Soothing shampoo I can get from amazon?

PeggyAndBettysMum

PeggyAndBettysMum

Junior Guinea Pig
Joined
Oct 25, 2019
Messages
94
Reaction score
171
Points
275
Location
West lancs
Been to the vets today with Betty, she’s a curly, half long haired, scruffy little piggy! She has terrible dry skin that has caused a huge build up of dead, crusty skin and some open wounds. She’s still really skittish so grooming her and keeping an eye on the dry skin is quite an ordeal for everyone. I noticed at the weekend it ha got a lot worse. The vet has given her a course of antibiotics to help with her cuts and advised me to wash her in a soothing/moisturising shampoo and to go back next week to see if it has improved. If not they will try a parasite treatment.
I’m struggling to find a shampoo that is on amazon so I can get next day delivery. Otherwise, it’s probably going to be the weekend before I can get to a pets at home because of work and where I live. I really wanted to get started ASAP to try and improvise e dryness. Can anyone help?!
 
PeggyAndBettysMum said:
Been to the vets today with Betty, she’s a curly, half long haired, scruffy little piggy! She has terrible dry skin that has caused a huge build up of dead, crusty skin and some open wounds. She’s still really skittish so grooming her and keeping an eye on the dry skin is quite an ordeal for everyone. I noticed at the weekend it ha got a lot worse. The vet has given her a course of antibiotics to help with her cuts and advised me to wash her in a soothing/moisturising shampoo and to go back next week to see if it has improved. If not they will try a parasite treatment.
I’m struggling to find a shampoo that is on amazon so I can get next day delivery. Otherwise, it’s probably going to be the weekend before I can get to a pets at home because of work and where I live. I really wanted to get started ASAP to try and improvise e dryness. Can anyone help?!
Click to expand...

Hi!

If possible, please just try gentle washes with plain water that do not disturb the skin and dry it out even more, as shampoos generally do; especially the ones formulated for human ph and not piggy ph.

Has your vet checked for a fungal skin infection? As that is normally the first thing that comes normally to mind when hearing 'crusty skin with open sores'; mange mites may or may not be present, either. How piggy savvy are they?
New guinea pigs: Sexing, vet checks&customer rights, URI, ringworm and parasites
Recommended Guinea Pig Vets

Could you please post preferably clear and well lit pictures?
 
She seems to know her stuff, she doesn’t think it’s fungal.
She just advised me to use a shampoo to try and remove the dead skin and put some moisture back. I asked if there was anything natural I could use and she said a shampoo would be better 🤷🏼‍♀️
 
PeggyAndBettysMum said:
She seems to know her stuff, she doesn’t think it’s fungal.
She just advised me to use a shampoo to try and remove the dead skin and put some moisture back. I asked if there was anything natural I could use and she said a shampoo would be better 🤷🏼‍♀️
Click to expand...

What breed is your piggy and how long have you had her? Where have you got her from?
I would still prefer to see a picture because we have seen some terrible misdiagnoses from vets over the years. 'Dry skin' can only ever be diagnosed by default after a guinea has been treated for fungal and mites in order to ensure that you are not overlooking the elementary and MUCH more common issues!

You can try gorgeous guineas (at least they have guinea pig ph).
Gorgeous Guineas - Aromatherapy skincare products for guinea pigs
Gorgeous Guineas Photo gallery
Ringworm: Hygiene And Pictures
 
I’ve zoomed in on it so it’s easier to see. That’s the worst part. It’s right at her back end. The vet shaved her gently today to check for abscesses.
 

Attachments

  • E697A438-8C75-43B3-8A1D-0AAD81DF9CEF.webp
    E697A438-8C75-43B3-8A1D-0AAD81DF9CEF.webp
    15.4 KB · Views: 19
I’ve no idea what breed she is. She is an ex breeding piggy I took on in October. She has crazy longish, frizzy her at the back. Rosettes in her middle and a long fringe on her face. 😂
 
maybe Lunkayra,or merino.these breeds are prone to dry skin.i would still try to ensure that fungal and mites have been ruled out.i use gorgeous guinea neem shampoo and neem melt on my lunkyara to good effect.i wish you luck in getting to the route of the problem.
 
