Hairloss on Guinea Pig

Question
I have a Guinea Pig that began losing hair on his back a few weeks ago.  It appeared to be ringworm, so I began putting anti-fungal cream on it.  He was still losing hair, so I thought it might be mites and treated him with Ivermectin.  I also began giving him Penicillin in case it was bacterial and to prevent secondary infection.  It is still not really clearing up and he has begun to lose hair in another spot.  The hair in the one spot is beginning to grow back, but it still comes out in my hand when I put the cream on it.  What could it be besides fungal, mites, or bacterial?  I have treated him for everything I can thing of.  Is there another treatment that I can try?  I really can't take him to the vet now.  

Answer
Hello Amanda,

Do not give him anymore Penicillin. It is highly toxic to piggies and can kill them very quickly. It causes enterotoxemia. I'll send you a link to safe antibiotics that you can use in the future as well as one to a list of medications to avoid. Stress, allergies, hormonal imbalance, protien defiency, and scurvy can also cause hairloss. Treatment for stress is simply reduce stress. Treatment for scurvy is vitamin c supplementation. Allergy treatment is remove the allergen (usually their bedding)Treatment for protein defiency should only be used after a vet diagnosis as too much protein is toxic. Hormonal imbalance has different treatment depending on the cause of the imbalance. I would keep him in a quiet area, up his vitamin c intake, and change his bedding and see if that helps at all. If things don't get better after that, your only option really will be the vet. Hopefully one of those three things will help though and that won't be an issue. Good luck.

http://www.guinealynx.com/medications.html

http://www.guinealynx.com/dangerous_medications.html

-kkat
http://www.geocities.com/abyssinianguineapigs