I have a male guinea pig almost 2 years old who has sudden unexplained hair loss right above his testicles. He is on a vitamin C supplement from oxbow and gets daily fresh veggies so I don't think its scurvy. It is also not another guinea pig he is housed alone( he is extremely aggressive with other guinea pigs he has drawn blood on many of them during introduction.) He is housed next to another guinea pig I adopted who needed to be housed alone but the cant get at each other. The hair loss was very sudden over no more than 2 days. The area of hair loss is not crusty red or painful So I don't think it is a parasite or infection. The only thing I could think of is that it may be hormonal it almost looks like what happens when female guinea pigs get ovarian cysts. But again he is a male so I'm kind of at a loss. Dose anyone have any ideas
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Siikibam
Forum Donator 2022/23
I don’t know what may cause that pattern of hair loss. I would just have him checked over by the vet.
May I ask the reason for the vitamin c supplement? Was he previously ill? They get enough from pellets (they’re fortified with vitamin c), veg and hay so shouldn’t need a supplement.
@Piggies&buns @PigglePuggle @VickiA
May I ask the reason for the vitamin c supplement? Was he previously ill? They get enough from pellets (they’re fortified with vitamin c), veg and hay so shouldn’t need a supplement.
@Piggies&buns @PigglePuggle @VickiA
Hi
The hair loss could be caused by a lot of things, from mechanical abrasion (rubbing against something) or self-barbering because of a pain issue under the skin/inside the body in that area once you and your vet have excluded the usual first call, skin parasites or a fungal skin infection.
While boars can get mammary tumors, they do not suffer from hormonal hair loss (which is actually mainly on the sides in sows).
However, if you have supplemented with additional vitamin C right from the start in addition to all the normal vitamin C from veg and herbs, in pellets and in fresh grass (which is high in it), then the body will adapt to those constantly high levels and can ironically react with symptoms of scurvy if those higher than normal levels suddenly drop for some reason and even though the vitamin C levels are still higher than in a normal diet.
We are not seeing this so much in the UK where scurvy in well looked after guinea pigs is very rare because the emphasis is more on a good diet than additional reinforcement but we do see the occasional case from a US member where vitamin supplementation in addition to a good diet is rather common and can unfortunately cause unexpected problems in the long run. You see the same phenomenon also in humans on long term vitamin C supplements, by the way.
Here is more information:
Guinea Lynx :: Hair Loss
Guinea Lynx :: Scurvy -- Vitamin C Deficiency
The hair loss could be caused by a lot of things, from mechanical abrasion (rubbing against something) or self-barbering because of a pain issue under the skin/inside the body in that area once you and your vet have excluded the usual first call, skin parasites or a fungal skin infection.
While boars can get mammary tumors, they do not suffer from hormonal hair loss (which is actually mainly on the sides in sows).
However, if you have supplemented with additional vitamin C right from the start in addition to all the normal vitamin C from veg and herbs, in pellets and in fresh grass (which is high in it), then the body will adapt to those constantly high levels and can ironically react with symptoms of scurvy if those higher than normal levels suddenly drop for some reason and even though the vitamin C levels are still higher than in a normal diet.
We are not seeing this so much in the UK where scurvy in well looked after guinea pigs is very rare because the emphasis is more on a good diet than additional reinforcement but we do see the occasional case from a US member where vitamin supplementation in addition to a good diet is rather common and can unfortunately cause unexpected problems in the long run. You see the same phenomenon also in humans on long term vitamin C supplements, by the way.
Here is more information:
Guinea Lynx :: Hair Loss
Guinea Lynx :: Scurvy -- Vitamin C Deficiency