ivermectin didn't help...?

[cinnyminny]

I thought my pigger had mites by the way she was acting: biting herself, itching herself a lot, not enjoying lap time...etc. So I figured I would give her a couple rounds of ivermectin to see if the symptoms would go away. I've given her 2 treatments and so far I haven't noticed any changes. She still eats just fine, runs her piggy laps, popcorns. But she still squirms a lot when we pet her/hold her and bites our fingers and constantly bites our shirts if we're holding her. She still has been itching and biting herself a lot but no hair has fallen on excessively besides some light and normal shedding. I came to my own conclusion that she either doesn't have mites, or she's not responding to the oral treatment that I've been giving her. Should I try doing the topical treatment instead? I know she should probably go to the vet but I want opinions before I spend more money than I need to. Thanks!

 

[cavyinhawaii]

I am not going to be much help. Itching could be a reaction to something, fungal infection, bug bite, etc. It could be so many different things. If you tried Ivermectin and it didn't work my best idea is that you might need prescription meds and a proper diagnosis.

 

[Fazie]

I know you don't want to spend the money but really the best thing is take her to the vet. You've already tried 1 thing that didn't work, don't put yourself or her through any more unhelpfull treatments.

And in the long run you'll be wasting money giving treatments that aren't working.

 

[WICharlie]

A full treatment for mites is 3 applications done 7 days apart. For a severe case of mites, it often takes 5 or 6 treatments to get rid of them. How much ivermectin did you give? What was the pigs weight? If you didn't treat topically, how was the treatment applied?

If the mites are so severe that she bites at herself, you need to continue treating her, but make sure you are using the right dosage. She also might need some sort of pain medication until the ivermectin starts to work. Many vets will treat with injections of ivermectin, but sometimes don't follow through with a full 3 treatments at the appropriate time interval. And a vet might want to do a skin scrapping which causes pain for the pig and can show a negative when mites are actually present (don't let your vet do it!).

 

[cinnyminny]

Oh I'm sorry I thought I said what method I was giving her. I'm doing the oral treatment of ivermectin. I'm using Equimectrin I think is what its called. I've given her 2 doses already. She's just under 500 grams around 475 I believe. I know for a fact I'm doing it correct I've read on guinealynx a million times how to make the mixture and I use the dosing calculator to determine how much she should get. So I will do her third treatment this weekend as it has been 7 days since her last. She doesn't seem "in pain" but I guess I dont know what a guinea pig in pain looks like. She seems perfectly happy and normal besides squirming in my lap, biting my fingers, and itching herself.