I’ve seen the gorgeous guineas brand but it’s five day delivery. I wanted to see if anyone had any advice on getting anything sooner. Maybe I’ll just use water.
 
I have always used gorgeous guineas in the past with my lot and had good results.
I haven't been dealing with anything quite as bad as your girls problem though.

I would try dropping gorgeous guineas a quick e-mail.
When I had a specific problem they replied promptly and were very happy to offer advice.
Maybe they could ship a little sooner if they know it's urgent?
 
PeggyAndBettysMum said:
I’ve no idea what breed she is. She is an ex breeding piggy I took on in October. She has crazy longish, frizzy her at the back. Rosettes in her middle and a long fringe on her face. 😂
Click to expand...

To be honest, that looks rather like fungal/ringworm to me. Invisibly tiny ringworm spores can live up to 18 months to 2 years; they can sit in a coat and can cause a reinfection months later. Breeders are not exactly known for being good at getting on top of ringworm or mange mites, so with that background I would strongly recommend to look for fungal first before you consider the usual breeder excuse of 'dry skin'.
Ringworm: Hygiene And Pictures

Malaseb is an antifungal and antimicrobial shampoo. I would not recommend to use any of the gorgeous guinea shampoos on potential ringworm or any other milder form of fungal skin infection. I second @eileen 's recommendation.

PLEASE take the time to read the green links in my posts.
 
Thankyou, I have read them thoroughly. I have contacted the vet again today but I couldn’t get passed the receptionist so I have to wait for my appt next week. No point deep cleaning if I have no treatment. I’ve also contacted gorgeous guineas and they have replied. I e come home from work today and it looks like Peggy has been getting at her as there are 3 open wounds, like grazes on her back end 😢 I want to bathe her in warm water but I don’t want to stress her out as she’s so skittish and I don’t know if it will sting her? I’ve taken the decision to separate them for a night to allow her wounds to heal. They don’t normally fight although they are moody with each other. I can’t think of another way that Betty would have open wounds where they are as I don’t think she could reach and I’ve seen Peggy constantly sniffing at her in the same area. Oh they cause so much worry!
 
Open wounds on her back could also point towards mites which are irritating her.
I would probably try and get a vets appointment for earlier than next week, as she is clearly in discomfort.
If the vet can't see anything obvious then it wouldn't do any harm to start treating for mites, and also add in an anti fungal bath treatment in between. This way you will cover most bases with regards to skin conditions.

When Eddi had mites he had open sores between his shoulder blades which is a classic sign, but often overlooked as bites from a cage mate.
 
PeggyAndBettysMum said:
Thankyou, I have read them thoroughly. I have contacted the vet again today but I couldn’t get passed the receptionist so I have to wait for my appt next week. No point deep cleaning if I have no treatment. I’ve also contacted gorgeous guineas and they have replied. I e come home from work today and it looks like Peggy has been getting at her as there are 3 open wounds, like grazes on her back end 😢 I want to bathe her in warm water but I don’t want to stress her out as she’s so skittish and I don’t know if it will sting her? I’ve taken the decision to separate them for a night to allow her wounds to heal. They don’t normally fight although they are moody with each other. I can’t think of another way that Betty would have open wounds where they are as I don’t think she could reach and I’ve seen Peggy constantly sniffing at her in the same area. Oh they cause so much worry!
Click to expand...

Hi!

Please be aware that the wounds are self-inflicted if the skin is very painful and sore. this doesn't happen with dry skin but with bot mange mites and ringworm.

