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Our Story
Ringworm on the NetWe then did a very foolish thing, we went on the Net and began looking up 'ringworm'! PANIC! The web is full of horrible photos of human ringworm (click here if you are feeling brave) and warnings about how incredibly contagious it is, and how it can easily be transmitted from animal to man. We envisaged having to have our house defumigated etc etc. Ringworm is NOT a worm - it's a fungus, a bit like athlete's foot, which causes crusting and itching and hair loss. Kittens are also very prone to it.Symptoms All
the books and information you read tell you that the primary symptoms
are hair loss and itchiness. But in fact this wasn't the case with Tallulah,
who is a dark-skinned, long-haired pig. She didn't seem to be scratching
excessively, and there was definitely no hair loss, and the chief symptoms
we had to go on were crusty scabby lumps. This is one of the reasons
it took so long to diagnose. With Lilith, the fair-skinned pig, it was
much easier to spot the sore patches and she definitely did suffer hair
loss around her eye.
Systemic Treatment - griseofulvin
NOTE: The drug "Fulcin" has now been discontinued in the UK, although a similar product "Grisovin" is still available. An oral suspension of griseofulvin is still readily available, so ask your vet. It is called "Grifulvin V" in the USA. NOTE: Other dosages recommended more recently (2005) have been the following: 0.3ml 2x daily for 5-7 days then if no better up to 0.5ml 2x daily. NOTE: Another visitor to the site (2007) reported that she has successfully treated her two guinea pigs using ground-up "Fulcin" tablets. She read that the powder is very poorly absorbed by the pig unless accompanied by fat, so once a week she mixed two ground-up tablets and an appropriate amount of guinea pig mix, and then added a dessertspoon of sunflower oil. The pigs loved it and it made their coats shine. I also recommended the treatment to Heather Henshaw at Sherbert's Shelter, and she successfully cured one of her pigs of the ringworm with the same medicine. Other TreatmentsThere are other treatments, of course. We were also recommended an anti-fungal shampoo called 'Sporal G' by Trigone, and also just plain tincture of iodine (although I think that would be rather painful on broken skin), plus some homeopathic remedies. I also used the Canesten anti-fungal cream I bought from the pharmacy on Lilith's eye and I think it eased the itching. The Blue Cross Centre at Burford, UK, has successfully treated guinea-pig ringworm with Imaverol (available from vets both in the UK and US), which has to be diluted 1:50 with water and applied with cotton wool onto the affected parts weekly. It took about 5-6 treatments before the ringworm disappeared. It is worth continuing treatment for a week or so after symptoms disappear to prevent recurrance. HygieneThere are some practical hygiene steps to be taken when dealing with pigs with ringworm, especially in the house. I had a particular sweatshirt I would always wear when handling them (and at no other time) and they had a towel to sit in on the upholstery. Both towel, sweatshirt and other items of clothing were washed very regularly, and hands were washed with an anti-bacterial soap after every time we handled the pigs. My Ringworm!
AdviceThe best advice I can give you is
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We
brought Lilith and Tallulah home from the Pet Shop at 7 weeks old, and
we left them pretty much alone for the first few days, to get used to
their new surroundings. So it was about a week later that I was holding
Tallulah and I noticed she had a scabby lump on her head between her
ears. There was no hair loss that I could see. I took her immediately
to the vet, and he checked for mites, but ruled that out. We wondered
whether she had been bitten by Lilith while they were settling down
together. So I went home with an antiseptic wash.
Two
days later some more crusting appeared on Tallulah's cheek. She went
straight back to the vet, who still wasn't sure what it was. [With hindsight
I think maybe he should have recognised it]. Lilith had no symptoms
at this stage. The vet decided to do a biopsy on the lumps on Tallulah
to help the diagnosis. To do this he had to give her a little anaesthetic
gas. You can imagine the distress this caused us, as she was only 8
weeks old, and the trauma could have killed her. Fortunately she survived,
but had to have half her head shaved and 4 stitches in her head and
cheek. The lump was immediately cultured and within a couple of days
the culture turned purple and emphatically revealed that Tallulah had
ringworm. The day after this diagnosis Lilith began losing hair around
her right eye..... 
Because
both our pigs now had the ringworm, and by this time had had it for
10-14 days, the vet decided to treat both pigs systemically,
ie: internally. They were each put on a 6 week course of an anti-fungal
suspension known in the UK as "
However,
I DID get a patch of ringworm myself. Tallulah gave me a tiny scratch
on my neck about a week BEFORE she was diagnosed, and I didn't wash
it immediately. So I got a red, itchy patch. However, I went to the
pharmacist and bought an over-the-counter anti-fungal cream - 'Canesten'
- which I rubbed on my neck. After about 3 days the itching and redness
had subsided so I stopped using the cream - and the ringworm came back
again! It just goes to show how difficult it can be to get rid of! I
continued with the cream for another 10 days and it disappeared without
trace. 
Now,
ten months later, at about one year of age, our pigs seem to have reached
their adult weight, and Tallulah in particular is slightly smaller than
the average guinea pig - Lilith is 1kg 75g (which is 2lb 6oz, or 38oz)
while Tallulah weighs in at 825g (which is 1lb 13oz, or 29oz). Nevertheless
they are both perfectly healthy and energetic. It may be just genetics
that has made them smaller, especially in Tallulah's case, as a more
highly-bred texel, but it is also possible that the griseofulvin did
stunt their growth a little. However, as they are both housepigs, being
smaller is no disadvantage and in fact quite convenient for them and
us!