paulag
Teenage Guinea Pig
Last spring as some of you may remember I gave a home to two elderly girls Stella and Guiness. When I got them they were a bit grubby, with terrible claws and Guiness was a little bit scabby but had full fur on her belly. They were bathed and treated for mites.
I seem to have been trying to sort out Guiness ever since. She gets sore skin on her belly and chews out all her belly fur and under her legs if left. She's been treated for mites with spot on several time and by two injections as well. But the only thing that works is bathing her with gorgeous guineas neem and manuka shampoo weekly.
Last vets visit to have her retreated I saw the very experienced vet and he said that he thought it was an allergy rather than mites. He gave her a steroid injection and said if it cleared for two weeks and came back that was it. This is what happened.
I assumed it was her bedding - all my animals are on chopped cardboard which seems very unlikely to cause a problem and I have used for a long time as its the only bedding I am not allergic to. We tried shavings initially as despite never using them this was what she was on before. Currently they are on megazorb with no luck. I'm loathe to use fleece as they both tend to pee and sit in it and so it gets very soggy, very quickly.
Poor old Guiness hates being bathed and she's pushing 6 now so we both hate it - I'm a bit worried that she may catch a chill in the winter.
Anyone else had this problem - any suggestions? Gonna take her back to the vets later this week.
Paula
P.S Stella is still going strong despite her tumour (I suspect it's benign after all this time as its growing very slowly) and mild heart failure. The furusmide and occasional course of baytril keep her lungs clear and she can eat for England.
I seem to have been trying to sort out Guiness ever since. She gets sore skin on her belly and chews out all her belly fur and under her legs if left. She's been treated for mites with spot on several time and by two injections as well. But the only thing that works is bathing her with gorgeous guineas neem and manuka shampoo weekly.
Last vets visit to have her retreated I saw the very experienced vet and he said that he thought it was an allergy rather than mites. He gave her a steroid injection and said if it cleared for two weeks and came back that was it. This is what happened.
I assumed it was her bedding - all my animals are on chopped cardboard which seems very unlikely to cause a problem and I have used for a long time as its the only bedding I am not allergic to. We tried shavings initially as despite never using them this was what she was on before. Currently they are on megazorb with no luck. I'm loathe to use fleece as they both tend to pee and sit in it and so it gets very soggy, very quickly.
Poor old Guiness hates being bathed and she's pushing 6 now so we both hate it - I'm a bit worried that she may catch a chill in the winter.
Anyone else had this problem - any suggestions? Gonna take her back to the vets later this week.
Paula
P.S Stella is still going strong despite her tumour (I suspect it's benign after all this time as its growing very slowly) and mild heart failure. The furusmide and occasional course of baytril keep her lungs clear and she can eat for England.
