Hi all.
Recently my skinny pig Blep has been plagued by dry and flaky skin, and a few days ago, some pretty bad cuts started appearing on him.
My mom and I have been putting coconut oil on him, but it doesn't seem to improve. And just yesterday, he had another cut appear on him. My mom suspects that it could be his pigloo, but even before the pigloo, he has gotten cuts before. He's a single piggy, so he definitely didn't get scratched up by another piggy. Could the dry skin really be that bad? What else could i do for him?
On another note, Blep's skin has a very unusual white/grey speckled pattern that I've yet to see in another piggy. Is this normal? Blep was an abandoned pet before he came into our care, and we wonder if it's just unusual.
Thanks.
Skinny pig with dry skin and cuts
-
Lynx
- Celebrate!!!
Hopefully PinkRufus will see this. She has a topic in the Records forum on skinnies.
https://www.guinealynx.info/records/view ... ?f=11&t=43
I would remove anything that could injure him from the cage. The location of the cut says to me it is not likely to have been self-inflicted.
https://www.guinealynx.info/records/view ... ?f=11&t=43
I would remove anything that could injure him from the cage. The location of the cut says to me it is not likely to have been self-inflicted.
-
PinkRufus
- Contributor in 2020
Those grey patches are normal pigment loss that happens to black Skinnies as they age. However, it appears that he also has some white markings (as on his nose), so if he has other white markings on his body, they would show up as lighter skin as well. It looks like he may have a combination of white patches combined with the age spots. My once solid black Hugo is now covered with "reverse freckles" as he is entering his fifth year. Do you have any idea how old Blep is?
It's possible, especially if he has multiple cuts, that they could be self inflicted. My Rufus had severe ringworm and would cover himself with similar scratches, even in some hard to reach places, like the back of his neck. Do you see him scratching himself? His ears also look a little tattered, which could be a result of scratching as well. He may have ringworm, or just itchy skin. I would definitely get rid of the igloo and replace it with a tent, cozy sack/tunnel, or cloth bed and wash them daily. The igloos don't have much air circulating, so they hold in a lot of moisture (from urine) which adds to the problem. If you use an emery board to smooth the nails on his back feet, that will lessen the severity of the scratches too.
Do you bathe him? I have better results with my Skinnies' skin when I leave it alone and don't bathe them, unless there is a big reason to of course. If you make those changes and this persists, I would consult a vet about a ringworm treatment.
It's possible, especially if he has multiple cuts, that they could be self inflicted. My Rufus had severe ringworm and would cover himself with similar scratches, even in some hard to reach places, like the back of his neck. Do you see him scratching himself? His ears also look a little tattered, which could be a result of scratching as well. He may have ringworm, or just itchy skin. I would definitely get rid of the igloo and replace it with a tent, cozy sack/tunnel, or cloth bed and wash them daily. The igloos don't have much air circulating, so they hold in a lot of moisture (from urine) which adds to the problem. If you use an emery board to smooth the nails on his back feet, that will lessen the severity of the scratches too.
Do you bathe him? I have better results with my Skinnies' skin when I leave it alone and don't bathe them, unless there is a big reason to of course. If you make those changes and this persists, I would consult a vet about a ringworm treatment.
Blep was picked up from the streets by a family, and we adopted him from them, so we won't be able to know accurately his age, but a vet has estimated him to be about 2 years old (we visited the vet in April 2018).
His ears have always been tattered since we got him, but once we did catch a bit of dry blood on him.
My mom has been bathing him quite frequently of late, and we've recently changed his soap as well, so perhaps that may be an issue.
Thanks so much for the help!
His ears have always been tattered since we got him, but once we did catch a bit of dry blood on him.
My mom has been bathing him quite frequently of late, and we've recently changed his soap as well, so perhaps that may be an issue.
Thanks so much for the help!
Piggy whimpering and chattering teeth
(this topic merged with original topic above - Lynx)
Hello. I got my skinny pig Blep in April last year. Someone had picked him up from the streets, and we took him in. We noticed however, that sometimes he would randomly start whimpering and shaking his head. We've brought him to the vet several times, but each time he would still continue to whimper. Today while I was fixing a tunnel for him, he started whimpering and tossing his head about, and he started to chatter his teeth really loudly and aggressively. This has never really happened before. Sometimes he would chatter, but this was really a lot more and aggressive than usual. Could it be from trauma (we are not sure if he used to be an abused pet)?
