Behavior Something is wrong somewhere..

Amanda Belle · Aug 23, 2015

I think I should start a little bit about 3 months old baby Nera..

2 weeks ago, I brought home baby Nera. Little Nera got some fungal on her back and within 3 days lose most of her hair. Even worse losing weight. I did what I should do when seeing my baby losing weight during weekends. Thank God she made it through the night and we went to the vets the next day where the doctor did a skin scrape on her but couldn't find fungal/ mites and told me that she might be having vitamin C deficiency. After that, Nera seems to be improving her weight and starts eating normally but still losing hair. So, the next week.. we went back and got her treated with ivermectin just in case. Now, baby Nera starts refusing Critical Care because she thinks she's very busy with her hays and the biggest problem is, she refuse to drink from her bottle. She would call up whee eking loudly so I would come and feed her water. The worst part is, she waited until I come back from work everyday to feed her water.

And here's a video.. something that is unusual. I hope someone can give me an idea because I think vets in Malaysia are not really helping. I hope, this is not a sign of URI.
https://youtu.be/k0JUsVlStQs

Tobias2189 · Aug 23, 2015

I might be way wrong but I think this is normal. From the little I know, some guinea pigs start with hair and then lose it. It starts at the face and moves back. This is what it looks like is happening. I don't remember what it's called but they're rare.

Edit: I would like to note this is something I read recently but I'm not 100% it's true. I've not been able to find the source I read it from.

Amanda Belle · Aug 23, 2015

:sad: Nera does show signs of improvements. She eats... and eat and eat and fall asleep. Then woke up and eat again. I just don't know whether her eating and sleeping/ resting while at it is normal or not. I couldn't find any source of this behaviour.

Tobias2189 · Aug 23, 2015

Guinea pigs do have weird hours. It's not set like ours is. They'll wake up, do some things get tired and rest. They'll do this all day/night but they do happen to be more active during morning/night times. They also can sleep with there eyes open from what I've read.

Amanda Belle · Aug 23, 2015

And her breathing.. seems fast when she does this too..

Soecara · Aug 23, 2015

Her skin does look healthy on the hairless sections, it is possible she could be a werewolf guinea pig but it is best to rule out all other possibilities before coming to that conclusion. I would start her on a vitamin C supplement just to err on the side of caution as deficiency is a possibility and it is easy and safe to treat (read this link about scurvy https://www.guinealynx.info/scurvy.html ). Also continue with the ivermectin treatment to rule out mites, she will need two or three more doses of ivermectin with a week between each dose to get rid of any potential mites (read https://www.guinealynx.info/mites.html and https://www.guinealynx.info/ivermectin.html ).

However in the video she is acting strangely, to me it seems like she feels uncomfortable/in pain. Her breathing is slightly heavy but that could also be caused by pain/discomfort. I can't say for certain what is going on but the way she is behaving certainly indicates something is amiss.

Rocky5 · Aug 23, 2015

@Tobias2189 You're talking about a Baldwin?
@Amanda Belle Is it possible she is drinking from her bottle when you aren't looking? She would be severely dehydrated if she had to wait for you to get back from work. If it's mites then you should just treat it instead of going to the vet. Skin scrapes are painful and inconclusive.

Amanda Belle · Aug 23, 2015

Exactly... she does that. Eating, and then while she's at it.. literally rest. There was a time, she did the same thing and then falls down and sleep. I'm telling you, literally falls and sleep. when I touch her, she woke up and continues to eat. I'm worried about this kid. .

Amanda Belle · Aug 23, 2015

@Rocky5 she isn't.. the bottle is full every day... she wheeks for a drink..

Rocky5 · Aug 23, 2015

Is the bottle stuck? You could try a water bowl.

wombats · Aug 23, 2015

Mm...I don't know much about guinea pig health but there's too many things off with her behavior. I did not watch the video however but it certainly sounds like SOMETHING is off. Sadly I'm not experienced enough to figure out what that could be. Maybe @bpatters can help or one of the other admins or experienced people can.

I hope it's nothing too bad, whatever it is.

Amanda Belle · Aug 23, 2015

:sad: no.. the bottle is fine.. yes, her behaviour worries me. Maybe I should try the water bowl.

Rocky5 · Aug 23, 2015

You could also rinse her veggies and give her sliced cucumbers

bpatters · Aug 23, 2015

The behavior looks fine to me, although it doesn't look like she's got nearly enough hay.

@Tobias2189 said, "From the little I know, some guinea pigs start with hair and then lose it. It starts at the face and moves back." This is NOT true, except in the case of Baldwins and possibly skinnies. Please do NOT post recommendations that you're not sure about and that you can't substantiate with a link to the source. It just worries people unnecessarily.

That pig looks like it has a case of mites. @Amanda Belle, you should know that skin scrapings miss the mites half the time, and the pig has mites even if the scraping doesn't show it. All the scraping does is hurt the pig and your pocketbook, and the treatment is the same whatever the test shows -- treat the pig for mites. Next time, if there is one, just skip the scraping and go straight to the ivermectin.

Amanda Belle · Aug 23, 2015

I had the vets put it on her yesterday and brought home some. I still need to go back 2 weeks later for her check up. The doctor gave me this fungal cream called Triderm. Anyone heard of it? I had it on one of my guinea pig, Hunter some time ago. He was okay.. but baby Nera shows signs of allergies. I stopped after that one application. Was given Malaseb for her baths too.

Amanda Belle · Aug 23, 2015

Okay... I'll try with the cucumbers too.

bpatters · Aug 23, 2015

What signs of allergies is she showing that are different from the way she looked before? Fungal creams don't normally cause allergic reactions.

MetalicPheonix · Aug 23, 2015

Take her to the vet just to be sure she fine

Amanda Belle · Aug 24, 2015

Her skin turns red-red-ish minutes after the cream applications and she started scratching. Yea.. I find it weird as well, but baby Nera does show signs of allergies.

MetalicPheonix · Aug 24, 2015

How bad is it?

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