Small Skin Issue On Long Haired Female (smudge)

[Rick1138]

Hi folks,

While putting the girls to bed last night while carrying them to the hutch i noticed that smudge out long haired girl had a rough patch on her back\rump. Having a right look at it it looked like some mild dry skin, no hair loss could be noticed but there was some flakes of dull white (her hair is pure white) she wasnt moaning when i touched the area and i couldnt see anything moving, i.e. mites\lice.

I havent noticed her scratching or doing anything unusual, she still popcorns for hay and potters about the run.

I am going to give her a haircut and a bath on sunday, but before desapairing on google about symptoms i wanted to ask if guineas can get dry skin now and then and if i should try some treatments like the stuff from gorgeous guineas etc. OR will this most likely be fungal and need vets visit?

the patch is about the size of a 5 pence piece.

Hopefully she just needs some cream and its not causing her any bother.

Any advice would be welcome

Thanks folks.

 

[gizzy]

hi, Tee Tree creem and vetsect shampoo seemed to sort out my pig with a similar problem,

l lightly bathed in vet sect then just dabed the affected aria with tee tree

 

[Rick1138]

Hi,

Having had a read up a bit more i wonder now if she doesn't have static mites.

The grey 'flakes' in the skin may actually be mites. I normally exclusively give the girls alfalfa king Timothy hay or woodlands Timothy hay, but last week i bought some woodlands medley or something, was a long grass sort of in a ring shape in a bag, basically long grass hay and i wonder if thats where they've come from. but it could just be the first time we have got them.

Only other hay we use is the large bails from the range, meadow something.

We bed the girls on snowflake shavings and do spot cleans daily and a full change each week with the hutch sprayed down with guinea safe cleaning spray that is left to work and wiped away and left to dry thoroughly before repleneshing new shavings.

They run about in the day on a large area of fleece with pee pads underneath so they arent sitting in wet bits for long periods.

We usually bathe them about every 6 weeks to 2 months and use johnsons small animal shampoo, i bathe them by putting a little warm water in a basin (placed in the bath) and i hold them so their front hands can rest on the basin lip and i dip their bums in the waterand soap them with my right hand, this keeps them calm as they can hold themselves on the edge (they quite like it )

Then rinse out with warm water from a jug and towel and warm hairdryer them in stages (they run away and need food bribes) then when they are dry they go in the fresh run.

First time in over 18 months we have had mites or anything so quite annoyed as i always felt we try and keep them nice and clean and cred for, so i hope its something simple and doesnt cause them harm.

Smudge will be indignant, she doesnt like being brushed at the best of times!

 

[sport_billy]

Tagging in @helen105281 for you she is very knowledgeable on skin issues

 

[Rick1138]

Many thanks

I will give all 3 girls an inspection tonight when home and ill grab a pic of smudge to show what she has.

hopefully it is just something that needs a wash in the lice shampoo a few times

 

[gizzy]

hi, as l understand it the mite/louse deposits enzines that desolve the scin , causing the facky bits making it easy for them to eat.
just dabing creem may only kill the ones that it is dabbed on . personaly l would prefare to give a light bath, then dab tee tree on
any ovosly infected arias

 

[Wiebke]

Hi,

Having had a read up a bit more i wonder now if she doesn't have static mites.

The grey 'flakes' in the skin may actually be mites. I normally exclusively give the girls alfalfa king Timothy hay or woodlands Timothy hay, but last week i bought some woodlands medley or something, was a long grass sort of in a ring shape in a bag, basically long grass hay and i wonder if thats where they've come from. but it could just be the first time we have got them.

Only other hay we use is the large bails from the range, meadow something.

We bed the girls on snowflake shavings and do spot cleans daily and a full change each week with the hutch sprayed down with guinea safe cleaning spray that is left to work and wiped away and left to dry thoroughly before repleneshing new shavings.

They run about in the day on a large area of fleece with pee pads underneath so they arent sitting in wet bits for long periods.

We usually bathe them about every 6 weeks to 2 months and use johnsons small animal shampoo, i bathe them by putting a little warm water in a basin (placed in the bath) and i hold them so their front hands can rest on the basin lip and i dip their bums in the waterand soap them with my right hand, this keeps them calm as they can hold themselves on the edge (they quite like it )

Then rinse out with warm water from a jug and towel and warm hairdryer them in stages (they run away and need food bribes) then when they are dry they go in the fresh run.

First time in over 18 months we have had mites or anything so quite annoyed as i always felt we try and keep them nice and clean and cred for, so i hope its something simple and doesnt cause them harm.

Smudge will be indignant, she doesnt like being brushed at the best of times!

Please do NOT home treat on spec and get a proper vet diagnosis. Unlike @gizzy, who has decades of guinea pig exerience, you can make things easily worse rather than better.
Bif flakes of hair can also be caused by fungal (not necessarily ringworm, so lab tests won't like show as they only test for ringworm), so getting an appropriate diagnosis as to whether you are dealing with dry skin, mange mites or a fungal issue is important. The three issues need different treatment.

 

[Rick1138]

But surely a bath with normal guinea pig shampoo couldn't make lice worse, its just to keep her clean, i haven't got any lice shampoo yet.

 

[helen105281]

I agree it is best to get an opinion from the vet so you know what you are dealing with, it could well just be dry skin or it could be hay mites from the hay you bought but the treatment would be different. If fungal is diagnosed I always recommend Imaverol (Enilconazole) dips as they are very gentle but effective. This can also help when you are unsure if the dry skin is fungal or not as it is an emollient. Mange mites can also cause debris on the skin and treatment for that would be with Ivermectin - injections are most effective.

 

[Rick1138]

I had a good look at her now home.

It seems to be 2 patches a little smaller than 5p size, colour is a darker brown colour, the rest of her skin is usual bright pink, the brown spots in the hair dont move at all, and i got one in my fingers and it looked lit skin flakes but a bit more moist, a bit like greasy skin flakes.

her hair is fine, nothing falling out, and its causing her no pain i can tell as she eats fine, runs about and sat quietly on my lap.

I can see if i can get a vets visit tomorrow as they are open till 1pm but they may be full.

Hopefully its something simple and will cause ni ill effects.

 

[AuntyC]

Hope the vet can give you a definitive diagnosis. At the moment it is not troubling Smudge, but these things are best caught and treated early before they start to snowball into a real nuisance!

 

[helen105281]

It could be mild fungal if it is greasy. If you rub the hair the wrong way does it fall nicely back into place or stay slightly upright?

 

[Rick1138]

Took the girls to the vet, it's been 18 months since they've last been in a car...they still don't like it.

After a look under the microscope she found some mites , let me see them which was interesting.

Got a anti mite drops set for them to apply and have a deep clean of everything tomorrow. We're treating them all.

They seem unfazed by it all and eating with gusto as normal.

Hopefully it will clear up in a few days