hair loss/itching

Question
Hello again.  Your answer makes so much sense, thank you very much.  Once in a while my cat jumps into the guinea pig bin, she likes him, and I was wondering if these skin mites would be contagious to the cat?  She kind of just sits in there for a few minutes and jumps out.  Thank you.  
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Followup To

Question -

Hi Sherri,

What your guinea pig probably has is, skin mites.  Skin mites burrow under the skin so most topical medications don't help.  What you need is a medication called Ivermectin, which is a livestock wormer.  Go to a feed store and ask for Ivermectin horse paste, it comes in a white plunger style tube.

Place a pea size amount behind the front teeth of your cavy.  Repeat the dosage in two week intervals until you have given at least three doses.  If you feel comfortable with the procedure you may want to consider giving a monthly dosage as a preventative as many breeders do, myself included.  

Skin mites are a rather common problem in guinea pigs, and because the can be dormant under the skin for years they can pop up unexpectedly without your having done anything to cause the problem.  Season changes seem to cause them to become active.  Left untreated, and in an active state, these mites can progress to the point of death for the animal.


You may also wash your piggie if you feel you'd like to.  It won't hurt and may make the guinea pig more comfortable.

I think that you should find a vet to have in reserve that knows about guinea pigs.  The reason I suggest doing that now is because a good vet can be hard to find for a guinea pig, and once you find one you need to hang on to him or her.

I hope this helps and makes you feel a little better.  It is a treatable condition without veterinary intervention.

Annie  

Answer
Hi Sherri,

No, according to my vet mites and lice are species specific.  I have three cats and three dogs and three rabbits, none of them have ever gotten the mites in the almost 10 years I've been raising them.  They are a very common problem in guinea pigs.

A word of caution about the cat... When got my first piggie one of my cats did the same thing and one day she up and picked the guinea pig up, carried her like a mother cat with a kitten and put her on the floor.  What if the pig had gotten frightened and bitten the cat and been dropped?  Although both pig and cat were okay, it scared me enough to keep from using open top cages anymore. This was just my experience, but I thought you'd be interested.  I laugh about it now, it was really hilarious.

Best of luck,
Annie