Symmetrical hair loss on sides of guinea pig, not ovarian cysts

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marycp27

Post   » Mon Dec 17, 2018 2:59 pm


Hi,
I have a 5 1/2 year old female guinea pig who in the last 5 months has been experiencing gradually worsening hair loss on her sides.
The hair loss looks identical to that pictured on this site as an example of hair loss due to ovarian cysts. However this guinea pig was spade due to large ovarian cysts nearly 2 years ago. So I wondered if the hair loss was still hormonal related to the removal of the cysts?
She was taken to the vets (an exotic specialist) 2 months ago, who could find nothing wrong with her, and was unsure of the cause. He felt it could be sunlight related alopecia (since the hair loss started at the end of a long, hot UK summer) and felt she might get more fur over winter. However, to the contrary, the hair loss is slowly spreading over her sides.
The skin underneath is healthy, she is very happy and eating normally, stools are normal. I saw from your site that Cushings disease can cause hair loss - is it worth taking her back to the fit and asking for this to be investigated? However I do not want to put her through distressing tests, as I say, she presently seems happy. Many thanks for your ideas, and experience. Kind regards, and grateful thanks, Mary.

bpatters
And got the T-shirt

Post   » Mon Dec 17, 2018 3:22 pm


Try a vitamin C supplement for several weeks. Older animals don't process C as well, and a boost can help them.

The exact same thing happened to one of my senior sows, and the C cleared it right up.

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Lynx
Celebrate!!!

Post   » Mon Dec 17, 2018 4:15 pm


The limited experience I have with Cushings (Pinta's picture) makes it appear the hair coarsens and thins. So it does sound more hormonal.

The vitamin C sounds like a good idea.

Do some research on the spay to determine if all the reproductive organs have been removed. There have been a few cases where the ovaries were removed but not the uterus. If the uterus remains, it may still be hormonal.

See if the C helps. If not, you might still treat it like it is ovarian cysts/hormonal and try a hormone treatment like HCG (human chorionic gonadotropin).

You might also get some ideas from www.guinealynx.info/hairloss.html

marycp27

Post   » Tue Dec 18, 2018 4:33 pm


Ok great, that's really interesting; many thanks for your help, I will try that. I do give pellets that should have Vit C in, but I will perhaps look for a better quality pellet, unless there is anything specific you would suggest?

bpatters
And got the T-shirt

Post   » Tue Dec 18, 2018 4:41 pm


Actually, I'd use a vitamin C supplement. Good pellets have stabilized C in them, but it's sometimes not enough for senior pigs.

I used Vita Drops liquid vitamin C, and either sprinkled it on her veggies or put it in a bit of juice thinned with water and syringed it to her. The bottle says put it in the water, but don't do that. In the presence of light, liquid vitamin C degrades VERY rapidly, and pretty soon all you've got is funny tasting water.

If you can't find the Vita Drops C, you can use plain vitamin C, or crush a children's chewable tablet. You want to aim for about 30 mg. a day of C, so you estimate how much of the crushed tablet you need to give.

amyfw

Post   » Thu Jan 17, 2019 8:45 pm


This happened recently to my girl too. She does have cysts so vets thought it was that until one day she flipped over in a seizure. Long story short- she was given revolution (selemectin) for suspected mites and viola, no more missing fur. It all grew back in. She did not seem excessively itchy before this but it cured her for sure. Now she and cagemate get it once a month because they start to get itchy again around that time. Vet thinks mites could have come in on their hay.

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Lynx
Celebrate!!!

Post   » Thu Jan 17, 2019 10:54 pm


From all of my research, the kind of mites that would infest guinea pigs would not come in on hay (I assume the hay had not previously been used by other guinea pigs). Do you have any other pets? It is possible they could be temporary carriers of guinea pig specific mites.

bpatters
And got the T-shirt

Post   » Thu Jan 17, 2019 11:21 pm


I think every living thing has mites, all the time. Sometimes the mites overwhelm what the body usually does to keep them in check, and they get a foothold. Your pig could have been incubating mites for a long time before any symptoms showed up.

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