Skin Problems Question about Scurf

[PickyPiggy]

My guinea pig coco has lice, and I just treated her with revolution a little while ago. The issue is, the has a ton of scurfing on her butt. She can't scratch this area and it's all pretty much just dead matted fur. You can pull clumps of it out and she doesn't mind. My question is, would is be better just to cut it off rather than just leave it to fall out?

 

[Kim37040]

No answer but wanted to respond to get your question close to the top.

 

[cavy_jdas]

That sounds like a fungal infection, not from the lice.

If it is simply matted fur, it's best to have it cleaned up because the matting can be uncomfortable for her. Depending on the last treatment date (if it's topical, you do not want to wash it off prematurely), you could consider bathing and trimming or combing the area out.

 

[foggycreekcavy]

Can you touch/brush the area without her getting too stressed? If so, then I'd remove as much of the dead hair as you can. If she's not too touchy about it, go ahead and bathe her (like cavy_jdas says, depending on how long ago the treatment of Revolution was).

You might check the photos of fungus at Guinea Lynx and see if it looks similar. If so, treat for fungus.

 

[PickyPiggy]

Thanks everyone! I took some pictures or her fur. Unfortunetly, I wasn't able to get some pictures of her actual skin because my camera died. Hopefully I'll be able to get some of those soon. I went to guinea lynx and none of the fungus pictures looked like it.

There are little white specks at the end of her fur.
Sorry for the large pics.

 

[Annmarie]

My pigs had lice last week. That is what it looked like on my pigs. I used the nit comb that comes in the RID packages. I used Advantage on my guineas and the ones I am getting off of them now are dead. Be sure and wash all of the guineas bedding and good luck, I know what a pain lice can be.

 

[CavyMama]

That looks like just flaky dry skin to me. I haven't heard of the term "scurf" before but any parasites would likely be closer to the skin rather than on the surface.

 

[PickyPiggy]

Thanks everyone! So most of her lice have gone, which is really good. I cut of all of her fur in the area, that is affected. I cut it down as far as I could without hurting her. She's really sensitive. You can tell the difference in the fur. On the right is her normal fur, which she doesn't mind me touching, but then on the other area she can't handle it.

So is this just scurf or is it a fungal infection? I really hope it's just her matted down fur that she just coudn't reach.

 

[cavy_jdas]

I think you also have a fungal infection going on. Peter Gurney has a good description ((broken link removed)) and here is info with photos and treatment on guinealynx: https://www.guinealynx.info/fungus.html

 

[PickyPiggy]

Yes, I believe it is a fungal disease. I read both of the articles concerning fungal disease on these two sites:
gorgeousguineas.com
Peter Gurney's Guinea Pig Pages

She has the greasy, gritty fur they describe and the involuntary twitching from the nerve endings being so sensitive. Her skin isn't a flushed red or even an inflamed pink but it does feel rough underneath the fur that has the dried skin in it. The guinealynx.com site describes the fungus as usually being on the face and usually being caused by ringworm. I don't believe she has ringworm because the shape of the infection is wrong. As the pics show, it's in a diamond-shaped pattern on her back.

I'm going to try treating her with nizoral shampoo as the guinealynx site reccommends because it is the treatment I have the fastest access to.

 

[cavy_jdas]

I don't think ringworm at all, just fungus.

When treating, be cautious to apply it with the direction of her hair, so as not to make her uncomfortable. Towel dry her (no hair dryer), and be sure there is no bit of leftover dampness in her cage. For example, if she is on fleece or has soft beds, and she ends up back in her cage slightly damp, change the soft stuff out in an hour. You want to avoid any extra moisture that can fuel the fungus. Fungus is easy to treat, and you should see improvement very quickly.

 

[PickyPiggy]

It's been a while, and I'm sad to say Coco has still isn't back to normal. I started treated her everyday with Clotrimaderm cream and giving her baths with nizoral shampoo. Her entire butt is a bit better, but the actual scurf has moved up. My other guinea pig Tabby started having bloating yesterday and so she was taken to the vet ( I'm just not having any good luck with these pigs). She had an intestinal bloackage from some hay, she's doing better now, but won't drink. Anyway we told the vet about Coco and he said that it might not be fungus, but an allergic reaction to something. Is this possible?

 

[foggycreekcavy]

It looks like her grease gland to me.

 

[Onetwo]

^I was just about to say that too!^

Definately looks like her grease gland. Some piggies have a more active one than others. It can range in color from white, black, brown etc...

Take a toothbrush and gently rub in some coconut oil and brush with the fur until it is all loose and then do a little butt bath.

https://www.guinealynx.info/grooming.html#grease_gland

Coconut oil can be found in a solid form in a jar generally in a grocery store in the natural foods section.

 

[PickyPiggy]

Would that cause the skin to flake off halfway up her back?

 

[Onetwo]

Depends on what you mean by halfway up her back. Grease glands can vary in diameter. Some can be big some can be small. You could have aggrivated and dried out the skin by all the frequent baths. Short haired guinea pigs only need to be bathed 3-4 times a YEAR. Long haired piggies can be bathed up to once a month but you need the right products or it can really wreck their very sensitive skin.

 

[PickyPiggy]

She has a very small grease gland. There are little pieces of skin that flake off about a third of the way up her back. We were gving her nizoral baths to try and get rid of the fungus. She is a short haired pig, but has longer fur than my other short haired pig. Her grease gland doesn't seem like there's anything wrong with it. What would cleaning it do?

 

[foggycreekcavy]

I would use some extra virgin coconut oil, and massage it into the area a couple of times a day. The oil will be beneficial whether it's fungus or an overactive grease gland, or even just dry skin. I wouldn't wash it out, either. Try this for a few days and see if there's any difference.

 

[PickyPiggy]

Thank you. I have purchased some coconut oil, and hopefully this will help.

 

[PickyPiggy]

Aaand It hasn't. The skin looked better, but that's because the skin flakes weren't peeling off. She now has a big scrape on her butt. I'm running out of ideas on what to do. How should I help her with the scrape? Oh, and she seems a lot more touchy about her butt ( Before the scrape) Ex: She was twitching her neck and being uncomfortable more than the normally was