Hair Loss: how can I tell barbering from mites?

[AngieW]

We have two guinea pigs. One is in fine shape. The other one has hair loss behind his ears and patches of fur that are shorter than the surrounding fur. He doesn't appear to be itchy and the patches without fur aren't weepy - just furless.

I think that our other guinea pig is chewing off his hair, but I don't really know. They seem to be very affectionate towards each other. We've never seen or heard any signs of fighting.

How can I tell whether this is a mite infection or just barbering?

[Paula]

You'd need to get a vet to confirm, but it won't hurt to treat them with ivermectin.

[juliaaa]

Well a lot of guinea pigs have no hair behind their ears. Did he have hair there before and now it's bald? I would get him checked by your vet just in case.

[AngieW]

Yes, he had fur there before and doesn't now. I would expect both of the guinea pigs to have furless patches if it was mites.

The one that has the furless patches (which are behind the ears, but there was fur there before) has always been more passive. The other one is definitely dominant.

I'll call the vet's office tomorrow and see what they say.

[Ly&Pigs]

Originally Posted by AngieW

Yes, he had fur there before and doesn't now. I would expect both of the guinea pigs to have furless patches if it was mites.

Not necessarily. One could have the mites longer therefore having them worse and signs would show up faster.

[pendragonbooks]

My pig did have mites. His skin was red in color (not the normal light pink it normally is), his back was hairless, and many other spots were as well. His back was also very itchy. When I would touch his back he would try to scratch it.
I took him to the vet and he did a skin scrapping. I had to clean his cage with a type of medicine to kill all the mite eggs if there were any in the cage. I also had a special shampoo to bathe him in every day for a week. His hair is back now and is back to normal. It is weird though, he doesn't like to me rub his back. I can touch it, I just cant move the hair on his back. He acts like it still bothers him, but I know the mites are gone to the fact that his hair is back.

[Ly&Pigs]

Originally Posted by pendragonbooks

I took him to the vet and he did a skin scrapping. I had to clean his cage with a type of medicine to kill all the mite eggs if there were any in the cage. I also had a special shampoo to bathe him in every day for a week.

Skin scrapings are very painful for the pigs and shouldn't be done. Shampoos for mites are dangerous. He should have been treated with either Ivermectin, Advantage or Revolution. This vet does not sound cavy savvy at all. What is the name of the Shampoo and what is the medicine to clean his cage with? I've never heard of a vet giving something to clean the cage with. Usually vinegar or diluted bleach works wonders.

[rabbitsncavyluv]

It's likely your pig still has mites. You should treat with ivermectin. Shampoos are not effective.

[AngieW]

The vet did a scraping on the piggie who was had hairloss and she found one mite. She gave both piggies a shot of ivermectin and we are supposed to take them back again in another week for another shot. She said that two shots one week apart are usually enough to clear the infection, but sometimes a 3rd is necessary.

We are supposed to clean the cage completely every day. We use towels, so that part is easy. We'll take out the previous day's towel, clean out the cage and put in a new one. We normally do a full cage clean just 1x/week, shake out the towels every day, and replace the towels every 2nd day.

For this week, we have taken out the ramp so we only have the bottom floor of the cage to deal with.

Do you know how long mites can live without food? We have carpet nailed to the ramp and I don't have another strip of carpet to put on it. I have no idea how I could clean it either. If mites don't live long without food, then I'll just leave the ramp out in the sun for 1-2 weeks and then put it back in so the piggies will have their 2nd floor again.

[Ly&Pigs]

Mites cannot live without a living host. Their food is the skin and blood of the pigs.

[claire]

One of my pigs was barbering his back and itching a lot while the other had no signs of mites at all. I treated them both with ivermectin and hey presto! back to normal.