Running lice or fur mites

[Krelean]

Can anyone tell me the difference between Running Lice and Fur Mites?
I posted something a week or so ago about my female Lucy, an Abby, going limp and kicking if you touch her backside. Someone mentioned checking her for Lice.

I was holding her today and I noticed what looked like dry skin, flakes. I started to look closer and watch them individually for movement. Sure enough, one was moving that I saw. It's sorta elongated in shape and a white/yellow color. It wasn't moving very quick. What is it? How do I treat the two I have in the same cage?

I have one rat, 2 cats and humans-I use fleece and wash it weekly. On the fleece I use bath mats that get changed every other day. I buy my hay from a feed store. The pigs have been on the carpet in my house just 3x since we got them, but my cats roam free. Are either transferrable to the cats? to us? I need any info I can get.

I have already called the rescue they came from, that gave them a clean bill of health. How did they get this???

[Krelean]

I'm not sure it's anything other than dry skin. We've had the pigs 1 month and the previous owner bathed them, not sure what with. I have no itching, no nothing. I just checked her and the other pig again, I don't see anything. If I ruffle up her fur, I see more bits of white flakes, but nothing else. The rescue states they did treat them for both lice and mites as a precaution before we got them.

[partygirlha]

mites are too small for you to see so it's not mites.
since your pig is suffering from the lice (or whatever she has) you need to take her (and her cage mate) to a vet who can identify what she/they have and determine how to treat it.

little critters can be cured with proper meds so it's not a big deal as long as they get seen by a vet and treated.

[Krelean]

Ok, just pulled one off her, my husband says he knows what lice looks like and it's lice. The color is like custard under a jewelry loop. What do I do?

[bpatters]

See http://www.guinealynx.info/lice.html, and search the Guinea Lynx forums for lice.

[foggycreekcavy]

Yes, read the information bpatters posted. You can treat lice very easily with Advantage, but you need to follow the dosing instructions at Guinea Lynx.

[SweetiePig]

My guinea pigs had lice. I treated them myself with ivermectin. I went to a farm store and bought some liquid ivermectin in the big bottle (blue stuff) and got a syringe with a needle tip from my vet and gave the correct dosage according to the pigs weight which is listed on guinea lynx (can someone post the website, I cant seam to find it) 4 times, once a week for 3/4 weeks and it cleared it right up! Hope this helps!

[Krelean]

You guys ROCK!!!!!!