Fungal Infection? Mites?

[Arielle72]

My new piggy, Oreo, has a weird looking patch of skin right around his oil gland. The skin is red and inflamed looking and there is a black, crusty, flaky material covering the gland itself. I've looked on guinea lynx and the pictures of a dirty oil gland don't seem to be what the problem is. It said that it was possible to get fungal infections in this area. Also, I don't know what the symptoms of mites would be.

He seems to be happy, eating, drinking, running around, popcorning, etc. The area right around the oil gland is tender and he yelps when it is touched.

Right now, he has a vet appt for friday afternoon. I've called this morning and left a message asking if he needed to be seen earlier than that.

Does anyone have any idea of what this could be? Should I wash the area? It seems so tender to the touch, that I don't want to hurt him unnecessarily. Also, if the black crust is a scab of some sort, I don't want to make things worse.

[Arielle72]

The Vet office called back and told me that their exotics vet is only in on Fridays so I can't get an appointment before then. The vets that are there today did not want to make any kind of decision. I guess that is good. They know that they don't know, so don't want to give bad information. They did give me the name of another vet in town that does see guinea pigs more regularly.

I'm currently leaning towards just waiting until Friday since he seems to be in good spirits. He's eating, drinking, and playing just fine. If that stops today, I'll call the other vet tomorrow morning (or tonight for an emergency visit if necessary).

Does this seem reasonable to everyone? I really want opinions of folks with a lot more experience with cavies than me.

Thanks.

[paula.m.moore]

I think if this were my pig and he was eating, drinking and otherwise acting normally I would wait a couple days until he could see a vet with guinea experience. Have you checked his weight to make sure he isn't losing?

The symptoms of mites would be intense scratching and if it were bugging him that much he would be scratching at it constantly, but it wouldn't just be the one area, he'd be itchy all over.

[Ly&Pigs]

I wouldn't bathe the area until you know what you are dealing with. If it is mite related, bathing will make it worse as it aggrevates mites. If it's fungal then you can give the appropriate treatment.

[Arielle72]

Oreo goes to the doctor this afternoon. The black crusty stuff seems to be spreading slightly and he is even more sensitive to having his back end touched. He doesn't even want to be held.

But, when out for floor play time, he's still as silly and active as ever. tyler doesn't popcorn, so I've gotten to see it for the first time with Oreo. Its so cute. Now I understand what everyone is always talking about.

I'll update when we know what's wrong.

[Arielle72]

UPdate on Oreo's skin problem:

He went to the vet on Friday. She looked at his skin problem and took scrapings to culture. She'd never seen anything quite like it before. She thinks its probably fungal, but is not sure. He's on antibiotics to treat the inflamation around the area, which seems to be working. The black area appears to be drying up somewhat as well. We should know in about 3 weeks what it is and what to do about it. In the meantime, its quarantine.

Other that that, he's quite healthy. Good weight, growing well, eating well, etc. No mites, no respiratory problems, no UTI.

He loves his medicine too. He grabs the syringe and tries to eat it, licks all the medicine coating the outside, and generally does his best to get every last drop. I've never had an animal like taking meds before, so this is a welcome change.

He and Tyler know the other is there now and we get very loud, lonely piggy conversations at various times during the day. Its kind of sad really. They want to be together, but still can't even be in the same room.

[pigsforlife]

It depends on the type of medicine as to whether or not they like it. In my experience metacam is loved as it is sweet (according to the vet), and the ABs my vet has given me in the past have been banana flavoured which are loved. Toff does not like her heart meds though, so I mix it into some CC and make a "pellet" which she eats off a spoon. Goodluck with your boy!

[Arielle72]

The fungal cultures came back negative. The vet has absolutely no clue what the problem was. However, the antibiotics have cleared it up and quarantine is over tonight! We will be doing piggy intros tonight, so wish us luck! They've been able to "talk" to each other for a while now, so I think they want to be together.