itching

[picklesandmoe]

my pigs wont stop itching. they arent missing any hair, dont have mites, and dont have lice.

[Bella]

I know alot about piggies but I wont pretend to be an expert but here is my opinion, My piggy does have some issues with scratching so i've been looking things up on the net and read that some piggies just scratch alot and like you said if there is no hair missing or other symptoms then you just have a piggy who likes to scratch hehe. My baby girl isnt as fortunate though she does have a patch of hair missing so she has a doctors appointment soon . Hope I helped.

[Ly&Pigs]

Mites are microscopic so you can't see them. If the pig is scratching more than normal, my bet is mites or take them to the vet. Keep in mind that skin scrapings are painful and unless you hit the exact spot the mites are in, you can get a false reading with this test. You can treat yourself following the directions on Guinea Lynx :: Mange Mites. Even if the pigs don't have mites, the treatment will not harm them.

[picklesandmoe]

they did a skin scraping already at the vet I didnt know that thanks. but they said they had no mites or lice and that they went over him very well.

[pigsforlife]

You can not see mites, and a skin scraping is not going to come back positive unless they scrape in the exact spot that the mites are, let alone the fact that they are extremely painful. Therefore you can not rule out mites.

Are you seeing an exotic vet (cavvy savvy vet)? If the vet was cavvy savvy then he/she would treat for mites regardless, as a way of ruling them out.

I recommend Ivermectin which can be brought from a cavvy savvy vet or through a feed store. Dosage is worked out through weight, I *think* it is 0.05ml per kilo and it can be applied topically, orally or through injection. You will need to dose your piggy 3 or so times, spaced 7-10 days apart.

Alternatively you use Revolution for kittens, just a single dose applied topically (behind the ears) will treat them.

[pigsforlife]

I couldnt remember the correct dosage for the life of me, and I needed to ivomec the girls anyway so I looked it up on guinealynx and I found this Guinea Lynx -- Oral Ivermectin Treatment . This works well if your ivermectin is diluted which the vet will do for you.

[Biscuit]

Dr. Fitzgerald at Alameda East told me once that a piece of scotch tape and microscope is more likely to show mites than a painful skin scraping. Not that scotch tape is accurate either, but I think he was primarily expressing a lack of faith in the scraping.

[rabbitsncavyluv]

If you read the mites page at guinealynx, it tells you that skin scrapes are useless. Treat them for mites with ivermectin as a precaution. Mites are painful and can kill.