VERY flaky skin

[jerbear]

Linny has a large patch on her back where her hair falls out in clumps with flakes attached to the root end of the hairs. He is in his second treatment of Ivermectin shots and the vet is giving him Baytril for a possible secondary skin infection. I don't really feel the vet has an idea what is causing this awful loss of hair and skin problem. Is Baytril a typical method of cure? She looked at the hair under the microscope and didn't see any mites. I am continuing with the round of shots. There are two more weeks left but I'm wondering what the next step might be.

 

[buttercup06]

When i had Holly she had a lot of very dry patches I used Tea Tree Skin Cream and she hasnt had it since

 

[jerbear]

This looks a little worse than just dry skin.; all clumpy and disgusting. Where would I get the tea tree skin cream?

 

[buttercup06]

mine was from a local petstore but you can get them from ebay too and this website gives some good advice too and there products are good

(broken link removed)

Sammy had a reaction to woodshavings too and the tea tree was a godsend

 

[jerbear]

Yeah--part of me wondered if it could possibly be the detergent I use to wash the fleece.

 

[daftscotslass]

This sort of skin can be an indication of fungal problems, particularly if it is not responding to mite treatment. I would continue with the ivermectin anyway. Do not use things like tea tree that will not help if you don't know what is wrong. See Guinea Lynx :: Fungus

 

[VoodooJoint]

I would stay away from products like tea tree oil, eucalyptus oil and other essential oils for the treatment of skin and/or medical problems. Many essential oils are toxic and can cause great harm to you pets. In fact tea tree oil has been found to be toxic to cats so it is likely to be toxic in other animals as well.

That website Samnemma posted has some very poor advice on it. I would not rely on it for medical advice.

Please so look at and take the advice on Guinea Lynx (the website Daftscottlass) posted. The advice on there is much sounder and safer.

 

[buttercup06]

At the end of the day it worked for mine its upto you what you choose to use.

 

[this_lil_piggy]

It sounds to me too, like she just isn't being treated for the right thing. I have a hard time believing this is mites and they haven't responded to oral, topical, nor injected ivermectin. It does sound more like a fungal problem to me too.
I would try treating the area's with some Miconazole cream (monistat 7 etc for yeast infections) until you can get her back into the vets office on Tuesday next week and have them re-evaluate the problem. I would print the page dafts provided about fungus problems and take it to the vet with me. If it were me however, I would not continue to allow the painful ivermectin shots until the vet looks her over again and reads the information from GL. I whole heartedly believe this is not mites and the shots are only stressing her out and causing her pain, for no good reason.

 

[aqh88]

Tea tree oil can be very useful for treating various skin problems but it is quite toxic and very strong. Never use it on any part of an animal where it can find a way to ingest it and never apply it more than once a week. While we use it occasionally on horses(mostly the base of the tails) there are probably much better ways to treat a guinea pig for fungus. If she has finished treatment for mites and not improved I would look into the fungus information and treatments on GL. It might be a good idea to print it out and take it to your vet.