(this topic merged with original topic above - Lynx)
Hello. I got my skinny pig Blep in April last year. Someone had picked him up from the streets, and we took him in. We noticed however, that sometimes he would randomly start whimpering and shaking his head. We've brought him to the vet several times, but each time he would still continue to whimper. Today while I was fixing a tunnel for him, he started whimpering and tossing his head about, and he started to chatter his teeth really loudly and aggressively. This has never really happened before. Sometimes he would chatter, but this was really a lot more and aggressive than usual. Could it be from trauma (we are not sure if he used to be an abused pet)?
-
Sef
- I dissent.
You should keep posts on Blep together (looks like he already has an [url=https://www.guinealynx.info/forums/viewt ... p#p2290596]earlier one[url] in the Medical forum) so that members here can know his history when they try to respond to new questions.
Guinea pigs make a large number of vocalizations. Any chance you could post a video of the behavior? The head tossing could be a behavior known as popcorning. We have a male here who loves having his cage cleaned, and will toss his head and do a sort of half-twist in the air while I'm scooping up poops. He also occasionally chatters his teeth if he doesn't want to be picked up.
Is he still having skin issues? Anything else going on with him, such as excessive itching/scratching? Have you checked his ears?
Guinea pigs make a large number of vocalizations. Any chance you could post a video of the behavior? The head tossing could be a behavior known as popcorning. We have a male here who loves having his cage cleaned, and will toss his head and do a sort of half-twist in the air while I'm scooping up poops. He also occasionally chatters his teeth if he doesn't want to be picked up.
Is he still having skin issues? Anything else going on with him, such as excessive itching/scratching? Have you checked his ears?
-
Lynx
- Celebrate!!!
Ditto to keeping posts together as this may be medical.
You may be seeing signs of pain. Make sure he is warm enough. Skinny pigs need extra warmth.
www.guinealynx.info/pain.html
You may be seeing signs of pain. Make sure he is warm enough. Skinny pigs need extra warmth.
www.guinealynx.info/pain.html
sef1268:
Sorry! I'm still new to this forum, thanks for telling me about keeping Blep related posts together!
An update on his skin issues: it was the frequent bathing and the way we bathed him. We now bathe him way less, and usually we'll coat him in coconut oil before soap, so that stops him from being dried out by the soap. A few weeks after, he was still shaking his head lots, and I caught him trying to scratch the inside of his ear with his paw, so we brought him to the vet. It wasn't ringworm, but apparently a yeast infection. In fact, there was this hard patch on his forehead (that you can kinda see in the previous picture) that was also infected by the yeast. It's cleared up already though. We've cleaned his ear recently again, but nothing seems to be wrong.
I don't think it might be popcorning. He just tosses his head like he's annoyed and whimpers. Could it be him whining for food? I'm not sure if that justifies the chattering though.
Lynx:
I doubt that it was the cold. We live in Singapore where it's almost always hot. Also, Blep's area is by the refridgerator side (it's warm) and he is away from open doors or windows, and away from the fan.
Sorry! I'm still new to this forum, thanks for telling me about keeping Blep related posts together!
An update on his skin issues: it was the frequent bathing and the way we bathed him. We now bathe him way less, and usually we'll coat him in coconut oil before soap, so that stops him from being dried out by the soap. A few weeks after, he was still shaking his head lots, and I caught him trying to scratch the inside of his ear with his paw, so we brought him to the vet. It wasn't ringworm, but apparently a yeast infection. In fact, there was this hard patch on his forehead (that you can kinda see in the previous picture) that was also infected by the yeast. It's cleared up already though. We've cleaned his ear recently again, but nothing seems to be wrong.
I don't think it might be popcorning. He just tosses his head like he's annoyed and whimpers. Could it be him whining for food? I'm not sure if that justifies the chattering though.
Lynx:
I doubt that it was the cold. We live in Singapore where it's almost always hot. Also, Blep's area is by the refridgerator side (it's warm) and he is away from open doors or windows, and away from the fan.
SHOP AMAZON