Skin Issue, Can Anyone Help Identify?

[Dilly's Piggies]

I'm seeing lots of what looks to be skin flakes sitting in my piggies coat, when I gently rub the skin more and more comes off, the coat is slowly thinning all over with hair easily coming out with multiple hairs stuck together by a flake of skin. They are itchy/uncomfortable, the main affected area is the rump but it's pretty much everywhere and they itch the most on their stomach/legs. Small bald patches seem to be appearing but the skin looks healthy, all 11 of my pigs have this, some worse than others, on a black piggy they appear white and on a white piggy they appear dark, nothing is moving or alive, at least to the naked eye.

They saw a vet 6 months ago, skin scraping showed no yeast/fungal, they have almost constantly been on topical ivermectin from my vet from then to now and as you can see there is no improvement at all. Are these just hay mites or is something else at play too? I was hoping someone with more experience could help...

Both these pictures are the same piggy, her dark fur makes these easier to see so I've used her for the photos, I hope they are clear enough!

 

[sport_billy]

@helen105281 @Jaycey @Pound Shilling & Pig @Adelle @Elwickcavies @Wiebke @Abi_nurse @furryfriends (TEAS)

 

[Wiebke]

I am very sorry for your experience. it gets very difficult when you get past the fungal/mites angle. It may be just down to dry skin.

 

[Adelle]

Crunchies coat was like this (flakes where brown because she has darker skin) and she was casting like mad without actually looking like she'd lost hair. She wasn't itchy and there was no redness or sores. Was only until she developed a white mark on her ear I knew it was likely a mild fungal issue. Gave her a few malaseb baths and it fixed the problem.

It could also just be dry skin in which case you should try a moisturising and soothing shampoo. I'm sure gorgeous guinea do something for scurfy skin.

It may be trial and error to find what works but just remember to not too more than one thing at once and see each avenue out fully to give it a fair chance. Her skin doesn't look inflamed or sore and her hair is still lovely and thick so you don't need to worry about the time factor granted nothing changes.

Skin issues really aren't my forte I'm afraid.. iv had 1 case of ringworm in a critically ill boar and a very mild case of fungal in 2 sows in 7 years.. I'm lucky iv not had much experience I guess!

 

[sport_billy]

Crunchies coat was like this (flakes where brown because she has darker skin) and she was casting like mad without actually looking like she'd lost hair. She wasn't itchy and there was no redness or sores. Was only until she developed a white mark on her ear I knew it was likely a mild fungal issue. Gave her a few malaseb baths and it fixed the problem.

It could also just be dry skin in which case you should try a moisturising and soothing shampoo. I'm sure gorgeous guinea do something for scurfy skin.

It may be trial and error to find what works but just remember to not too more than one thing at once and see each avenue out fully to give it a fair chance. Her skin doesn't look inflamed or sore and her hair is still lovely and thick so you don't need to worry about the time factor granted nothing changes.

Skin issues really aren't my forte I'm afraid.. iv had 1 case of ringworm in a critically ill boar and a very mild case of fungal in 2 sows in 7 years.. I'm lucky iv not had much experience I guess!

Great advice matey x

 

[Pound Shilling & Pig]

Guinea pigs skin can be prone to many things. mange mites, which burrow in the skin and fungal issues are the usual suspects but as you say fungal has been ruled out and they have been treated with ivomectin. They can get microbial skin infections, caused by bacteria, for which malaseb baths would be the best treatment. Also they can get mites that live in the fur, which would not necessarily be killed by ivomectin. Again shampooing would be the best solution here.

The piggy in the photo looks to be long haired, are all your pigs long haired? Long haired piggies can be more prone to skin problems as their hairdos make it difficult for them to groom properly.

I would suggest giving them some malaseb baths. malaseb has to be prescribed by a vet.

 

[Dilly's Piggies]

Crunchies coat was like this (flakes where brown because she has darker skin) and she was casting like mad without actually looking like she'd lost hair. She wasn't itchy and there was no redness or sores. Was only until she developed a white mark on her ear I knew it was likely a mild fungal issue. Gave her a few malaseb baths and it fixed the problem.

It could also just be dry skin in which case you should try a moisturising and soothing shampoo. I'm sure gorgeous guinea do something for scurfy skin.

It may be trial and error to find what works but just remember to not too more than one thing at once and see each avenue out fully to give it a fair chance. Her skin doesn't look inflamed or sore and her hair is still lovely and thick so you don't need to worry about the time factor granted nothing changes.

Skin issues really aren't my forte I'm afraid.. iv had 1 case of ringworm in a critically ill boar and a very mild case of fungal in 2 sows in 7 years.. I'm lucky iv not had much experience I guess!

I'm currently trying lice n easy at the moment for hay mites as I hear in large numbers they can cause issues like this, I'm having great results with it getting all of this out of their coat but it is leaving their skin a little more dry as expected. I also have the coco neem melt and manuka and neem which I've used before, sadly with little improvement but it sure is worth another try. I just wanted to tackle hay mites first and then afterwards use the manuka shampoo as the lice n easy can dry the skin further if this is only a dry skin issue. It's an enormous task bathing 11 pigs every week!

 

[Dilly's Piggies]

Guinea pigs skin can be prone to many things. mange mites, which burrow in the skin and fungal issues are the usual suspects but as you say fungal has been ruled out and they have been treated with ivomectin. They can get microbial skin infections, caused by bacteria, for which malaseb baths would be the best treatment. Also they can get mites that live in the fur, which would not necessarily be killed by ivomectin. Again shampooing would be the best solution here.

The piggy in the photo looks to be long haired, are all your pigs long haired? Long haired piggies can be more prone to skin problems as their hairdos make it difficult for them to groom properly.

I would suggest giving them some malaseb baths. malaseb has to be prescribed by a vet.

I have 4 shelties, 1 lunkarya and 6 short coats, the worst affected are this girl pictured who is a sheltie and another who is a short hair and in similar condition. The only fungal targeted treatment they've had is one bath in nizoral which actually did seem to help so despite the skin tests saying no fungal I'm still suspicious that it is since nothing else has helped so far. I see that Malaseb is both anti bacterial and anti fungal, that sounds perfect to try! I'll give my vet a call and see if they can get some for me

 

[rome_italy]

I don't know what it is, but I want to tell you another similar story of a friend of mine with a cat. The cat had the same identical white skin flakes I see on your pics and all the vets couldn't find the cause even when the skin started losing hair because the cat started scratching so heavily. Then one vet suggested my friend to stop all the treatments, to cut off all the industrial food, feeding the cat with only organic meat for humans. After only one week the skin looked normal again and now the cat is fed with another better food for cats, plus some supplements. This happened last October-December. On January this new vet changed the life of the cat. You can see a pic of the poor cat below.
With our pets things are easier because we can cut off the only industrial product they have, that is pellets, and look at the differences. Piggies can go on eating only vegs, hay and grass... if you like, you can add some vit C supplement in drops (not the one for piggies, though, but the one for human newborns). If you see any improvement then you can search a better pellet or you can find a proper solution.
During this experiment feed the piggie with a huge amount of grass which is organic and buy only organic vegs.
I am sure there is something linked with the food... some intollerance or something like that...
This was the cat in the worst period

 

[Danielle Smith]

I had the exact same issue with my Fudge; the only thing that helped was Malaseb baths (the vet also shaved her right down and this made it a lot easier to wash her and also put Kwench lotion on some of the itchier bits). One bath a week for four weeks; two baths if things are really bad.

 

[Danielle Smith]

I'm pretty convinced it was fungal, even though my vet didn't think so -- the skin was a little flushed, warm, and had the typical white scurfy cast.