Causes of hair loss

[Dawn - Admin]

Pruritis - a sensation within the skin that provokes the desire to scratch. The animal may be seen to be persistently licking, chewing or rubbing at itselft. They may demonstrate changes in character and inflict self trauma in attempts to remove hair. The skin will become reddened and inflammed with evident damage.

Guinea Pigs can suffer nasty horibble problems with parasites, when this is noticed a trip to the vets is required for treatment.

Mites are one of the most common problems and is the most common cause of fur loss. Other symptoms include:

- Excessive scratching
- Unusually aggressive behaviour when touched (due to pain)
- In some instances, seizures.

If not treated mites can be fatal. Ivermectin is the most common treatment used by vets.

Guinea pigs also suffer Running Lice, these are small white insects that can be seen running through fur. Again Ivermectin is used to treat this parasite.

Alopecia causes Hair loss. The cause of this is uncertain and is common in female animals during pregnancy.

Scurvy (Vitamin C deficiency) Signs and Symptoms:
-Lethargy
-Swollen Joints
-Weight Loss
-Death
-Often predisposes infectious or parasitic disease.

Vitamin C should be given orally everyday (50-100mg/day per animal)

Hair Loss can also be caused by 'barbering' by other guinea pigs. This may be due to insufficient roughage in the diet.

Ringworm: Hair loss, occasionally erythema and pruritus. It is a fungal infection of the skin. This is contagious and can be passed on to humans. So Vet treatment is needed asap.

[Orlaith]

I just wanted to say that piggies can also lose their hair if they're very stressed. When we brought Hilda to the vet she had to get an injection of baytril and she got such a fright from the needle that she shed a patch of hair spontaneously. It grew back without any problems and she hasn't lost any since.

[opel]

Hi
Im new here and would like some advice,My Guinea pig gave birth to 5 healthy babies last night,well because she has been pregnant i havnt picked her up,today i picked her up and noticed she has big patches of hair loss with sores under neath her the hair is falling out in tufts,could it be cos i seperated her from her husband or something more sinister? can i give her anything while she has her babies?

[luvcats22]

its unlikely she would have lost hair through seperation,however i am not a breeder and dont know any other reason why she would lose hair during pregnancy except maybe a vitamin deficiency,but like i said i dont know, hopefully someone with more experience will be able to advise you. xx

[Dawn - Admin]

Jun 7, 2009 11:10:15 GMT @opel said:

Hi
Im new here and would like some advice,My Guinea pig gave birth to 5 healthy babies last night,well because she has been pregnant i havnt picked her up,today i picked her up and noticed she has big patches of hair loss with sores under neath her the hair is falling out in tufts,could it be cos i seperated her from her husband or something more sinister? can i give her anything while she has her babies?

I had this with some of my mums after they gave birth I believe it to be hormonal and they hair will soon grow back after the babies are weaned so don't worry

[cavymaniac]

I think it's quite common for some guinea pigs during pregnancy and birth to suffer from alopecia. This info may be of some use to you:

www.cavyrescue.co.uk/guinea-pig-health-care-4.shtml

[woodysgirl]

I'm so glad to read this information. A local breeder has a sow that delivered 3 healthy piglets last week, and the mom has lost almost ALL of her hair! She also has a couple of red scratches/sores on her bare skin, which I thought might be from itching where there is no fur, thus tearing the skin.

Would you attribute it to alopecia, or do you think it might be something else causing her to suffer (nearly complete) hairloss? Her babies and other pigs (all in the same room) seem unaffected, so I'm guessing/hoping it's nothing contagious.

In your personal opinion, would you hesitate to adopt one of the piglets from that sow? Or from that breeder, altogether? Or does it sound like an unavoidable condition (hormonal) that is not reflective of the cavies' care and overall health?

[jo9239]

Do piggies shed a bit though??

