Dry Skin
How do you combat dry skin on a guinea pig? She just had a bath on Sunday so I don´t really want to try bathing to fix it. She also is drinking and seems hydrated. I was holding her with a white shirt on yesterday and she´s a black guinea pig so not only did I have black hair on me I also had lots of little black flakes. I´ve seem quite a few guinea pigs, but not any that have had as flaky skin as this one.
I´ve found that my skin troubled pig Happy will leave dander on me, black flakes as he is black and white. I´ve used the vit. E capsules to soothe dry skin. It can be messy because it´s so sticky. You could try adding more vit. E to her diet as well. I would make sure to rule out mites. Happy fights with demodex mites often, that´s the kind that can´t be completely eradicated in some pigs. There´s also the sarcoptic mite which is often found in pigs but can be treated easily with ivermectine. Check out the mites section of Guinea Lynx.
I thought about mites, but she doesn´t seem irritated by the dry skin. She didn´t seem to be scratching a lot and she isn´t loosing hair or anything. Her cagemate has no symptoms either (not even dry skin). They´re both fosters and were checked out by a vet on Saturday. Maybe I´ll try an ivermectrin shot.
Thanks for the advice. I have a bottle of vitamin e oil (it´s like the stuff in the caplets, but you don´t have to break them open) so I might try that too.
Thanks for the advice. I have a bottle of vitamin e oil (it´s like the stuff in the caplets, but you don´t have to break them open) so I might try that too.
- Lynx
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It could be fungal. You might try bathing in Nizoral shampoo (check www.guinealynx.info/hairloss.html -- read about mites and fungus).
What about a skin scraping at your vet to determine if there are mites?
Why? This method of diagnosis is known for being very inconclusive. Why put the pig in such pain when mites don´t show up half of the time even when they´re present? I just can´t see a good reason to do this. Generally, competent cavy vets treat with Ivermectin first to rule out mites and then go from there.
Why? This method of diagnosis is known for being very inconclusive. Why put the pig in such pain when mites don´t show up half of the time even when they´re present? I just can´t see a good reason to do this. Generally, competent cavy vets treat with Ivermectin first to rule out mites and then go from there.
Could take 4 or 5 skin scrapings to find evidence of mites - better to just treat with Ivermectin and save the pig the pain. Most vets end up treating with Ivermectin anyway even after inconclusive skin scrapes - just in case there are mites. And you get charged for the scrapes.
Some vets refuse to treat with Ivermectin if they don´t see mites on one scrape. (Some refuse to treat with Ivermectin altogether). The pig owners then come here and find out how to do it themselves. Read Ciaytee´s account of her mite experience in the reference forum.
Some vets refuse to treat with Ivermectin if they don´t see mites on one scrape. (Some refuse to treat with Ivermectin altogether). The pig owners then come here and find out how to do it themselves. Read Ciaytee´s account of her mite experience in the reference forum.