guiena pig lice

Question
Hi, I recently purchased a baby g.p.not sure how old, but tiny and we noticed white rice looking things crawling in her fur.At first i thought it was dandruff but its lice and my local vet said to try puppy lice shampoo, but we couldn't let it soak for 15 min..Please Help, can we get lice from her??

Answer
Sara,

She is most likely about 3 to 6 weeks old in age just so you have an idea of how old she maybe.

For the lice there are two options here to treat her lice, first one is Advantage (imidacloprid) is apparently a very safe and effective treatment for cavy lice. Treat by weight and apply topically at 10 mg/pound of body weight (the concentration is 91 mgs/ml, or about 0.1cc/pound [0.24cc/kg]).

One application lasts for 30 days, unless it is washed off with a detergent shampoo. Advantage can be used on pregnant cavies and newly weaned young. Advantage is given no expiration date as it remains stable for at least five years from the date of purchase.

The second treatment is,

Ivermectin works best on lice when it is used topically. Ivermectin, a potent drug, is absorbed through the skin and requires accurate dosing to avoid serious side effects. Incorrect doses of topically applied ivermectin can cause death. So an small animal or exotic vet will be needed for the ivermectin so that you get the right dose.

I hope this helps,
 Take care now,
       Jules
After you have started a treatment you're going to need to throughly clean everything in her cage and disinfect it all so that she will not get lice again. You'll need to do the through cleaning until the lice are completely gone just so she doesn't become infested again.