Wound On Back, Mites?

[Powerade1999]

Hello,

First of all let me state that my guinea pigs live in a cage outside, this is where they have always been kept and when I was younger we kept a lot of guinea pigs outside, when its too cold, or too hot we bring them in to spend the day in the bathtub.


I have noticed in the past my 2 guinea pigs have had dry skin on their backs, I bathed them with my mum using baby shampoo (multiple sites I looked at suggested it).
Today my mum went outside to feed them and noticed one of them had a wound on there back, this is a fresh wound, not there this morning or yesterday, it is quite bad looking heres a photo::Bridget Power
I have separated the guinea pigs, and put the wounded one in the bathtub with some water and food. My mum is unable to afford a vet until late wednesday, and even then she can't really afford to see the vet as last week one of our cats had to have teeth removed.

Any advice? Do you think it's mites and should we bathe both the guinea pigs in mange and mites treatment?

Thanks!

 

[lawz]

Mites could cause extreme irritation…however this looks a bit high up on neck….could other piggie have bitten her in a moment of annoyance?

In mean time try cleaning with warm salty water and then sudocreme until van get to vets, this will just ease it a bit

 

[Powerade1999]

Mites could cause extreme irritation…however this looks a bit high up on neck….could other piggie have bitten her in a moment of annoyance?

In mean time try cleaning with warm salty water and then sudocreme until van get to vets, this will just ease it a bit

it very well could have been, he does live with his brother that we bought him with

 

[lawz]

could have nipped at him in a territorial moment, sudo creme works a treat

 

[Wiebke]

Hello,

First of all let me state that my guinea pigs live in a cage outside, this is where they have always been kept and when I was younger we kept a lot of guinea pigs outside, when its too cold, or too hot we bring them in to spend the day in the bathtub.


I have noticed in the past my 2 guinea pigs have had dry skin on their backs, I bathed them with my mum using baby shampoo (multiple sites I looked at suggested it).
Today my mum went outside to feed them and noticed one of them had a wound on there back, this is a fresh wound, not there this morning or yesterday, it is quite bad looking heres a photo::Bridget Power
I have separated the guinea pigs, and put the wounded one in the bathtub with some water and food. My mum is unable to afford a vet until late wednesday, and even then she can't really afford to see the vet as last week one of our cats had to have teeth removed.

Any advice? Do you think it's mites and should we bathe both the guinea pigs in mange and mites treatment?

Thanks!

Please have that wound seen by a vet as soon as you can afford to! It does NOT look like a bite wound from a fight and could be - where it is - either due to fungal or mange mites; to me, it looks rather like the beginnings of ringworm than mites. But that needs to be decided by a vet who can see and treat him (and his brother) accordingly. We cannot diagnose via the internet.

Please do NOT home treat on spec with a low dosed shop treatment; they don't do the trick in an acute case and you can easily make things worse rather than better. You can gently bathe the sore area with saline solution, but please be aware that any treatment can make a diagnosis more difficult for the vet. Also be aware that there needs to be 1-2 weeks in between rounds of mites treatment, so if you treat on spec (correctly or not), your vet won't be able to start the correct treatment straight away.

Both mites and fungal are infectious, so you will need to treat all piggies living together. Please use good hygiene and disposable gloves, in case it is highly transmittable ringworm that can spread to humans and other mammals.
Ringworm: Hygiene And Pictures

You can get mildly disinfectant sterile saline from a pharmacy or you can make your own by mixing one teaspoon of salt into 1 pint of boiled, cooled water.

I hope that the hutch your piggies are in is well insulated against the cold, drafts and dampness.

 

[lawz]

sorry…i merely suggested sudo creme to sooth it until a vet can be seen thats all.

 

[Powerade1999]

Please have that wound seen by a vet as soon as you can afford to! It does NOT look like a bite wound from a fight and could be - where it is - either due to fungal or mange mites; to me, it looks rather like the beginnings of ringworm than mites. But that needs to be decided by a vet who can see and treat him (and his brother) accordingly. We cannot diagnose via the internet.

Please do NOT home treat on spec with a low dosed shop treatment; they don't do the trick in an acute case and you can easily make things worse rather than better. You can gently bathe the sore area with saline solution, but please be aware that any treatment can make a diagnosis more difficult for the vet. Also be aware that there needs to be 1-2 weeks in between rounds of mites treatment, so if you treat on spec (correctly or not), your vet won't be able to start the correct treatment straight away.