Your girl needs to see a competent vet asap and cannot wait until next week for a vet who doesn't seem to be conversant with the most common guinea pig skin problems.
Here is our recommended UK vets locator so you can hopefully find a more piggy savvy vet within your reach. We cannot diagnose for you (and neither can Gorgeous Guineas), but we can tell you from our own experiences when something is wrong and when you need to see a more knowledgeable vet. A piggy that is biting and scratching itself bloody needs help quickly and needs access to proper and appropriate medication and no DIY home care stuff on spec that will cost you only money and prolong your piggy's suffering.
Here is the link: Recommended Guinea Pig Vets
 
I’ve kept them Separated for now. So the general opinion is that this is more than dry skin? I didn’t want to use any small animal shampoo on her as it thought it would sting so much and it could be a number of things. The vet did say they would start parasite treatment if she didn’t improve after bathing but I can’t bathe her in this state with shop bought shampoo! I'm going to go back to the vet tomorrow and demand more from them. This is the second time they’ve told me it’s dry skin. Even if they can give me something to help ease it for now until I can make an appt with a different vet in a day or two. Thankyou!
 
I agree with the above this looks very much like it could potentially be mites or ringworm, most vets would see this and test for both!
Tests for mites should be possible straight away while you wait, some skin is scraped rather roughly with a microscope slide (ouch wheek all done) and the vet can then look for mange mites under the microscope right away.
Tests for fungal (a dermatophyte culture) take longer as a skin swab or scrape is sent to a lab, they see if fungus grows in a lab culture- positive tests show in 3-4 days usually but a definite negative takes up to 2 weeks.
Any vet seeing such sore skin should definitely be giving pain relief/anti inflammatory metacam/loxicom, and probably also considering antibiotics to prevent the sore skin getting a secondary bacterial infection, while they diagnose or rule out mites or fungal with the proper tests, and treat for one or both...
I think you need a better vet, best of luck and healing wheeks for your piggy!
 
I need to try and contact one of these vets. The nearest to me is Rutland referrals (even that is 20 miles away) but it closes at 6. I’ve just tried to contact them. I'm working until 6 for the rest of the week though (I’m a teacher and have work commitments after school) I’ll contact them tomorrow by phone and discuss it with them but I’ll also contact my local vet in the meantime. In fact, I might just turn up and express my concern and disappointment as they are open until 8 tomorrow. This is the second time they’ve said it’s dry skin. I’m 100% not buying a shop bought shampoo for her. I’ll continue with the antibiotics and the separation until I get further advice for tomorrow. Thankyou all, once again you’ve been brilliant.
 
Good luck tomorrow.
You have the right attitude. Just make sure they don't try to fob you off again, as clearly she is suffering and in major discomfort.
 
PeggyAndBettysMum said:
I need to try and contact one of these vets. The nearest to me is Rutland referrals (even that is 20 miles away) but it closes at 6. I’ve just tried to contact them. I'm working until 6 for the rest of the week though (I’m a teacher and have work commitments after school) I’ll contact them tomorrow by phone and discuss it with them but I’ll also contact my local vet in the meantime. In fact, I might just turn up and express my concern and disappointment as they are open until 8 tomorrow. This is the second time they’ve said it’s dry skin. I’m 100% not buying a shop bought shampoo for her. I’ll continue with the antibiotics and the separation until I get further advice for tomorrow. Thankyou all, once again you’ve been brilliant.
Click to expand...

All the best!

Finding a good vet can be difficult; which is why we have started our locator.
My local vets are for instance OK but not outstanding and not particularly piggy savvy so I have to travel an hour to get to a better vet with any issues that need to be seen by a specialist; especially any operations and not run of the mill health issues.
 
Little update. I called the vets again and expressed my concern and unhappiness with Bettys treatment and I went to a different branch and saw a senior vet. Betty is even worse today so she must be injuring herself. She really is in a sorry state and is not moving about much. They gave her more antibiotics to stop all her skin becoming infected, anti parasite drops that I use once a week for 6 weeks and I asked for something to bathe her in that was anti fungal. She was given malaseb. I’ll bathe her tomorrow after her drops have soaked in. I’m hoping that she’s just a bit traumatised after the vet trip and being separated from Peggy as she’s not really made any attempt to eat. If she hasn’t attempted by later this evening, I will start her syringe feeding.
 
