I need help with my guinea pig babies

[ancienthistrionics]

We just got 2 guinea pigs, (around 6 weeks old). When we bought them the lady (at the rescue centre) said that one of them had a tiny cut which she thought was a bite from one of the others. A week or so later we had a very apologetic email from her saying it turned out that others from that hutch had the same thing and it was actually a fungal infection. She is an extremely nice and conscientious gp breeder and offered to change the piggy or treat her but we bought them for DS who does want to change them.

DS is driving me mad treating this fungal infection. He is on gp forums and every day he comes up with a new product we need to buy or it will never go away/get worse/cause hutch-wide misery etc. I have bought about ten different shampoos and sprays and creams. He is also insisting we take them to the vets.

I'd like to know how common and treatable this is - I will spend the money if necessary but not if it will just clear up with a bit of cream.

Thanks

Presumably it would depend what fungus it was. Hard to answer the question I think. Personally I'd visit the vet so it'd get diagnosed and treated no messing, so you don't go down too many blind alleys.

Thanks Gin. The breeder said it was a fungal infection (flaky patches round the ears and eyes) and we should treat it with canesten. We're also using an anti-fungal spray. The fur is growing back so I'm hoping it's working.

I think you're right though, the wrong sort of cream will make it worse. Trouble is they are only just 6 weeks and I don't want to give them anything too strong.

True. Hope it heals OK. :)

Good luck, I expect a general anti-fungal will be pretty reliable. baby Gp's are so cute. I would love to have them again, but no can do with lifestyle at the moment.

Ours are tiny princesses . Our 14 yo tends to them lovingly and they want for nothing - hot water bottles, alfalfa salad and the cream of the salad box...

Have a look on the "Gorgeous Guineas Website"

They do treatment shampoos and ointments and there are clear warnings if they are not suitable for pregnant sows or babies under 12 weeks (or wheeks as one website describes them)

I did read Iodine can be used (at work I use Betadine spray which is a Povidone Iodine, less likeley to cause a reaction.
I don't think I'd use it on such tiny babies though.

I would suggest you send them over to my house (I've got hotwater bottles in my hoghouse and it's mahoosive) .My 2 adults boars would bonk them eat them love to entertain them

Gorgeous Guineas. STOP IT! Who knew there was a whole guinea pig world out there.

Hmn, well our Princesses will consider you kind offer of humping hospitality and get back to you when they reach, ahem, full age...

It might be worth a trip to the vet just to check .
Fungal infections, ringworm, mange mites (and there are different types-3 IIRC) are common and have different treatments.

A skin scraping and a view under the microscope can be the differential diagnosis you might need. I hope you get the result from the treatment you are using. But you could end up spending a fortune on treatments anyway.

One of my old GP (my first one) had a stress excema brought on by bullying from his wifey.

But make sure your vet is cavy savvy. So many aren't.

My boars are so virtuous they make the Jonas Brothers look like Cassanova/Warren Beatty

I don't think they'd know what to do with a little female piggie .

But the Gorgeous Guinea is brilliant. I need to buy some to wash the hogs (I'm using a Pet Range shampoo at the moments but I do worry about the lathering agents and perfume agents)

There is so much out there on T'Interweb. Just prepare to be dazzled.
Have you tried Snugglepads? Microwave silicone disc type heatpad. Not as warm as a hotwater bottle, but they keep the heat well and they're flat. Easier to sit on.

HOw do I find a cavy-savvy vet though? I am in Brighton and my local vet has a picture of a guinea pig on the website, so they obviously do small furry. Do you think they will say if they are confident with GP, or just take my money?

I looked online all the vets in my area, they list the individual vets expertise and areas of interest.
Some are cat&dog but some will have a rodent speciality.

And look on some of the guinea pig forums, the questions would have been asked and answered.
Often recommendation is the best advert.

(Haven't had to take our boars to the vet yet)

Or:
ask the rescue owner which vet they use.They will take GPs there for check-ups, dental, nail work, neutering.