Both mites and fungal are infectious, so you will need to treat all piggies living together. Please use good hygiene and disposable gloves, in case it is highly transmittable ringworm that can spread to humans and other mammals.
Ringworm: Hygiene And Pictures

You can get mildly disinfectant sterile saline from a pharmacy or you can make your own by mixing one teaspoon of salt into 1 pint of boiled, cooled water.

I hope that the hutch your piggies are in is well insulated against the cold, drafts and dampness.

Thankyou, I told my mum what you said and she will take him to the vet as soon as possible. I find it suprising that when I was little when we had guinea pigs (quite a lot of them at the time) we never had one with a health issue.

I am going away for a few days but my mum will still be here to take care of the guinea pig.
Thanks!

 

[Wiebke]

Thankyou, I told my mum what you said and she will take him to the vet as soon as possible. I find it suprising that when I was little when we had guinea pigs (quite a lot of them at the time) we never had one with a health issue.

I am going away for a few days but my mum will still be here to take care of the guinea pig.
Thanks!

All the best to your poorly pig! I am very sorry that this comes at such an inopportune moment. Your mum is welcome to register with us for ongoing support with any treatment.

If it is ringworm, please ask her to read the link I have given you. It is very important in order to prevent a reoccurrence.

 

[Powerade1999]

All the best to your poorly pig! I am very sorry that this comes at such an inopportune moment. Your mum is welcome to register with us for ongoing support with any treatment.

If it is ringworm, please ask her to read the link I have given you. It is very important in order to prevent a reoccurrence.

I will send the link to her, she can open a web page and read it but I don't think she is tech enough to actually post on a forum, I can however update this thread while I'm away with information she gives me n.n

 

[Powerade1999]

Update:

Can't get into the vets till tuesday :l Wound on back was healing well but the guinea pig has scratched it open again. I sprayed it with saline and did a body wrap so it cant scratch at it. I am scared the bandage is too tight, I have put my fingers under it but idk if it is too tight. How would I be able to tell if it is too tight?

 

[Wiebke]

Update:

Can't get into the vets till tuesday :l Wound on back was healing well but the guinea pig has scratched it open again. I sprayed it with saline and did a body wrap so it cant scratch at it. I am scared the bandage is too tight, I have put my fingers under it but idk if it is too tight. How would I be able to tell if it is too tight?

Please have it seen by a vet on Tuesday. It can be due to mites, but also fungal or even microbes if it is on a patch has that has been scratched or bitten raw before, so that stuff could have got in. Your vet may start another course of ivermectin. He may want to consider whether injections may be better this time. You can also ask whether bathing with malaseb (which is a UK brand) may help with the fungal/microbial angle.

It would be helpful if you please added your country, state/province or UK county to your details, so we can help you more effiiciently when it comes to product names available were you are. Please click on your username on the top bar, then go to personal details and scroll down to location.
I you can put your fingers underneath it, the bandage should not be too tight. if it is too lose, your piggy is wiggling out of it in no time.

 

[Powerade1999]

Please have it seen by a vet on Tuesday. It can be due to mites, but also fungal or even microbes if it is on a patch has that has been scratched or bitten raw before, so that stuff could have got in. Your vet may start another course of ivermectin. He may want to consider whether injections may be better this time. You can also ask whether bathing with malaseb (which is a UK brand) may help with the fungal/microbial angle.

It would be helpful if you please added your country, state/province or UK county to your details, so we can help you more effiiciently when it comes to product names available were you are. Please click on your username on the top bar, then go to personal details and scroll down to location.
I you can put your fingers underneath it, the bandage should not be too tight. if it is too lose, your piggy is wiggling out of it in no time.

I am trying my hardest to get my mother to take him to the vet, I keep mentioning it too her, and she is like "yes we will" then an hour later she is like "we'll see" I keep trying to explain to her that even though he cant rip his skin open now due to the bandage he still needs the vet. I am keeping at her about the vet to try get him there. It is a bad situation for me to be in aswell, if I could pay for it myself I would take the pig to the vets but due to being a 16 year old with no job I cant.

I am trying.

 

[Wiebke]

Wishing you all the best!

Please keep reminding your mum that mange mites can kill if left untreated and that your guinea pig is severe discomfort if it is biting its own skin open (self-mutilation); vet bills are likely to go up the longer you leave it as it is not going away on its own. We also do not at all recommend home treatment on spec, as that can make things worse and has let to death in a few sad cases we have witnessed on here.
Guinea Lynx :: Mange Mites