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Teddy Has Lice?

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Teddybear22

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Hi everyone.

On Friday I discovered a bald spot on Teddy's neck (near an ear), and I called asap to the vet, but until Tuesday 14th I don't have the appointment (they couldn't earlier...). Today, with the help of my boyfriend, we looked for more bald spots and although we didn't find more, I could see little black specks on his tummy, and on his bum (where his hair is blonde and grey respectively), they don't seem to move, and they are like halfway the hair, not near the skin, so I'm assuming they are static lice. But I know that he can have more things, so I still don't discard mange mites or ringworm.

So, my questions are (sorry if they are silly):

- How do I desinfect everything? I emailed the vet, but I think I got a response from the recepcionist because the answer was pretty generic and it didn't answer to all my doubts. They said that I had to desinfect the cage with bleach (1:10). Would that do the thing?
- Also, I wash the bedding (fleece liners) by hand. If I boil the water and let it soaking and after that I wash it with colder water would work? Any kind of detergent would be fine?
- If he has also mites, what do I do with the carrier where he will go to the vet? I mean, it the vet gives him an injection, and I put him then back in the carrier which wasn't desinfected wouldn't I just spoil what the vet just did?
- What tests should the vet do? And what kind of medicine should he give me? I just went there for general check ups so I really don't know if I can fully trust him with an ill piggy, so I just want to know this in order to see if I he is doing a good job.

I was also thinking on buying Gorgeous Guineas Lice n Easy shampoo (because I don't think I can find in Spain a guinea pig shampoo against lice, just for cats and dogs...), has anyone used it? Its okay to use it along with a pipette? I know I have to wait 48 hours, but I'm concerned about if the ingredients together could do... something? Here I'm a bit paranoid I think xD

I also need hay recommendations. Because if they are static lice, then I want to switch the hay brand. Do you know some good ones which didn't give you any kind of trouble? I'd appreciate if you could name some brands from Zooplus, because some of the ones that you named before in other threads which, by the way, look really awesome, don't ship outside the UK.

Here is a photo I took yesterday (Saturday) of the bald spot. That red dot you can see in the upper zone of the bald is now bigger, it seems like a scratch (but still round). I just looked at it now and tried to take another picture but it was really difficult just to look at it because he wouldn't let me separate the hair.
Teddycalva.jpg

If I think on more thing I'll write them.
Thanks for taking the time on reading me, I know I wrote a lot. Also sorry if something doesn't make sense the way its written!
 
Ok, I'm not sure if they are lice anymore xD In the bum what I see is like dandruff, not not much. And in the tummy and chin I see like black specks but I watched videos and the lice seemed white? So I don't know xD
 
Aww poor little man. I don't have any experience with Lice, but the vets is the best thing. Perhaps take another towel with you to swap him over onto in the vets, if the vet gives him any treatment. Otherwise he should be fine for the journey home before disinfecting everything he has.
 
Good that you have him booked in for a diagnosis. You are likely to be dealing with fur mites (also known as static lice), but the bald patch can also indicate mange mites or fungal problems.
http://www.guinealynx.info/parasites.html
http://www.guinealynx.info/fungus.html

You can find tips for disinfecting in our ringworm guide: https://www.theguineapigforum.co.uk/threads/ringworm-hygiene-and-pictures.115402/
It is worth investing in a product that has antifungal and not just antibacterial qualities. F10 is so far the only one we know kill ringworm spores.
 
Nice, thanks to both of you!
@Flutterby I'll bring with me two towels then!
@Wiebke Is the F10 also good even if he hadn't any fungal problem? I was about to buy it online but I didn't know if it would work good for lice or mange mites.
Should I buy the shampoo too for the lice?

I'll keep you updated. I have the appointment for tomorrow at 5PM.
 
Nice, thanks to both of you!
@Flutterby I'll bring with me two towels then!
@Wiebke Is the F10 also good even if he hadn't any fungal problem? I was about to buy it online but I didn't know if it would work good for lice or mange mites.
Should I buy the shampoo too for the lice?

I'll keep you updated. I have the appointment for tomorrow at 5PM.

The F10 is also useful as a general disinfectant. Please wait what your vet says re. treatments necessary.
 
Thanks @Flutterby for the good wishes and @Wiebke for having patience with me! I already ordered yestarday the F10.

Teddy has got an injecction of Ivomec, and I have to go back for a second and a third (poor thing...). The vet did a few scrapins on his skin (on the bald spot and on the butt, because he had some dandruff in the butt, but I think that might be because of the grease gland? because it was mainly around it). The scraping done in the bald spot revealed a not-so-friendly little companion. So yeah, I think its mange mites what he has (can't say exactly what the vet said because I don't know what is the correct term in english, maybe mange mites xD).

About the black specks I saw on Saturday... they dissapeared. I couldn't see them nowhere. Anyways, as I have to go back, I'll keep checking his tummy once in a while just in case. I also took with me a bit of hay so he could look at it on the microscope to see if there were any lice, but he didn't call me again so I guess they weren't there (he told me he would call if he saw something).

The vet also told me to treat the bald spot (maybe because of the scraping) with liquid betadine (1:10), twice a day. I was told too that I had to change the bedding (I switched to disposable bedding while the bag for the laundry arrives) every day.

And today, being completely paranoid, I cleaned all my bedroom (thats where Teddy is) and the living room (where he has floor time) with bleach (1:10 with water and then rinsing very well with water). What I didn't clean with bleach was the water bottle, because I just didn't dare to do it. Should I? Or better I wait for the F10? Its safe for cleaning water bottles?

