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Small pets

New guinea pig has bald patch

4 replies

Fadingfast · 15/10/2012 19:53

We are new to guineas :-).

We picked up two boars from a rescue centre a week ago. The younger one of the pair had a small eye injury, which the lady thought had been caused by scratching following a bath she had given him (she thought it had made his skin dry). We have diligently been putting sudacrem on the injury site, which is now dry and appears to have healed but there now seems to be quite a large bald patch below the eye. He seems happy otherwise, eating and drinking well. I did notice him scratching it a bit today.

I have read that guineas can be prone to mites or fungal infections. Do you think it could be one of these, and if so how do you tell which and what can we treat it with? If it's better to take him to the vet, then we will do but if it's relatively easy to treat then we'd really appreciate any advice.

Thank you!

OP posts:
Littlemisspoorly · 15/10/2012 19:55

I would suggest the vet has a look, that way you wont waste any time trying to treat something that could spread quickly if misdiagnosed. Enjoy your guinea Smile

MummifiedBonkeyMollocks · 15/10/2012 23:02

I would get them to the vet for a once over.

If its anything like mites then it needs to be treated quickly to avoid really poorly piggies.

Are they getting plenty of vit c through fruit and veg?

Fadingfast · 17/10/2012 20:43

Took him to the vets today, who said he couldn't really tell what it might be, as the skin itself looks fine and doesn't seem to be irritated. It's quite a small patch so he said to keep a close eye on it and go back in a week or two if it gets any worse. He thought it was possible it was ringworm, but difficult to diagnose at this stage. He gave both Guineas a good check over, which was reassuring.

I think their diet is ok. They have fortified Muesli and I'm giving them a good mix of fruit and veg each day, although it's difficult to tell if they are both getting an equal share!

OP posts:
Littlemisspoorly · 19/10/2012 19:15

We used to drop a small soluable vit c tablet in our piggie's water. Advice from a now retired vet. Hope they're OK now.

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