[Gpdd] Health: Re: Loosing hair

karen mims karenmims at gmail.com
Mon Feb 13 12:22:38 EST 2006


Replying to the original message about hair loss on both sides of the spine,
and to Dawnda's reply about ovarian cysts and HCG treatment.

I had a female piggy (now sadly departed to the rainbow bridge) who started
losing her hair about age 4, and continued to have recurring ovarian
cyst-related hair loss until her death at age 7.5.

She was originally diagnosed by the special species vets at the University
of Pennsylvania School of Veterinary Medicine.  Other vets (who claimed to
know about guinea pigs) had repeatedly misdiagnosed her hair loss as being
from mites or fungal infection.

My piggy received treatment in the form of HCG shots--a series of three
shots given 3 weeks apart.  Her hair grew back starting about 6-8 weeks
after getting the first shot.  She was fine for about a year, when the hair
loss recurred.  I took her back to the Penn Vet School for another round of
treatment, which again stopped the hairloss.  The cysts recurred about once
a year for 3-ish years, with HCG treatment working every time, until her
death from unrelated causes (presumably, of old age) at 7.5 years.  Due to
her age, and the general risk of surgery on guinea pigs, I decided that
managing her ovarian cysts with periodic HCG shots was preferable to
surgery.  I was not confident that my guinea pig would have survived
surgery, and she survived with ovarian cysts (very large ones, 5-6 cm in
diameter for a <2 pound piggy) for more than 3 years with HCG treatment.

I don't remember the HCG dosage (but it was something like 0.1 mL per shot,
with 2 shots per session (one on each hip), and 3 sessions spaced 2-3 weeks
apart), and strongly encourage anyone who suspect their piggy to have
ovarian cyst-related hair loss to consult a knowledgable vet (preferably one
who specializes in small animals, ideally a vet at a research institution)
for treatment and appropriate dosing.  If your vet does not know about HCG
treatment for ovarian cysts, you might suggest that they contact the Penn
Vet School, or another school of veterinary medicine, for information.

Karen



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