Guinea pig with severe hairloss and skin problems

Question
I adopted a female guinea pig from her owner who told me that she had a skin condition that was on the mend. Indeed when I got her she had large areas of hair loss with dry flaky skin. I took her to the vet who did a scraping to find that there were no mites. He diagnosed her with a skin allergy and put her on some cortisone. She did the full round of cortisone and there was no improvement. I took her back in and they decided to do more cortisone with a medicated bath as well. I have finished both of those things and her hair loss is much worse and her skin is falling off in huge chunks with fur stuck to it. She is so itchy all the time that if she itches, she has a seizure. She is so miserable and I want to help make her well but the vet has already ran the tests that he can. If it isn't mites, what is it that is making her skin dry up and fall off and her fur to fall out? Thanks so much!

Answer

Bag Balm   You don't say what breed she is but certain breeds seem to be more prone to this than others. Teddies in particular seem to have more skin issues than all other 12 breeds. Even with a negative skin scraping I would still treat her for mites. Ask your vet to give her an injection of Ivermectin. It's not going to hurt and it just might help.

For some reason skin scrapings seldom show the mites that seem to plague guinea pigs. It could be they just don't get the right spot. I just know that I have several breeder friends who have done the same thing and the scrapings always came up negative. But the treatment works.

I'm sure the vet has ruled out mange as that's one of the most common causes of severe dermatitis and hair loss in guinea pigs. Cortisone is not something that should be used on the long term.

This is a longshot, but it's worth a try. Buy some Bag Balm at your local drugstore. Many grocery stores also carry it and for sure any feed store or vet supply does. It's in a green can with red and blue lettering. It's made for a cow's teats that get so horribly chapped in the winter after milking that they bleed. It's rubbed on after each milking and it does wonders.

It's an old time farmers remedy for many things. I've had excellent luck with it on skin issues. It looks like axle grease and smells like eucalyptus. The formula hasn't changed in over 100 years. It's made in Vermont and is a simple combination of things that has been an age old miracle for hundreds of uses.

It's certainly worth a try. At this point you have nothing to lose. Bathe your pig with a baby shampoo. Rinse her thoroughly, then allow her to dry. Wherever she has hair loss rub in this ointment. Be generous with it. It soothes the skin and seems to stop the itching and misery.

You still need to try the Ivermectin injection. The combination of the two will not be harmful. At this point this poor thing is so miserable that anything is worth a try. If this doesn't give her any kind of relief then you may need to make a hard decision. After everything is tried and failed the kindest thing may be to have her gently euthanized to end her suffering.

I know that's a hard thing to do, but sometimes it's the kindest and most humane.