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Small pets

Wierd baldish patch on Guinea

4 replies

LingDiLong · 30/11/2012 21:16

I have two 4 year old girl piggies who were brought in for the winter last month. They are handled every day and a few days ago I noticed what looked like an almost shaven bit of fur on one of them. It's not bald or sore looking but it looks like someone has shaved a clump of fur off, it's all short and bristly. What could have caused this?! Is it something I need to worry about?

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70isaLimitNotaTarget · 30/11/2012 21:35

It can either be 'barbering' -either your pig or her cagemate is nibbling the hair
or
if the hair looks 'snapped off' it is a symptom of mites.

Best plan is to treat for mites (catch them early if you can)

If it doesn't respond it could be fungal. You'll need different treatment for that.

Gorgeous Guineas have a range of shampoos, melts and souffles. Have a look on their website. They should be okay to bath if they are in.
I use Xeno 450 (just ordered a new box for my boys. Too cold to bath them, mine are outside)

If it is barbering ,is it boredom? They might not have enough to occupy them indoors?

Scurvy can causes hair loss- are they getting enough Vit C?
Over heating making the skin/fur dry?
Do you have them on shavings? (Dries the fur as well as being bad for their respiratory system)

The hay is dire at the moment, dry, brittle (hay can be a carrier of mites).

Good Luck. If you don't see an improvement, see you vet. If it is mites, it can kill.

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LingDiLong · 30/11/2012 21:52

Having looked on the Gorgeous Guineas site it does look more like barbering...the skin under neath looks absolutely fine. They could well be bored, they're handled and fed a lot but they had a lot more space outside and loved being in their run. I've set up a guinea pig play area in the hall, will make sure i do that every night. They should be getting plenty of Vit C as they eat TONS, the recommended amount of guinea food plus hay plus fruit/veg every day. Will have a look for some mite treatment though just in case. Thanks 70s

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guineapiglet · 04/12/2012 16:09

Hi, one of our girls had a bald patch for a while, she was a ginger girl, and had very sensitive skin and ears, bless her. It is worth upping her vitamins, and lots of food like spinach, lots of greens etc. She did scratch at the skin for a while, and t hen got used it, she never ruptured the skin, and you could see tiny ginger hairs regrowing, took a few months to grow back. It happened at this time of the year, and I did wonder whether it was thecentral heating? Girls do tend to groom each other quite a lot, and are always fussing and doing each others hair, so maybe it is a bit of barbering. Hope she is doing OK now.

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LingDiLong · 04/12/2012 21:48

Thanks so much for your reply guineapiglet. She's also Ginger! Love your description of girls fussing and doing each other's hair - I'm almost expecting to look in the cage and see them plaiting their fur

I also wondered about the central heating so the radiator has been turned down in there. I will up the greens too. The patch hasn't got any bigger so hopefully it'll get better with time