Possible Mites or Fungus?

[rocky41102]

We have a guinea pig that we just got a few days ago from Petsmart. It's a male and he's young. Today when I got home my husband showed me a small (about dime sized) bald spot. It's behind his ear, near his shoulder. I included a few pictures of the spot. He's eating and drinking well, and is active. He has itched a few times but it doesn't seem excessive. I would have noticed if he was itching a lot or what seemed like too much. We don't have any other guinea pigs. This spot was not there yesterday or if it was, it wasn't nearly as big and it wasn't crusty or thickened like it is now. I don't see any other spots of thinning hair either. Any ideas or suggestions? I have a few supplies like animax around if that might help for the time being (we have dogs and cats).

[bpatters]

Looks like fungus to me. You can bathe him with Nizoral or Malaseb shampoo, then treat with Monistat or Lotrimin cream. Just use a small dab of cream and rub it in very well so it won't get off on his paws where he can lick it.

Fungus is very contagious, even to you. You should wear gloves when handling him, and wash your hands carefully afterwards. See www.guinealynx.info/fungus.html, and pay careful attention to the cage cleaning instructions.

[Katie..]

I recently got my guinea pig from pets mart too. But I'm from texas...
My little boy had one just like that on the top of his head and his ears ended up drying.
I recomend taking yours to the vet.
I got ring worm from him.

[zoenanai]

Does that area have any kind of texture to it? Or is it smooth and just discolored? My Silas has an area like that behind one ear, but I thought it was just a hairless area with dark colored skin. The vet didn't mention it when we were in last week. Either she didn't notice or wasn't concerned with it. Hmm...might have to read more on this. Thanks for sharing pics.

[zoenanai]

Ok... From what I read, my Silas has just a small, smooth, hairless area behind his ear. Really good info on the GuineaLynx page. :)

[rocky41102]

Thanks for the info. I'm going to check him again and then see if I have any cream here to use. I'm just hoping if it is a fungus, the kids don't get it-all the info on cleaning and treating and quarantine seems very stressful. We have the option of returning him to the store but I feel horrible doing that since we like the little guy. I checked around for a vet, but there's none in our area that treats guinea pigs so I might have to check further.

[bpatters]

That picture is NOT the bald spot behind a guinea pig's ear.

And for heaven's sake don't take him back to the pet store -- he'll likely go in the back room and get no treatment at all. Pet stores have an abominable reputation about taking care of sick animals.

Treating him isn't much of a deal, and you just need to clean the large cage once and throw out any wooden items. If you separate him with grids or put him in another cage, it's only his cage you have to worry about.

[bpatters]

@Katie.. ., you said:

I recently got my guinea pig from pets mart too. But I'm from texas...

What does being from Texas have to do with getting a pet from PetSmart?

[rocky41102]

We are going to keep him. He's very good with the kids and seems friendly so he's staying here. I washed his cage last night when I cleaned it out but I don't have any fungal cleaner to use yet so I'll have to search that out today. He does have a wooden bendable bridge that he just loves but I guess that will have to get thrown out since it's wooden. I found some cream to put on and did that already this morning.

That picture is NOT the bald spot behind a guinea pig's ear.

And for heaven's sake don't take him back to the pet store -- he'll likely go in the back room and get no treatment at all. Pet stores have an abominable reputation about taking care of sick animals.

Treating him isn't much of a deal, and you just need to clean the large cage once and throw out any wooden items. If you separate him with grids or put him in another cage, it's only his cage you have to worry about.

[pinky]

I would contact Petsmart and let them know you purchased a guinea pig with ringworm. All of theirs might be exposed now and if they don't disinfect the cages, they'll keep spreading it.....Go to your drug store and buy Monistat. I wouldn't wait to treat him. It spreads by spores.

[grace505]

We are going to keep him. He's very good with the kids and seems friendly so he's staying here. I washed his cage last night when I cleaned it out but I don't have any fungal cleaner to use yet so I'll have to search that out today. He does have a wooden bendable bridge that he just loves but I guess that will have to get thrown out since it's wooden. I found some cream to put on and did that already this morning.

You can clean using a bleach/water solution, i've heard AT LEAST one part bleach to ten parts water and all the way to one part bleach to forty parts water. I used a 1/20 solution myself and rinsed really, really, really well (Lynx says to wait fifteen minutes before rinsing) and when everything dried i smelled it all I used a half and half white vinegar/water solution to wash it again to make sure all the bleach was gone. If you just got him, you should ask them to pay for your costs, i know they do that sometimes for other issues if you have to go to the vet or whatnot, and if it's just this, i wouldn't worry about it, but if anything else shows up in short order, URI, etc, i would try. Good luck!

[rocky41102]

Do you handle the guinea pig while you're treating him? Or keep him off limits?

[grace505]

Do you handle the guinea pig while you're treating him? Or keep him off limits?

I believe that the advice is to wear gloves and protective clothing when handling him/her. My boys have a patch only on their ears that i'm treating with Lamisil and i wear a disposable glove for applying the cream, but other than that, i don't, but that's just me. I know some people have stated they use an old shirt to wear when handling the pig, a button-up worn backwards, so you don't have to pull it over your face, etcetera. Fungus such as ringworm can be passed from pig to humans so beware of that. It's the same treatment and it's really not a huge deal, but people go oooh, ringworm. It sounds worse that it is and is actually pretty common with kids, etcetera, because God knows where and what they play with! :)