parasite question

[A4PigHome]

Well, it appears at least 3 of my cavies have some sort of parasite. Over the last 2 days they have been scratching a lot. Last night one wriggled his back on the ground after trying unsuccessfully to scratch a place on his back, and another has scratched so much that he now has an open sore.

I couldn't get them into the vet until 3pm today, so I have been nervously watching them hoping they don't get worse. I couldn't even sleep last night because I was so worried. So far they are ok this morning. They are eating well and not scratching much. I'll be so thankful when 3 o'clock gets here!

So my question is how did they get the parasites? They have not been in contact with any other animals or their stuff. They have not been outside yet either because it has been too cold (although I did bring some grass in to feed them this last weekend).

I bought them from Petco in January (I did not know about this site or adopting back in January so I made the mistake of going to Petco). Were my cavies infected back then and the parasites were just dormant until now? Or was it something wrong I did? I just don't want them to have to ever go through this again.

Also, how do I clean there cages to make sure the parasites are all gone? Do I use a little bleach, or just vinegar-water like I normally do?

 

[Denise]

I would think a bleach cleaning would be called for, but I would definitely let the experts make the call on that one. If no one responds, make sure you ask the vet.

 

[Katie]

I usually just clean with straight vinegar. Mites can't live without a host.

 

[kalrik]

They could have come with them and just shown now. They can hide them and just show symptms when they are stressed or less healthy because of some other reason. They could have also gotten them from bedding or hay which I have heard happens occassionally. Vinegar is a really good cleaner, I usually dilute it though about half water half vinegar.