Glad you finally got some proper treatment from your vet, hope her appetite picks up too. Does she have some loxicom/metacam (same thing different brands) for pain relief and reducing inflammation?
I'm so sorry you find yourself in this situation, you're obviously a very caring and diligent piggy slave doing everything you can for poor Betty, just the vet initially let you down- but well done for insisting on seeing a senior vet and getting some better treatments for her x
 
One more question, she’s has red raw and bleeding skin covering most of her back end. Will the shampoo sting her? The vet said to wet her with warm water, massage the malaseb into her skin, leave for twenty minutes and then rinse. I’m dreading it to be honest as her skin is terrible, like large burns 😢
 
I wouldn’t bathe her in anything until 48 hours after the mites treatment, as it needs time to work. Always wait 48 hours after treating before any bathing.
If the vets think it is mites then Malaseb is unlikely to help and could make things worse.
personally I would give the ABs and mites treatment and do nothing for 48 hours and see if there is any improvement before considering bathing her.
In the rescue we do use Malaseb for fungal conditions but we never leave it in longer than 10 minutes and only when it is confirmed as fungal (which I don’t think yours is). It’s quite a harsh shampoo.
If the vets think it’s mites, then a mites shampoo from Gorgeous Guineas (lice n easy) is gentle and kills mites and other skin parasites would be a safer bet.
I am so sorry that you are not getting the best support from your vets.
 
I would also recommend that you keep the girls together (the stress of separation could be making things worse). And by now if it was fungal I expect that her cage mate would have shown signs of hair loss, too.
 
PeggyAndBettysMum said:
Little update. I called the vets again and expressed my concern and unhappiness with Bettys treatment and I went to a different branch and saw a senior vet. Betty is even worse today so she must be injuring herself. She really is in a sorry state and is not moving about much. They gave her more antibiotics to stop all her skin becoming infected, anti parasite drops that I use once a week for 6 weeks and I asked for something to bathe her in that was anti fungal. She was given malaseb. I’ll bathe her tomorrow after her drops have soaked in. I’m hoping that she’s just a bit traumatised after the vet trip and being separated from Peggy as she’s not really made any attempt to eat. If she hasn’t attempted by later this evening, I will start her syringe feeding.
Click to expand...

Hi!

You always need to wait 48 hours between any skin application to allow any treatment to be fully absorbed so it can do its job properly.
That is the problem when both ivermectin and fungal treatment are topical (i.e. used on the skin) and they are not applied in different ways (like the fungal treatment orally, as our ringworm guide explains - you have got that link in one of my first posts).

PLEASE follow the hygiene tips in the guide! ringworm is the most aggressive and contagious species jumping problem that any pets can come with. It also transmits to humans. Good hygiene and a vet grade disinfectant/washing at high temperatures is mandatory to get on top of it and not turn this into a long running saga with repeated outbreaks.
Please keep in mind that things will get worse with ringworm before they can get better.

More information on mites and ringworm in these links here. PLEASE read them; they are VERY important!
New guinea pigs: Sexing, vet checks&customer rights, URI, ringworm and parasites
Ringworm: Hygiene And Pictures
 
Hi sorry for lack of activity. As you can imagine, things are very up in the air! I’m a school teacher too so work is strange and was very hectic last week. I followed all the advice but couldn’t get the disinfectant so bought completely new fleeces and hideys and used the disinfectant I had. Things were going well with baths and parasite drops until this morning when I noticed betty has really bit herself again on her back. Overall, her skin appears clear and both girls are being treated and eating well. Just have to hope that this little bite and scratch was a one off. Maybe the shampoo irritated her? Thanks for your concern!
 
The first pic was 2 weeks ago and the second pic was taken on Saturday.
 

Attachments

  • EAF5CF53-E190-4AF1-B7C2-95821C1C94BF.webp
    EAF5CF53-E190-4AF1-B7C2-95821C1C94BF.webp
    27.7 KB · Views: 10
  • F40A4073-236A-444A-B253-B6324EE3CC89.webp
    F40A4073-236A-444A-B253-B6324EE3CC89.webp
    45.4 KB · Views: 10
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top