Weird Hairloss

[jakkismagic]

This is something that happened a few months ago, but important non-the-less.

My two boys were living in their temporary cage (for 2 months) that was located in the worst of places, under my desk that was in my (no door/non-walk in) closet. The area was pretty closed off from my room light, got no sun, and the air was stagnant. They were taken out everyday to play and get fresh air. Halfway through them living in the temporary pen I noticed something weird. Mercutio lost a patch of hair about 2"x2" on his left side and Sandcrab lost all the hair under his chin. They never scratched at their bald spots. The skin was clear with no signs of a fungal infection. It looked like they just had their hair fall completely out in one patch! To be safe I called my vet and he told me to just use a topical anti-fungal for a week or so just incase. Well the anti-fungal did nothing after two weeks and when I stopped using it all I had to do was wait another week and all the hair just grew back.

During that time I did not make any changes in their diet (pellets, alfalfa hay, and 2 cups of balanced veggies a day -1 cup each-), the bedding was the same brand of Aspen I have always used, no new toys were introduced, and their were no changes in the environment in my house either.

Does anyone think they know what might have happened/what it may be/ what caused it? They are fine now, not a single sign of the hair loss incident.

[AnimalHouse36]

Could the two of them have fought by pulling at eachothers hair?

I hope you got them out of that closet by the way! ;)

[rabbitsncavyluv]

have they been treated for mites ? Or scurvy?

[jakkismagic]

Originally Posted by AnimalHouse36

Could the two of them have fought by pulling at eachothers hair?

I hope you got them out of that closet by the way! ;)

I thought that may have happened too, but the hair was completly gone, like they never had hair there in the first place.

I did get them out of the closet, they are now in the middle of my room just left of the door. So they get to see everyone that comes in and everything that goes on. Plus they get sunshine from the nearby window.

Originally Posted by rabbitsncavyluv

have they been treated for mites ? Or scurvy?

They get plenty of Vitamin C and like I said there has been no change in diet, so I know it wasn't scurvy. When I talked with my vet she said it didn't sound like any mite she has ever encountered, pluss if it was mites it wouldn't have gone away so suddenly.

For a photo reference here is....
the old pen:
http://www.guineapigcages.com/photos.../medium/24.jpg

and the new pen:
http://www.guineapigcages.com/photos...m/IMG_2925.JPG

(The actual photos were to big to post)

[rabbitsncavyluv]

Mites can lay dormant and flare up at times of stress.

[jakkismagic]

Originally Posted by rabbitsncavyluv

Mites can lay dormant and flare up at times of stress.

When the mother of Sandcrab came into my house she had been cleared of her mites three months earlier. When Mercutio came into the house he was also given a check-up and cleared of mites. So unless they beamed in from space I highly doubt it was mites.

There was no itching, no dryness, no skin color change, nothing. It was like the hair fell out then a few weeks later it all grew back. Their attitude didn't change, they acted like nothing happened.

[Drawingwords]

Were they in a closed off room? Was the air dryer because if it was, that may have been the reason. Some cats and dogs lose their hair because of temperature/air pressure changes. I may be tottttttaaaallllly off but I just thought I'd toss that around.

Oh yea, and alopecia could be brought on by stress too. Actual pulling of the hair by themselves.

[jakkismagic]

Originally Posted by Drawingwords

Were they in a closed off room? Was the air dryer because if it was, that may have been the reason. Some cats and dogs lose their hair because of temperature/air pressure changes. I may be tottttttaaaallllly off but I just thought I'd toss that around.

Oh yea, and alopecia could be brought on by stress too. Actual pulling of the hair by themselves.

You know what I think you may have hit the head on the nail here.

They had been moved to a darker, slightly damper, area with no breeze, for a most of summer due to space issues. Now that I think about it they started getting the hair back when I started leaving all my windows open and set the fan on the highest level, increasing cirulation. They have been moved to a different pen and a different location since adn have not showed any signs of hair loss. So it may have been a stress and heat of summer thing.

[PiggieMamaKelly]

Wait, your pig's name is Sandcrab? Ha! What a great name!!

[Haley0489]

I would think it has something to do with them being in a closet, less sunlight = poorer health? Just going out on a limb though. If they seem fine then don't worry about it. It's always possible they got into a tift and pulled it out themselves.

And just to clear up the thing about mites, even if you treat them, a few can lay dormant under the skin [away from treatment] and in times of stress will come out and start reproducing. Bam! Mite infestation. But again, no other symptoms, don't sweat it.

[jakkismagic]

Originally Posted by PiggieMamaKelly

Wait, your pig's name is Sandcrab? Ha! What a great name!!

Yeah, whenever you pick him up he burrows into your clothing, elbow, armpit, it doesn't matter as long as her can burrow (just like a Sandcrab into the sand). Then when he is as comfy as can be he 'giggles', I have never her the noise before, it is like a mix of the 'i like that' noise and the noise males make when trying to impress a female. We have found that if you make strange noises when he is burrowed he will giggle as well, like it tickles him for something.

Our other pigs were all Romeo and Juliet characters we had Rosalyn and Juliet (a mother daughter pair that my parents made me give to a local guinea pig rescue) and Mercutio (the father of Juliet and Sandcrab). Sandcrab was supposed to be Romeo but Sandcrab fit him better.

[PiggieMamaKelly]

That's a great name. I know just what you mean with the burrowing. It is quite like a sandcrab.