Hi everyone! We just adopted our first cavy from a friend a week ago yesterday. We've mostly been leaving him to his own devices to settle in, but have been handling him more the last couple days. Well tonight I noticed something creamy white in what I assumed was a cowlic on his head. I looked closer and saw several in the small spot and noticed they were moving. Well a ton of Google time brought me to the conclusion we have running lice.
He seems to be eating well, he was being fed mostly hay and pellets with occasional veggies but we are slowly changing him to a more varied diet. I've been feeding him about a 1/4 of red romaine lettuce and some freshly picked grass so far in addition to his hay and pellets. He's drinking fine, though I'm not sure if it's a lot or not. He hides in his hut a lot and seems to sleep a lot of the day away. He doesn't really like to be held and I almost never hear him making happy piggie noises.
I know from all my searches that the general census is to treat with Advantage for lice, but I'm getting some conflicting info that Ivernmectin topically does and does not work for lice. Thanks to my Google binge I'm now also super concerned about mites for no real reason and I know Ivernmectin treats mites. So if given topically, should I just treat with Ivernmectin to "kill two birds with one stone" or treat what I know for sure we have going with Advantage? Oreo shows no real signs of mites (no hair loss that I can detect, no excessive itching, no scabs or bumps that I've found on his skin)
I'm working on finding an exotic vet in my area but would like to get his lice treatment started this weekend.
He seems to be eating well, he was being fed mostly hay and pellets with occasional veggies but we are slowly changing him to a more varied diet. I've been feeding him about a 1/4 of red romaine lettuce and some freshly picked grass so far in addition to his hay and pellets. He's drinking fine, though I'm not sure if it's a lot or not. He hides in his hut a lot and seems to sleep a lot of the day away. He doesn't really like to be held and I almost never hear him making happy piggie noises.
I know from all my searches that the general census is to treat with Advantage for lice, but I'm getting some conflicting info that Ivernmectin topically does and does not work for lice. Thanks to my Google binge I'm now also super concerned about mites for no real reason and I know Ivernmectin treats mites. So if given topically, should I just treat with Ivernmectin to "kill two birds with one stone" or treat what I know for sure we have going with Advantage? Oreo shows no real signs of mites (no hair loss that I can detect, no excessive itching, no scabs or bumps that I've found on his skin)
I'm working on finding an exotic vet in my area but would like to get his lice treatment started this weekend.