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Skin problem spreading

LilPiggyLulu

LilPiggyLulu

Junior Guinea Pig
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Shropshire
I'm at such a loss with my piggy Missy Pig :(

She started with dry looking skin and hair loss on her left ear. It makes her ear look white.

Our vet advised Surolan and also has been doing spot-on treatments. The Surolan whilst keeping the skin moist did nothing on improving the skin itself. I used it as advised and kept going with it but even a day without it would cause the skin to look awful and dry again.

It then spread to the other ear (not as bad but causing hair loss) and now its spreading towards the eyes where the skin looks flaky.
It also causes her to scratch the top of her head next to her ear causing it to bleed and hair loss. It flares up like this then will settle a little after keeping it clean and moisturised and then flare up again just as the hair is growing back!

The vet has checked for mites using a special light and couldn't see any and we have tried all sorts of anti-fungal and natural remedies. All seem only to aid in keeping the skin moisturised but not solving the problem.

Missy Pig is a rescue piggy who is approx 3years old. When they found her, she had no fur and so must've gone through a lot of skin treatment before being put up for adoption.

Her husboar has no symptoms and she gets a varied diet. The vet has found no other health problems and is now at a loss.
She wants me to try oral Prednidale and Marbocyl tablets but i am very wary of doing this as i feel it is a bit extreme. Our vet is an exotic vet and has saved the lives of 2 of my previous piggies (even taking one home with her for a week when i had to go away and he was poorly!) So i know she is doing her best (unlike a locum vet who told me to give Missy fresh lemon)
Missy is well in herself otherwise, i just feel so sorry for her scratching and making herself bleed!

Thankyou for reading :) I'd love to hear any suggestions!
 

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Oh your poor piggy that does look sore! Can't offer any advice but want to offer my support and give you a virtual hug as hugs are good and make you feel better! :hug::hug::hug::hug::hug::hug::hug::hug::hug::hug:
 
The best treatment for ringworm/fungal issues is intrafugal ,oral medication.you need to thoroughly clean the cage with F10, is a discifectant that kills the spores.really important good hand hygiene as can transfere to humans and other animals.I'm sorry you are dealing with this.i hope some other members will come along and place a link to the excellent guide on Ringworm.:hug:
 
LilPiggyLulu said:
I'm at such a loss with my piggy Missy Pig :(

She started with dry looking skin and hair loss on her left ear. It makes her ear look white.

Our vet advised Surolan and also has been doing spot-on treatments. The Surolan whilst keeping the skin moist did nothing on improving the skin itself. I used it as advised and kept going with it but even a day without it would cause the skin to look awful and dry again.

It then spread to the other ear (not as bad but causing hair loss) and now its spreading towards the eyes where the skin looks flaky.
It also causes her to scratch the top of her head next to her ear causing it to bleed and hair loss. It flares up like this then will settle a little after keeping it clean and moisturised and then flare up again just as the hair is growing back!

The vet has checked for mites using a special light and couldn't see any and we have tried all sorts of anti-fungal and natural remedies. All seem only to aid in keeping the skin moisturised but not solving the problem.

Missy Pig is a rescue piggy who is approx 3years old. When they found her, she had no fur and so must've gone through a lot of skin treatment before being put up for adoption.

Her husboar has no symptoms and she gets a varied diet. The vet has found no other health problems and is now at a loss.
She wants me to try oral Prednidale and Marbocyl tablets but i am very wary of doing this as i feel it is a bit extreme. Our vet is an exotic vet and has saved the lives of 2 of my previous piggies (even taking one home with her for a week when i had to go away and he was poorly!) So i know she is doing her best (unlike a locum vet who told me to give Missy fresh lemon)
Missy is well in herself otherwise, i just feel so sorry for her scratching and making herself bleed!

Thankyou for reading :) I'd love to hear any suggestions!
Click to expand...

It looks like a classic fungal infection to me! :(

I would strongly recommend to speak to your vet about a course of itrafungol as the case is now advanced. It is a systemic oral cat medication which has been used successfully by piggy savvy and exotics vets for a number of years now. It is prescription only, so you need to go via your vet.
Itrafungol (the corresponding new US brand is called ketoconazole) is the most efficient and effective fungal treatment currently available; it is well tolerated by piggies, by the way, and will hopefully officially licensed for them in a few years considering that ringworm especially in young shop piggies is such a massive issue at the moment!
Surolan and topical creaming is very much the old-fashioned way of treating (have done it myself about 8 years ago); thankfully there are now more effective products and less stressful ways of treatment around!

It can do the trick even where the normal shampoos can't because of an underlying health problem which is impacting on the immune system. I (and my treating vet) used it 6 years ago for the first time when topical dips and shampoos failed to get on top of Ceri's ringworm. She was found to have a very irregular heartbeat at the time. Within a week of being on itrafungol she was symptom-free although I did the full course to make sure that the ringworm would not return. It may be worth having her checked out by a piggy savvy vet to see whether she has got underlying problems.
Please always contact a vet promptly if there is no noticeable improvement or a continuing deterioration in any treatment within a week.

Please also make sure that you adhere to our hygiene tips in order to prevent your piggy from spreading and picking up their own spores. You will need to give at least one more thorough surolan bath to your piggy and any companions at the end of the treatment to wash out any remaining fungal spores that could be sitting in the coat(s) and that could be causing a fresh outbreak later on.

Good hygiene and a vet strength disinfectant like F10 are essential for getting on top of it and preventing a return/spread.
Ringworm: Hygiene And Pictures
 
Sorry your piggy has fungal, I found surolan next to useless as well with my Bramble. What I did was remove all wooden items from the cage and bin them, then cleaned everything with f10, I got the f10 wipes too which made cleaning the bars of the cage easier. Then after a course of oral antifungals it finally cleared up!
 
You have already received some excellent and very practical advice, but I wanted to add a word of warning.
You said your vet is very piggy savvy, but the fact they mentioned using Prednidale is worrying.
This is a steroid and steroids should never be used for guinea pigs.
The Problems With Steroids And Why They Shouldn't Be Used.

I hope you can come up with a treatment plan and your piggy feels better soon.
 
I second the Itrafungol recommendation. It treats the whole pig too and not just the infected area so should help prevent it recurring.
 
Thankyou all for the great advice and healing vibes! I've refrained from giving the steroids and antibiotics and have a vet appointment booked where i shall request a course of Intrafungal - it definitely sounds like the way forward :)

The spot-on seems to calm it down somewhat along with a natural healing balm i use but it definitely does need treating systematically.

I use barrier V1 disinfectant so fingers crossed that will help too

Fingers and paws crossed there is light at the end of the tunnel and she can return to being a pretty piggy! x
 
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