little hair clumps coming out

[skritters]

Yesterday while petting LSP I noticed a couple of tiny bumps beneath my fingers and inspected them... they turned out to be little flakes of skin with a clump of about 10 hairs on it. These two clumps came from on her back near her rump. I haven't seen this on her before, although she generally doesn't like her rump being scratched and makes unhappy noises when you attempt it. I have seen her biting around that spot for a little while but I've checked that spot before (again, really unhappy noises and obvious discomfort) and found nothing. I checked the rest of her body yesterday and those two were the only two.

Then this morning as I was scratching BMO behind the ears I found the same kind of clump on her. Again, unhappy while I inspected it and it came off.

Could this just be a stress thing? They recently had to fly cargo and come into a new house and a smaller cage (this is just a temporary thing, and they'll be back to their C&C back home sometime in the next two months.)

Neither of them are scratching more than usual, just normal grooming, except for LSP doing the back-biting thing a little bit (not a constant thing.) LSP especially is a heavy shedder but their coats haven't gotten any thinner.

Should I be concerned about this??

[foggycreekcavy]

It sounds like mites to me, especially because of the back biting. Both will need to be treated with ivermectin or Revolution.

[skritters]

urgh. where would they have contracted mites? is it an outdoors thing, could they have gotten it from the lawn?

also, the house I'm staying in has a dog. I don't know if they could've picked these up from her, or if she could from them. If this does turn out to be mites and I treat them, should the dog be treated too?

reading on guinea lynx it says sometimes the mites are dormant until a time of great stress... I wonder if hty've had these a while and they're only just showing themselves after their stressful flight up here.

so: ballpark price for Ivermectin? and does a vet need to be involved in the process? our vet is down in vancouver, and there's only one little vet here who i gather is mostly focused on dogs, cats, etc. Is that where you pick up Ivermectin though? From a vet?

here's a picture of the hair clumps, if that helps someone identify.

[skritters]

also, the insides of her front paws have lost hair- the part of the paw she would groom herself with. could that be connected to this or is that something different?

[skritters]

I gave them a grooming with a fine tooth comb and searched their fur. BMO had no discomfort and rather enjoyed it. Even when I was parting her hair to look at the skin she was fine. No clumps or bumps.

LSP was actually more comfortable than I thought she'd be. I didn't find anymore clumps (I read in another thread these being referred to as "plugs" but I don't know if that's accurate.) She was totally fine with the comb touching her skin, and okay with me parting her hair to check the skin. There were a couple of small spots where if I rubbed it with my finger she squeaked like she didn't like it. In the past though, she's twitched her head around like she wanted to bite the spot when I touched it. Her skin looks fine though, she's not scratching very much, and generally doesn't seem in discomfort.

Could this just be a very mild case of mites that I could nip in the bud? Could she just not like having that area of her body touched? As far as I can remember, she's never been big on rump scratching, but I've never found those "plugs" before.

If treatment is needed, I'm hoping I can do this without the help of a vet. My partner and I have both had a lot of medical expenses ourselves, as well as student loan debt. If the pigs need it, we'll scrounge for it, but it'd really hurt the bank account. I'm hoping, if treatment is needed, that maybe I can get enough help on here to treat her/them myself.

I'm really hoping to get more replies.
Thanks guys

[bpatters]

The little clumps of hair coming out can also be suggestive of fungus. I'd try treating for mites first, and if that doesn't clear it up, or if it gets worse during the three weeks of mites treatment, I'd treat for fungus.

[madelineelaine]

You can treat for mites yourself. You don't need to go to a vet. I just read through a forum on that.

[SpazNMeos momma]

Im actually dealing with mites right now. $130 later I wish someone would have told me the dosage so I could treat at home. My bigger boars is 2.34 lbs and the dosage the vet prescribed for him and the other at 1.98 lbs was .2 ml a week for 3 weeks. You can get ivermectin at feed stores or online. Hope that helps.

[kyntamun]

i bought some ivermectin for my cavy the other day but all the had was the horse stuff . did i get the right stuff for my cavy and if i did how much do i give her its enough for a 250lbs horse and shes only about 1.5lbs. shes got mites on her ear and top of her head and is scratching like crazy. we have only had her for about 3 weeks and my youngest daughter is worried she will die. so i please need some help to make sure i got the right medicne and how much i shoulod give her

[foggycreekcavy]

Those wanting to treat for mites themselves should go to www.guinealynx.info . I usually click on the index, then look for the links to mites. There are sections that tell you what kind of ivermectin you can buy, and also how to figure out the dosage.