading my essay, :red any help would be much appreciated