guinea pig has mange mites :(

[christy531]

I'm not positive if my guinea pig (Ginny :]) has mange mites but i'm pretty sure that she does. I've been looking online to see why her skin has gotten to be so awful. Her skin is completely tore up, it looks like dandruff and she's had hair loss and she keeps itching, which only makes it bleed. I thought maybe it'd get better and it hasn't, which led me to searching online. When I saw pictures of other guinea pigs with mange mites, I knew that she had it. I feel like crying! The website said that mange mites are incredibly painful for guinea pigs. It's one in the morning where I live, so no veterinarians are availale and I have to wait until tomorrow. Hopefully somebody will be available. On a website I found, it said that ivermetcin was the best remedy for mange mites. I feel so awful. I should have realized it was something bad. Has anybody had this problem either???!!!!

[Genny]

I've never had a guines pig w/ mites/mange before. I think you should take her to the vet and get some meds because it wn't clear up on its own if that is what it is.

When we first got out poodle 7 yrs ago she had the mange; it takes forever for them to get over...we had to go back and forth to the vet so many times...

goodluck w/ your guinea pig!

[Catlady711]

I feel so sorry for your guinea pig! Please do try to stay calm for your piggy.

Remember many times the internet can be a helpful thing, but sometimes it can mislead you with incorrect information. We run into that day in and day out at work. We once had a client that was convinced, after looking on the web, that her dog had a horrible tumor because she'd seen a pix online that looked just like the lump her dog had. She had printed out PAGES of stuff from this site and brought it to us. She'd gotten herself worked up into a horrible panic convinced the dog was going to die any minute of cancer or would require chemo or surgery immediately. After the vet examined the dog the 'tumor' turned out to be a simple oil filled cyst, they lanced it, squeezed out all the pus, gave the dog antibiotics and some salve and the dog was perfectly fine and still is to this day tumor free.

My guinea pigs never had any skin issues and where I work we don't see guinea pigs at all so I have no personal experience to give you in those aspects. However relating this to dogs/cats in my experience at work the dandruf you mentioned could/might be chewing lice. We've seen a few cases of that at work before, the treatement for that is different than for mange mites. Also severe dry skin can cause dandruf and severe itching which is a different treatment also. There are also three types of mange mites Demodectic (sp?) and Sarcoptic (sp?) and Notoedric (sp?) I believe they can only tell the difference with a skin scraping.

As for ivermectin in guinea pigs I'd be very cautious about that without a vet's approval. Guinea pigs are such fragile critters and things that may be ok for a dog or cat can be fatal to a guinea pig or require substantially smaller doses. I also realize guinea pigs need faster treatment for things being they are smaller animals. Is there any type of emergency vet nearby you can at least call for advice? Or do your area vets have an after hours number to call for assistance? Or even call a vet's office outside your area just in case they have an after hours phone number. It's worth a try before you go ahead and do anything yourself.

Good luck.

[Blue Dragonfly]

i have had to deal with mange mites before in guinea pigs. i found it quite easy actually. i found this terrific spray that you put on them and after a couple of days the mange was gone. it took longer for the scabs to heal. I dont remember the brand as a haven't had to use it for ages, i will see if i can find it on the internet.

I have had a couple of guinea pigs who also had sensitive skin. they looked like they had mange but it was something that they had had since i got them. poor things. i just had to make sure that there skin was always moisturised in the dry spots. sorbolene cream works well. also you could get some quartazone cream from the vet if it is just dryish skin.

I also wash them with a eucalyputus pet shampoo now and it seems to keep their coats nice. i haven't had a problem with mange since i started using it.