Also, one last question, when Teddy runs on my bedroom, he usually goes under the curtains (because he's too big not to touch them with his back xD). Should I desinfect them also? Or it isn't necessary?

Again, thank you SOOO much! :wub:
 
Lol I'm already itching because two of my boars, they have lice atm, I've washed their bedding at 60 degrees, bought some spot on ivomec and bought them some lice and easy shampoo. If they aren't clear by the time I do their third spot on then I'll be taking them back to the vets (not the one I took Sheamus to!).

*itching*

Good luck with yours!
 
Oh my, good luck with your piggies too! Hope you can get ride of the lice for good!
When I first began searching info about mites and lice I was itching all the time too XD I even woke up in the middle of the night with my head itching...

How do you wash your own colour clothes? Because I handled him with black clothes and now I'm afraid if I wash them at 60ºC they could shrink... I'm searching some detergent that is a good disinfectant also but I haven't had luck yet.
 
Thank you :)

Hmm I just wash them as normal or the other option is to put something over you when your holding them, something like an old towel or something. Here we have dettol washing stuff, don't know if that would work or not though.
 
I think mine have mites actually, same sort of thing I guess, either way I seem to be having problems clearing them.
 
Maybe you should go back to the vet, because mites are under the skin, so external medicine might not be as effective. Anyway its better if you get them checked by the vet, that way you can know for sure what they have and treat them based on that.
 
He was already at the vets :P They aren't under the skin. I think you mean mange mites, they don't have them thankfully, it's fur mites. In fect I'm now starting to wonder if it is mites and not lice, I don't exactly trust the vet that saw him because she misdiagnosed Sheamus.... she said it was a problem with his head when it was bladder stones :/ But yeah they definitely aren't mites that are burrowing, their skin is perfectly fine :)
 
Definitely don't clean his water bottle with bleach as it's very toxic. You maybe able to soak it in F10 when it arrives? @Wiebke do you know if this is safe?

Personally I only use baby bottle steriliser on my pig's water bottles.

Good thing about mites is they can't live on humans. They need a host, which is why the vet has given ivermectin injection I assume. Sounds like your very much on top of the cleaning.
 
Just giving your water bottles a soak with baby bottle disinfectant is fine.

Here is an overview over guinea pig skin parasites, can you please have a good look to see what you are dealing with? Then we can give you tips as how you can treat them. Some are more easy to shift than others. It would also help if you please added what treatment you have been given so far (including product names).
http://www.guinealynx.info/parasites.html
http://www.gorgeousguineas.com/photogallery.html
 
He was already at the vets :P They aren't under the skin. I think you mean mange mites, they don't have them thankfully, it's fur mites. In fect I'm now starting to wonder if it is mites and not lice, I don't exactly trust the vet that saw him because she misdiagnosed Sheamus.... she said it was a problem with his head when it was bladder stones :/ But yeah they definitely aren't mites that are burrowing, their skin is perfectly fine :)

Oh, sorry I didn't understand you well! (English is not my first language, so sometimes I get confussed hahaha) Maybe you should go to another vet then? Just in case.

Definitely don't clean his water bottle with bleach as it's very toxic. You maybe able to soak it in F10 when it arrives? @Wiebke do you know if this is safe?

Personally I only use baby bottle steriliser on my pig's water bottles.

Good thing about mites is they can't live on humans. They need a host, which is why the vet has given ivermectin injection I assume. Sounds like your very much on top of the cleaning.

Yay, I'm glad I didn't clean it with that. I searched on internet but I found bad things about the baby bottle steriliser too? So I just bought another water bottle yesterday... XD But I don't know if he will like it, I put it on his cage a few minutes back but I'm still waiting for him to drink so I can see if its comfortable for him (if falls enough water and all that).

Just giving your water bottles a soak with baby bottle disinfectant is fine.

Here is an overview over guinea pig skin parasites, can you please have a good look to see what you are dealing with? Then we can give you tips as how you can treat them. Some are more easy to shift than others. It would also help if you please added what treatment you have been given so far (including product names).
http://www.guinealynx.info/parasites.html
http://www.gorgeousguineas.com/photogallery.html

If he doesn't like the new bottlen then I'll soak it on baby bottle disinfectant. If everybody recommends it then it can't be bad.

I think what Teddy has is the Chirodiscoides Caviae, because I searched an image on google and it looks like what the vet showed me on the microscope. This.
He gave him an injection of Ivomec, and I have to go back for the second one on the 27.

Edit: Its weird, because on that page it says they are also called static lice, which are the ones from the hay, right? But the vet put the hay on the microscope and he saw nothing...
And he even said that they where under his skin.


Thanks again, everyone. I really appreciate your help.
 
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Umm isn't it the mange ones that go under the skin? That's what I was looking at anyway *itching again* If its those their skin wouldn't look very nice and they'd have missing fur (I'm just saying what I've seen on the net, I'm new to it myself).
 
Yeah, that's why I'm confussed. Because the ones that are under the skin are the mange mites. But then in photo, what he showed me looked like the fur mites, because it was larger, not rounder like the mange mites. And he has a bald spot, but his skin on it looks just fine. Other than that, he has like really small and white dandruff in the bum which I thought, it was because of the grease gland, because it could be dirty or something...
Anyways, I'll try to look again when my boyfriend comes (Teddy is really hard to handle him by myself xD) to see if I can actually see anything on his hair.
 
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