itchy painful piggy

[twistedsymphony]

oh my poor piglets lol. Elda has recovered, however Freya is still ill, shes now on 0.2ml of baytril twice a day, and shes very very grumpy.

She has now also developed a bald patch on her back, which is swollen and red and itchy. Took her to the vet already yesterday, she said she wasn't sure if it was mites or a scratch that had got infected. I now have this hibiscrub solution to put on it, which seems to calm it down a little.

But today trying to put it on was incredibly hard shes in more pain than she was before, she is scratching all her skin off in that area, she winces and squeaks a lot and it looks so painful, biting her sister and me as-well.

so to my question; Is there anything I can do to stop her scratching it so much?

[Orlaith]

Hi,

It sounds like your piggy could have mites. I've never had a piggy with this before, but the treatment is ivermectin, which your vet can prescribe for you. It's simple to apply to the back of the neck and is very good for solving issues like mites and lice. Perhaps you could call your vet and explain that the situation is worse and ask to collect the prescription? Since the vet has already seen your piggy they should be able to do this and it would save you some money.

[twistedsymphony]

if that is a tube of stuff that they stick on the scruff of their necks, they have already been given that, she said it was used to treat lice and mites. Only had one dose so far got to go back in two weeks and get another dose (sorry didn't realize I hadn't mentioned that).

But she really is doing herself a nasty injury by scratching so much and thats the issue. When my puppy had an itchy patch years ago we made a sleeve of a t-shirt into a 'coat' thing to stop her scratching, but i don't know if its a good idea for a guinea pig and I don't want to make her more uncomfortable. What do you think?

[Orlaith]

I'm not sure if you could put your piggy in something like that in case it would affect their ability to reach around for their poop or make them too hot, but I could be wrong.

Is she still really sore and itchy?

[twistedsymphony]

Yes its not going very well, I have ordered some stuff from gorgeous guineas in the hope that will sooth it, my other one has got it now too, I spoke to the vet yesterday and she said hopefully it will clear up when I go for the second dose of the mite stuff but if it doesn't I have to go back again.

I'm not supposed to go back for another week and a half though and she is just so itchy that she wont leave it alone. She squeaks in pain when I go anywhere near it (which I have to, to put antibacterial wash on to stop it getting infected, given to me by the vet). I think its a fungal infection myself, but I'm not a vet.

They are both still reasonably happy (other than the itching) running about, doing laps in my living room, eating and drinking well. However they do seem to be taking it out on each other a little bit.

Any recommendations of something I could put on it to sooth and calm the itching while we are waiting for the other appointment?

[abby]

I would try sudocrem, it's safe enough for nappy rash on babies so would be fine for piggies i'm sure. It would be good as it doesn't smell of anything, is cooling and soothing. You can get it from any chemist/pharmacy and don't need to put much on. As long as it's on their back so they can't ingest it it should be perfectly safe.

[Niki]

I have experience with a pig with a severe mite infestation, he had inflicted terrible wounds on himself when i got him.

Your pig won't start to feel the effects of ivomec for a couple of weeks, especially if it's severe.

I immediately started him on ivomec & applied bepanthen nappy rash cream onto the wounds & covered the main sore with a large tubigrip bandage. My thinking was it'd stop him ripping his skin & would help him to heal, it did but where the bandage rubbed away some of his hair, behind his front legs, he scratched there too.
This meant whilst his original wounds were almost healed, he now had 2 new ones to contend with.

I took him to the vet as he was losing weight & was obviously in pain, they said to put nothing on the wounds because it can encourage the pig to lick/bite at it but they did prescribe metacam (painkiller) for him & that did help.

My boy made a full recovery but it did take approx 5weeks after the start of treatment for all his sores to heal.

I did notice that eventho' he was re-opening his wounds they were getting smaller each time, i also didn't bathe his wounds with anything but i did have him indoors on fleece.