Guinea Pig Ragged Ear | Reasons And Solutions

Guinea pig ragged ear can occur in various ways. As an owner, you may have faced any of them already.

There are several reasons behind guinea pigs’ ragged ears which include bacterial infection, fungal infection, and mites infection.

Guinea Pig Ragged Ear - Reasons And Solutions

To help you understand, this guide will provide all the important information about the diseases, what are the symptoms, and how you can help your guinea.

Reasons Behind Guinea Pig Ragged Ear

There are many reasons behind guinea pigs’ ragged ears. The problem arises when they face the symptoms. The main reasons can be bacterial infections, respiratory diseases, ear mites, or fighting with other guinea pigs.

Bacterial Infections

This type of infection is rarely seen in a guinea pig’s ear. When a bacterial infection occurs, your guinea pig’s ears will be flaky. Sometimes, there may not be any signs showing too.

When the bacterial infection occurs, pneumonia and other respiratory diseases might also occur too. But as this is a very rare issue, people do not care about these things.

But if you see any type of bacterial infection symptoms, you should immediately contact a veterinarian.

Fungal Infections

Fungal infections may occur on the top portion of the ear of a guinea pig. This will make a skin disease. Most often people confuse this disease with mites infection. But they are totally different from each other.

If you see the upper area of the ear skin is dry and scaly, you should immediately understand that this is a fungal infection. This can occur because of high humidity and stress.

Sometimes you may ask, “Why is my guinea pig wobbly?” Fungal infection can be a side effect of your guinea pig’s wobbliness.

Mite Infections

Ever seen your guinea pig scratching its ears very hard? If so, you may have already seen a mite infection. This can be a common disease that every guinea pig will have at a point.

When mite infection occurs, guinea pigs will scratch and shake its head. At that time, the ears will get dry. This is why sometimes people mix fungal infection with mite infection.

Veterinarians have described that some guinea pigs may have a dried sugary exudate that may be an early case of “Psoroptes Cuniculi”.

Check out the link down below how badly guinea pigs got ear infections-

Symptoms Of The Diseases

Although there can be several infections, the diseases leave some common symptoms. So, it becomes undetectable for normal humans which disease the guinea pig is suffering from.

Here are the symptoms the above diseases give to guinea pigs-

Ear pain.

Hearing loss.
Pus or discharge from the ears.
Deafness.

These can be extreme symptoms for guinea pigs. So, you should check out a veterinarian fast if you see these symptoms coming up.

Sometimes, guinea pigs may fight with each other and rag their ears. So, you should check out “Why are male guinea pigs fighting and drawing blood?” This may help you to prevent it.

Do Guinea Pigs Ears Need To Be Cleaned?

Yes, a guinea pig’s ears need to be cleaned. As we have read above, guinea pigs ears can be attacked by different diseases. So, if you do not get aware of it and do not clean them, they may get attacked by the infections again.

Here are the ways to clean your guinea pigs ears-

Place your guinea pig on a soft towel.
Take a syringe with a small amount of oil drawn up.

Hold your body properly so that they do not feel bad.
Oi over their ear canal, do not give them inside.
Massage your guinea pig’s ear.

Remove the oil using cotton buds. This will help to remove any wax and dead skin from your guinea pig’s ear.
Switch with another guinea pig and do the above steps again.

FAQ

1. What If My Guinea Pig Is Unprotected During The Cleaning Of Its Ears?

Your pet may be unprotected and feel like that because it may not have proper rest. You can do it some other time too, but you should give your guinea pig a proper rest.

If you try cleaning the ears of an uncooperative guinea, then it will put strains on their body and oils can go into their ears too. This may cause a loss of hearing too.

2. How Do I Know If My Guinea Pig Has Ear Mites?

If your guinea pigs are scratching their ears relentlessly and getting hair loss, there is no doubt this is a mite attack on their ears.

Also, sometimes they will bite at their skins showing you the sign of irritation. If you see these symptoms, immediately show a veterinarian near you.