Okay, so now I've got her on just the right diet and in just the right type of cage....
We still have the problem of mites. I'm pretty sure she DOES have mites, the reason you can't visually see the problem in the pictures is because I didn't show you pics of her behind:
And they are getting worse and she is losing more fur every day. The good news is that I got her to eat veggies last night! I think the problem was that I gave her a bigger dish (about 2 inches tall), so she wasn't bothering to stick her nose in it. I got her a nice shallow ceramic dish (it's kind of like a deep plate) and gave her a 7-lettuce mix, baby carrot, cherry tomato (cut in chunks), cucumber slice, alfalfa sprouts, and green pepper. All she ate was all the lettuce and carrot, but it's a start! At least I can just give whatever she doesn't eat that's been sitting out a while to my millipede - he won't mind if it's not fresh. Do you think I'll have a better chance of getting her to eat it if it's in tiny bits? I could put my food processor to use...in fact, I think that would be easier if I could make her a little veggie mix (without lettuce, I think she would like that to be in whole leaves) every couple of days and keep it in the fridge. What do you think?
Also, on the subject of veggies. I was asking about veggie-feeding regimens on other forums, and the people on one of them says that veggies can just be fed as more of a snack and that they're not as important as the hay and pellets. They told me that as long as you had quality pellets with added vitamin C, it would be fine. When I questioned them saying that I was told on other forums (mainly this one, as it's the most active) that veggies are a MUST and a very important part of their diet, they told me that that was probably so because it's a very good way of providing vitamin C. So I gathered this:
If you feed a somewhat crappy mix, feed lots of veggies. If you feed a very good, quality mix, you don't need to be as strict with veggies, because their food provides most of it (Vit-C). Of course, either way I think a GP should get veggies. Even with a quality mix, supplementing the diet with veggies will
ensure they get their daily dose of C. But I'm wondering if maybe the feeding a cup a day thing came from people not being able to find good guinea pig pellets? And so everyone just does it that way even if they have good pellets? Just curious.
Oh, and I weighed her yesterday again, and I must've been pressing down on the scale slightly in an effort to get her to sit still (she sits still now that she's not afraid of the scale...haha) before, because then it said she weighed about 210-215 grams. When I weighed her today, she weighed 225 grams (8 ounces)!! =D
So she is gaining weight. I'm still afraid, though, that it will be too late by the time she gains half her weight to treat her, since when I first got her, she didn't have any bald patches and just looked sort of dandruff-y. And at this rate, it will take her maybe 10-14 days to even get to 12 ounces. So I have questions about Ivermectin.
First, I found this treatment.
Guinea Lynx.
Then I found this one.
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The thing I noticed about these was that they were different forms of Ivermectin. The topical stuff you have to dose very carfully, and it's called Ivomec. The oral stuff you can overdose up to 40 times the amount and it still has little chance of adversely affecting your pig. These are called Equimec, Zimecterin, and Ivercare.
Then there's this.
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Now I realize that this is a treatment for
mice and not guinea pigs. But the thing is, this is apparently a different form of topical Ivermectin than GL says to use. This is also the exact stuff I have, and I have successfully treated my mice with it. I have drenched mice in this stuff (of course making sure it was about the reccommended dosage; it's hard to with a spray bottle) and had to rub it directly on the affected area to get rid of their lice. The first time I used it, it didn't work; I think I either wasn't getting enough or it wasn't able to penetrate to their skin before they cleaned it off of themselves.
Anyway, since this treatment can be used for such a tiny animal as a mouse (again, I know, different species), what do you think of it being used for a small cavy? Do you think a vet would know much about it? Or do you think I should just wait it out and let her suffer? D: