Imagine your little guinea pig’s once beautiful coat is starting to fall out. You can see bald patches of dry, swollen, or inflamed skin.
You try cleaning your pet and scouring the enclosure, hoping this will take care of that guinea pig hair loss once and for all. It only seems to have gotten worse, and now you might even come down with an itchy rash yourself.
What will you do? Can that breathtaking cavy fur ever be restored to its former glory?
I’ll cover all the various reasons why your guinea pig is losing fur and also give you advice on the course of treatment which should be administered by your vet.
Why is my guinea pig missing a patch of fur?
Your once beautiful Guinea is riddled with patches of bald, discolored skin. Your precious girl or handsome boy seems anxious and agitated when he isn’t sluggish and depressed.
What on Earth led to this terrible situation? Why is your Guinea Pig missing a patch of fur?
Guinea pigs can lose fur due to mites, fungal infections, lice, fleas, or pregnancy. Even stress can cause hair loss.
Not only will you want to know what causes the hair loss, you’ll probably also want to know what you can do to stop it and how you can prevent such skin issues in the future.
Guinea Pig Mites (Mange)
A severe mite infestation can easily lead to itching and inflammation along the back end of your Guinea Pig. This depends on the type of mites living on your little one; some won’t cause any symptoms.
The thighs, neck, and shoulders are normally impacted by the type of mites that cause extreme itching. The skin at the affected area can be either thick and crusty, dry, or oily.
“The clinical signs are dramatic: intense pruritus, widespread alopecia, and hyperkeratosis.”
Donelly, Thomas. DAVBP
Let’s break that down so you can better understand what’s going on with your little piggy.
Pruritus: Itchy, irritated skin
Alopecia: Hair loss, partial or complete lack of hair
Hyperkeratosis: Excess production of Keratin, causes growths to form (usually on footpads)
If not treated, these areas can develop open wounds and secondary infections. This can cause extreme anxiety (running around the cage), weight loss, lethargy, and even eventual death (if left untreated).
Pregnancy
Alopecia (hair loss) will develop naturally to some extent in all Guinea Pics, resulting from a decrease in maternal skin growth due to fetal development.
You also might see some Guinea Pig hair loss during nursing.
Guinea Pig Fungal Infection (Ringworm)
The fungus Trichophyton mentagrophytes is most often your cause here, mo