[Gpdd] [HEALTH] <Mites on Guinea Pigs>

[Ricthecollector at aol.com]

GPDD members have been so helpful in the past that I just had to turn to 
you with this very perplexing problem involving our 10 Guinea Pigs.  

We discovered small white, what looked like nits or eggs on several of our 
piggies and took them to our vet.  After examining them under a microscope, 
our vet said they were mites and that there were some live ones too. He gave 
all 10 piggies a series of ivomectrim shots.  The mites survived.  It was 
off to find a cause and a cure.  Now five months later and $$$ spent, our vet 
has just treated our piggies with a very small dosage of Advantage for cats 
and proclaimed  (upon examination) that our aspen bedding was the culprit, 
having found several mites and eggs in a sample I brought to her office.  
(We have both male and female vets on this case.)  So, because I buy bedding 
in quantity because of the large size of our Piggie family, I now have 25 
bales of aspen in quarantine and have switched to Carefresh bedding at a much 
greater cost.  
 
     Have I solved my problem or created a bigger one?  This is where I 
need the advice of my GPDD friends.  When I was buying the Carefresh a woman 
who said she raised Guinea pigs for 20 years said the bugs on the piggies 
aren't mites but bugs that are necessary for the piggies very existence.  She 
has scared the heck out on me.  Am I trying to kill the bugs my piggies need 
to help them live.  I'm very upset and can't rest without knowing if I have 
hurt my piggies by putting full faith on my vets.  Please help !!  
 
     Thanks in advance, 
 
      Ric Sabatini - slave to Junie B., Cajun, Mimi and Millie, Darby, 
Dewey and Louis, Blackjack, Baby Luv and Maguire