Conditions: Being precautious:mites/mange

[Africa]

Hi,

I might be being over precautious but I want to be safe rather than sorry:

Have a couple of questions that I cant find the answer to (searched the forum):

1) Is it normal for guinea pigs to scratch occassionally? (sorry if this is a dumb question ;-) but my boys will scratch and shake their head ocassionally
2) My one boy has a bald spot just in front of his one ear, it is a small spot, and suspect it might be from being in the wars with the other boy since is his the submissive one, but I dont want to misdiagnose it if it could be some mange/mites

3) So I want to know is it possible to do PREVENTATIVE treatment, with Ivermectin or something? Or can you only treat with this stuff once you know for sure they are infected i.e can you put this stuff on them if they are healthy?

Thanks in advance

[Peggysu]

You can treat. It can't hurt them so if you suspect it just treat it. Oh and yes guinea pigs do scratch every now and then.

[Africa]

They do have mange mites. I treated them for the first time on Wednesday (24th June), but they are still scratching now. I know that it is suggested to treat your piggies again 7 to 10 days later for the eggs that may hatch. But my question is, can I treat again NOW? This will be 4 days later. So I guess ultimately my question is, can I treat them 3 times with Ivermectin and can I treat 4 days after the initial treatment?

To clarify I want to do this: Already treated on 24 June
Treat today 28th June
Treat again 7 - 10 days later from today ( so the 8th)

Thank you in advance!! :-)

[Peggysu]

I blieve you need to wait until the first of July.