What colour are your baby GPs? Smooth, rough, long hair?

Aw, 70, ours both have haircuts like Justin Bieber, they can just hang out and chew the alfalfa wallpaper

We've got a snugglepad! They seem to love it.

They're both Rex.

Ooh, I just looked on that Gorgeous Guineas site and they have a photo of exactly what our GP has. Thanks for that, much better than strong chemicals.

I've just gone on the Gorgeous Guineas website and bought a selection of shampoos and one of their creams in mini trial sizes. (approx 20 ml so enough to try it out)

I'll report back once the hogs have been washed with Just for Boars Conditioning Shampoo .
It'll be like that Lynx advert, they'll be lush and all the female rodents for miles around will throw themselves over our fence

canasten liquid/ cream- you can get it at a pharmacy. Dab it on with a cotton bud once a day.

Have to admit, I get a bit despondent at all these threads/ forums going on about how vets know nothing about guinea pigs. True we don't get months of training exclusively devoted to GPs, but dealing with them for 17 years and doing CPD courses (as well as owning a few myself!) has given me some idea. Many "rodentologists" are very scathing about vets, but I'm not sure they would have been able to operate to remove the urinary calculi from a GPs ureters as I had to do a wee while ago. Give us a chance!

I suppose Jooly it depends on where a vets interest lies as well. Some vets I've been to really don't like horses , and TBH in alot of inner city areas they wouldn't be called upon to treat many.
Same goes for exotics.
But when I used to take La Moggie , it was mainly cats and dogs.

Out of all my GPs (I'm on 13 & 14) we only took 2 to the vet.
One with stress eczema and one who was the last of 4 and had to have her teeth trimmed when she got old and quiet.

70is- I do get that some vets don't have a lot of interest. The GP I operated on for the stones had been advised to be PTS by another (older) vet before they came to me. But it sometimes seems we all get tarred with the same brush!

I am NOT a specialist, and I never claim to be. But I enjoy my small furry/ exotics work. It's a bit of a break from the norm. I believe these wee guys should enjoy the same veterinary care as their larger cohorts, and I price to make it affordable for people. As a result, I seem to be seeing a lot of small furries/ reptiles. What I don't know I can research (and often do!) and I call on veterinary specialists for advice/ referral if I need to- I know my limitations! You'd be amazed what you can find- I even found a Snail-specialist vet when I had a problem with a Giant African Land snail!

Just saying that some vets can be interested and helpful, despite having no official specialist qualification- don't dismiss us all!

I've done some on-line searches and looked on guinea-pig forums and I've found a vets practice about 4 miles from me that has a vet with a rodent speciality . He's one of the founder vets so hopefully will still be there if I need to go.

It's not the closest vets, but I would travel to get the vet I needed.

But hopefully our boars won't need the vet. I'm not having them neutered, I can do their claws and they chomp enough hay to whittle their teeth down.
But I've found them just in case.

JoolyJoolyjoo - one slightly grisley question-

How are guinea-pigs PTS? (The ones I had as a child all died at home.)

Injection? or are they put in a sealed box and given a waft of anaesthetic overdose?

Not that I'm wishing it on the boys, just wondering.
TIA

I usually PTS piggies with an intra-abdominal injection. It is relatively painless and works within a few minutes.

Jooly, it's good to hear vets are happy to treat guinea pigs. We just got these piggies for DS but when I was a child in the seventies I had hamsters that I took to the vet and it just seemed a bit like they were 'only hamsters' to them then and they were pretty much always PTS. The vet near us (and we don't have a car) has a pic of a guinea on the website, and so long as they are happy to actually treat GPs that's enough for me.

70 love the image of your boars' flowing locks, they'll be so silky you won't be able to catch them! I may get some of those trial sizes too.

We've been treating ours with canesten and mycozole spray which is easier to get to the spot. The fur is growing back quite well. Her eye is quite slanted on the affected side though, so hoping that will get better as the condition improves.