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Mites Important question about mites!

smn1311

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So I'm fairly certain my guinea pigs have mites as they've been scratching and biting themselves and I was wondering how long mites can go untreated because I've already made an appointment with the vet for Friday which is five days away (Sunday in Australia) will they be okay for five days? They haven't had any hair loss or any other symptoms, just the scratching and the biting and it seems to get a little worse every day, the scratching has become particularly frequent, they scratch every 10 or so minutes for about half an hour and then stop for an hour or two and then start scratching again. Since the vet is an hour away I had to be reasonably certain that they had mites before I made the appointment, I'm just a little worried that something will happen to them if they go untreated for the next five days. I've heard that Ivermectin can be used to treat mites but as far as I know, that can't be bought over the counter here I need to make a consultation to get it and Friday was the soonest I could make one.
 

Soecara

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Ivermectin is available over the counter here in Australia, it just isn't commonly stocked. I get my ivermectin through my local bird club, they sell a small 20mL bottle of it for something like $8. There is no other local source of it for me so if I didn't get it through the bird club I would have to get a much larger bottle and order it online or get one of my local fodder stores to order it in.

As for waiting 5 days, given it sounds like they are only in the early stages of an infestation there should be no problem with waiting that period of time. Do keep in mind they will need at least three treatments, each a week apart, with Ivermectin so ask your vet to give you enough for all of the doses or you will have to make repeat trips to the vet.

Alternatively you can ask the vet to treat them with / treat them yourself with Revolution, which is also available over the counter here in Australia (Australia is the only country I know of where Revolution is available over the counter). Revolution only requires one dose and it will last for a month, for more info about using Revolution on guinea pigs read this link https://www.guinealynx.info/antiparasitics.html#revolution
 

smn1311

Active Member
Cavy Slave
Joined
Nov 5, 2016
Posts
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Joined
Nov 5, 2016
Messages
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Ivermectin is available over the counter here in Australia, it just isn't commonly stocked. I get my ivermectin through my local bird club, they sell a small 20mL bottle of it for something like $8. There is no other local source of it for me so if I didn't get it through the bird club I would have to get a much larger bottle and order it online or get one of my local fodder stores to order it in.

As for waiting 5 days, given it sounds like they are only in the early stages of an infestation there should be no problem with waiting that period of time. Do keep in mind they will need at least three treatments, each a week apart, with Ivermectin so ask your vet to give you enough for all of the doses or you will have to make repeat trips to the vet.

Alternatively you can ask the vet to treat them with / treat them yourself with Revolution, which is also available over the counter here in Australia (Australia is the only country I know of where Revolution is available over the counter). Revolution only requires one dose and it will last for a month, for more info about using Revolution on guinea pigs read this link https://www.guinealynx.info/antiparasitics.html#revolution

Okay, thanks so much! I think I might wait and take them to the vet and if I find that I might need more I'll order some online as well so I have more for the future.
 
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