Guinea Pig Losing Hair

[Kipcha]

I don't really know of good piggie forums, so I thought maybe I would post this here to see if anyone has had any experience with this before. Keep in mind that when I have time off work, she will be going to the vet (Unfortunatly, my work schedule aligns almost perfectly with the vets open hours...) but I do not think this is an emergency yet.

We took Ruffles out for some treat and playtime and discovered that there is no hair on her legs and she seems to be losing hair on her belly now. We knew she had been losing a bit of weight but she had no problems with her teeth and she isn't showing signs of scurvy so we just added some Alfalfa pellets to her diet and gave her some more veggies and it's been keeping her steady.

She is 3 and a half years old, Abyssinian, female and has never shown any other health problems.

She is black so it is a little hard to see, but there is no hair left on her legs.


[align=center]

[/align]

[align=center]

[/align]

 

[Jaded]

She might have mites or fleas?
Has she been wormed? I heard that worms can cause hair loss too.

 

[Brittany85]

I wouldn't say mites as I have seen a guinea pig with mites and it had grey scaly and scabby skin. What food do you feed? Do you give him/her the appropriate amount of veggies? Does he/she get enough Vitamin C?

 

[BrittanyandFruFru]

It could also be a vitamin deficiency, especially vitamin C, is very common in guinea pigs, since their bodies don't make it. There are simple solutions to this problem like vitamins to give orally, its just important to make sure the pig gets enough of the vitamin somehow.
Good Luck,
Brit

 

[Kipcha]

She is on Oxbow feed. She is getting Vitamin C through the Oxbow tablets as well. She gets a variety of veggies ranging from Parsley, Carrots, Cilantro, Lettuce, etc. every night. So I don't know how it could be vitamin deficiency...

 

[Kipcha]

Well, we'll be at the vets at 2 so wish her luck!

 

[Kipcha]

So Ruffles has an ovarian cyst that is large (Bigger than a marble which, on a guinea pig her size, is huge) and we had three options.

We could give hormone injections which would be given three times, two weeks in between, and it MIGHT shrink the cyst, but there is a chance it wouldn't do anything.

We could have her spayed, which at her age and being a guinea pig, the odds are not on her side.

Or, we can keep her comfortable until it's her time.

So we opted to just keep her happy as long as possible until we make the decision for euthanasia. With the time she gave, (A month, more if we're lucky), it sounds like there won't be much time after her for Ty, so we may end up losing them both at the same time. This is going to be a devastating few monthes...