[Dawn - Admin]

Yes they do After I have held & stroked my pigs there is always lots of hairs on my clothes

[jo9239]

Phew ha ha ha yeah boris sheds a lot when I stroke him x

[cupcakepiggies]

Hey, I need help!
My guinea pig Milkshake, I noticed had very thin fur, like bald almost so I took her to the vet, they said they didnt see mites so it was just from being in dirty living conditions (NOT ME, I GOT HER FROM A HOARDER WHO DIDNT TAKE PROPER CARE OF HER) so he said she would be fine. Well, a few weeks later which is now, I noticed the other female piggy she is in with has very thin fur on her bellies underside(she is also pregnant)..Do you know what this is or why? Thanks

[caroline]

I believe it is hormonal. One of my guinea pigs got a bare bottom when she had her babies although my other two didnt. A friend of mine he breeds piggies and said it is to do with their hormones. One of his pigs pulled out all her hair at the back and then lost the rest all over her body as she was stressed with giving birth (she did give birth to 8 babies although only 1 survived). She was in a terrible mess what with scratching her body. They rubbed cream into her and within a couple of months she was back to normal. I think he advised tea tree oil to be rubbed in but I will have a look at the jar when i get home and let you know what it is i use.

[jane]

We have had Sabrina a few weeks now and she has settled in well; but last week we took her to the vet because we noticed she was losing fur from around her right eye. The vet said it might be the stress of moving home, but treated her with the routine drops for mites and told us to apply canestan cream to the area twice a day. She's had 5 days treatment now and it is no better. We have to take her back next week so that she can be treated with some sort of stronger medication as this hasn't worked. Just wondered whether anyone has any advice. Thanks.

[werewolfchik]

My fiance and I recently received a guinea pig who was apparently from a bad home. He came with his cage and when we looked at the bedding, it was obvious that it hadn't been changed in weeks. When we began to change the bedding, we were horrified to find that the bottom of his cage was literally coated with what I can only presume was his excrement. While we let him run around in a confined area, we noticed that his entire rump was bald and now we're worried about any possible sickness that he may have. He's apparently over 1 year old and we've called a vet to look at him. Other than his rump, he doesn't have any unusual bald spots. But does anyone have an idea why his rump is bald?

It should also be mentioned that the reason why we took in this little guy is because his former owner was looking for a new home for him because her cats were "teasing" poor little Leonard (that's his name). And we figured out that he's an Abyssinian.

**Apparently the fur loss was only caused from stress, according to the vet. I was apparently worried over nothing.

[Orlaith]

Aw, poor little guy! One of our girls shed a lot of fur when she got an injection once, just from stress, so it can easily happen. I hope Leonard will be really happy with you

[max]

I was holding my little guy (2 months old) Hersey tonight and noticed a major hair loss on my shirt while petting. When I looked closely he seems to be hairless around his ears. Do you think it is mites??? I'm calling the vet tomorrow. I just brought him home a few weeks ago and he is in same cage now with older (2 years old) pig Max. Gawd I'm so worried now.

[Orlaith]

All piggies have bald patches behind their ears, don't worry! That's totally normal. And I'm usually covered in fur after having my piggies out to play, so it's probably just normal hair loss.

[lolsen]

Today I just noticed my guinea is experiencing hair loss on his under belly and on one of his legs. Since then, I have searched him and his cage for bugs and found none. I read on the internet that it could be mange, but it described mange as being painful. He doesn't seem to be biting himself too much more than usual. Also, he doesn't seem to be in any pain at all. He lets me pick him up and pet him without any problems. He acts happy as usual and is eating fine. The hair loss is primarily on his belly, and has healing scabs too. I am wondering if it could be due to a vitamin C deficiency because he is old (about 5.5 years), but he has been receiving vitamin C supplements for over a month now. He has other on going health problems (respiratory, abscess, and a lump that drains clear liquid) but this is new and doesn't seem to be related to the others. I am taking him to the vet asap, but I was looking for any other ideas on treating him until then or what else it could be? Thank you for any replies.

[Orlaith]

It could be that with his health problems, he's a bit run down. Definitely get your vet to check for mites as sometimes mites can flare up when your pig is under the weather. I'm not too sure of what you should treat him with. Some people say sudocrem but others say that's too heavy to I'm not sure!

[samantha]

How about his diet, maybe its the food he eats or you can go to your vet and let him/her check it up so you won't be worried anymore.