My guinea pig is losing hair on one side what could it be?

Question

I got my first guinea pig from a pet store and we didn't know she was pregnant! So she gave birth to a very healthy little boy who is now one. He is losing hair on his bottom right side and it's the whole side except for the neck. He seems very happy and calmer but I'm still not sure... Please respond and if I should bring him to a vet please let me know.

Answer 1

well, lately weve been spending a fortune on injections for mange! one of them lost loads of hair on her back and got diarrhoea and her back went all scaby. that was mange. we have 5 piggies, and they all need 2 jabs each, apart from the one that got it first that needs 3. that cost about £100(!!!!) and thats not including the price of all the medicine she has to have everyday at home! XD

it could be mites, which is still pretty serious, coz all mites are contagious (and mange is caused by a mite under the skin, so thts why all my piggies need jabs =]) so i would recomend taking him to the vets, and they might give you some cream to put on it.

hope he gets better =]

Answer 2

all guinea pigs lose hair (unless it's a skinny pig that doesn't have any lol) constantly. it's called shedding and it is completely normal. it is just the old dead hair falling out so the new hair can grow in.

now you may be talking about something different from that like losing patches of fur and being able to see skin. this is definitely not good. you should talk to a vet and maybe take your guinea pig in for an examination. if for some reason you don't want to or are not able to take him/her to the vets then you should look on the internet and or in books and try to find out as much as you can about what you can do (buying ointments or special cream at the pet store) stuff like that. you could even talk to somebody at your local pet store (hey it's worth a try right?). sorry i can't help you more then that. i'm not a vet and i have never had this happen to my guinea pig.

i just thought of one more thing. if your guinea pig seems to be scratching a lot and it's skin looks irritated it is possible it is losing the hair because of the scratching and the scratching is because it has mites or lice. if this is what it is you should be able to see eggs or little bugs in your guinea pigs fur but if you can't and the scratching is still going on you can probably treat it anyways. you can buy non-harmful (at least to the guinea pig ;D) spray in or shampoo to remove lice or whatever it is. again you can talk to an employee in the store and they can help you choose what would be best. when my guinea pig had lice we actually used a shampoo to get rid of lice in cats (this was suggested by the employee) and it worked great. after 1 or 2 uses they were gone and our guinea pigs were not harmed by the chemicals in the shampoo. but again make sure you talk to someone who works there before buying just anything that "looks" right.

also: my guinea pig was pregnat and we didn't know it, so it had babies, too! we keep our in the garage, too.