[Gpdd] HEALTH - SEIZURES AND CINNAMON

[Cazza177]

Dear Tina

I think your guinea pig Cinnamon may have skin mites.  You will not see them
as they are microscopic, but when they get a hold, in severe cases it can
cause your pig to have seizures.  If she is not treated for this very soon
the seizures can become more frequent and it eventually kills.  Please take
her to a vet asap.

There's two weblinks below that may help you and Cinnamon and also a bit on
what Peter Gurney says about mites, but it sounds like she needs urgent
treatment straight away.

http://www.guinealynx.info/mites.html

http://www.oginet.com/pgurney/skinp.htm

MITES
These are parasites that can be living either on or under the skin of guinea
pigs. The ones on the skin are usually referred to as running lice. The
symptoms are small bald patches, particularly around the shoulders and front
legs and hair shafts broke. Sometimes there are raised dots, like human
goose pimples on the skin. The running lice seem to cause less hair loss and
though they are quite small can been easily seen moving about by parting the
hair with the tips of the finger. Rest assured, they are species specific so
humans cannot pick them up. I also believe that they are photosensitive for
I have never seen them on a white or very light cream guinea pig, and in
tri-coloured piggies they seem to stick to the dark hair.
This is the easiest of skin conditions to deal with for there are many
products on the market that will kill these parasites without harming the
animal. The best by far is the prescription only medicine, IVOMECTIN. If
after two, maybe three injections of IVOMECTIN over the course of a week to
ten days, the animal is still scratching and the skin still looks raw, then
forget looking for parasites for the problem is probably a fungal one.
There are some very effective anti-parasitic shampoos formulated for human
beings, and despite the cries of despair that these can be harmful to guinea
pigs by members of the veterinary profession, they are not. They may be
harmful to the bank balances of veterinary surgeons, for they will want to
sell you the more expensive medicines that they stock.

Good luck   Carole

----------
From: "Michael Feeney" <mfeeney at stny.rr.com>
Date: Mon, 2 Oct 2006 10:59:03 -0400
To: <gpdd at gpdd.org>
Subject: [Gpdd] ANNOUNCEMENTS - ROLL CALL & HEATHER - SEIZURES

Cinnamon has very dry skin and often itches herself, over her entire body.
Both my husband and I have witnessed her itching/biting her back and turing
her head so far that she "flips over" onto her back and has a seizure.
Every time that I've seen her do this, I have picked her up and held her or
put her on her belly in her room.  After a few seconds she stops seizing,
but it takes her a little while to return to her "normal" self.  I'm
concerned.  Has anyone had a similar experience?  Is this normal or does
this represent an underlying neurological problem?

Both of the girls have been to a local vet (who specializes in guinea pigs)
for a routine check-up.  I have not yet taken Cinnamon to her doctor since I
saw her have her first seizure.  Other than the seizures, she seems to be
perfectly fine.  

Any advise on Cinnamon would be appreciated!  Thank you!

Tina, Buttersotch & Cinnamon


Tina Feeney