Why Do Guinea Pigs Lose Hair Around Their Eyes? (Find Out Now)
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You sit there in front of your guinea pigs, watching as they lose hair around their eyes. You worry about what it could mean, and whether you’re doing something wrong. What could be causing this? Is it a sign of something serious?
There’s many reasons why guinea pigs lose hair around their eyes. It could be because of a fungal infection, an eye infection, or constant wetness – weepy, crusty eyes from an upper respiratory infection. It could even be caused by mites. If you see your guinea pig losing hair around the eyes, don’t ignore it. Take your pet to the vet for a diagnosis.
Either way you look at it, hair loss can be a big problem for guinea pigs.
I’ve got tons of information on why guineas lose hair around their eyes, so stick with me. It’ll be worth your while.
Why Do Guinea Pigs Lose Hair Around Their Eyes?
Guinea pigs can lose hair around their eyes when something is wrong. It might be an infection, infestation, or just wetness. Some people think that guinea pigs losing hair was associated with old age, but that’s not true.
There’s many factors that can cause baldness in humans, such as aging, genetics, and alopecia.
But for guinea pigs, there’s different causes. Guinea pigs don’t lose hair due to old age or genetics. Instead, they lose hair for other reasons.
These reasons include:
Fungal Infections
There’s a good chance that a fungal infection is causing your guinea pig to lose hair around its eyes. There’s several types of fungus that can cause this problem, but the most common one is ringworm.
Most people (maybe even you) might think ringworms are worms. Ringworms are not actually worms, they are a type of fungal infection. The infection comes from different types of fungi, but the most common type is Trichophyton mentagrophyte.
This fungus can affect different parts of the body, like the scalp, nails, and skin. When it invades the skin, it often causes odd patches of hair loss. You may also notice some other signs on your pet pig.
They include:
- Scaly skin
- Itchiness
- Roughened hair coat
- Dandruff
- Nail bed infections
These are some signs that you should look out for. If you see any of these symptoms, take your piggie to the vet as soon as possible. The good news is that ringworm can be treated (cue the cheering).
The vet may recommend antifungal cream or shampoo. In severe cases, the pet doctor may have to offer oral medication.
It’s important to mention that fungal infections are very contagious. If you think your piggie has a ringworm, isolate the poor thing from your other fur babies. This can help stop the infection from spreading.
Some fungi are zoonotic, meaning they can pass from animals to humans. Always wear gloves when handling a guinea with fungal infection.
Eye Infections
One possible cause of hair loss around the eyes in guinea pigs is an eye infection. This can be caused by a number of things, such as conjunctivitis or corneal wounds. However, conjunctivitis is the most common eye condition in pigs.
Eye infections can cause loss of hair around the eye in piggies. You may also notice other signs including:
- Redness
- Inflammation
- Discharge around the affected eye
- Pawing
- Keeping the affected eye closed
If you notice any of these signs, take your piggie to the vet as soon as possible. The sooner you catch and treat an eye infection, the better. The vet will prescribe the appropriate medication. That could either be antibacterial or antifungal.
Sometimes warm saline water can help with conjunctivitis (also known as pink eye). But it’s always a good idea to check with your vet first.
Constant Wetness
Sometimes guinea pigs may have wet eyes due to tearing. This is often caused by an infection or irritation of the conjunctiva. Other possible causes include:
- Allergies
- Dry eye
- Eye injury
- Glaucoma
- Tumors
If your guinea pig’s eyes are always wet, you should take your little friend to the vet right away. The vet will do a check-up of your guinea pig’s eyes and figure out the cause of the issue. Treatment will depend on what is causing the problem.
Guinea pigs ooze a white substance from their eyes that they use to clean their faces. It you notice this, don’t worry, it’s normal.
Mites
If you’ve been around piggies for a while, you probably noticed that they’re prone to mites. Mites are tiny, parasitic insects that feed on the blood of their host.
They often infest the skin and hair follicles. The most common type of mite that affects guinea pigs is the Cheyletiella mite.
But that’s just one type. There’s tens of thousands of mite species, and most of them are too small to see with the naked eye.
If you want to learn about what causes some guinea pigs to lose hair all over their bodies, take a peek at 10 Top Reasons Why Guinea Pigs Lose Hair.
Mites are very small and you can’t see them with your own eyes. However, there’s some signs that can tell you if your pig has mites:
- Alopecia (hair loss in patches)
- Pruritus (severe skin itching – like “oh, my piggie is having a seizure” type of itching)
- Erythema (reddening of the skin)
- Hair loss
- Skin irritation
- Anorexia
- Lethargy
- Flaking skin
As usual, if you see any of these signs, take your pet to the vet. Treatment usually involves using powder or spray, and sometimes, a series of injections. It all depends on the type of mites and how severe the infestation is.
The mites that affect guinea pigs cannot infect humans or other pigs outside the guinea world. You won’t have to worry about that.
Upper Respiratory Infection
Upper respiratory infection (URI) is the fifth and final illness on our list. But don’t let that fool you into thinking it’s not serious. URI can be fatal to guinea pigs, so it’s important to treat it with the seriousness it deserves.
URI is an infection that can affect the nose, throat, or sinuses. It can be caused by a virus, bacteria, or fungi. The most common causes in guinea pigs are Bordetella, Streptococcus, or Adenovirus.
This condition is very contagious. Pets in the same enclosure can become infected.
The incubation period ranges from 1-14 days if caused by Bordetella. As for Streptococcus, the symptoms appear within 72 hours of infection.
Some of the signs of URI in piggies include:
- Nasal discharge
- Sneezing
- Coughing
- Wheezing
- Eye discharge
- Lethargy
- Anorexia
If your piggie shows any of these signs, you should take them to a vet right away. URIs can become severe within 24 hours, so don’t wait until you see other symptoms.
The treatment for this condition is antibiotics. And a cavy-savvy vet will probably even recommend Vitamin C supplements to help boost your little friend’s immune system. But it’s best to leave that up to the doctor.
Please don’t medicate your piggie unless you’ve had a vet do a proper diagnosis. Treating your fur babies with the wrong medications can do more harm than good.
What Causes Guinea Pigs To Have Bald Spots?
There’s a few reasons why guinea pigs can lose hair – including issues with ovarian cysts, barbering, drooling, or different types of infections.
If you see some bald spots on your guinea pig, it’s worth investigating the cause. As always, the only way to know for sure is to take your pet to a licensed vet.
Ovarian Cysts
Ovarian cysts are fluid-filled sacs that develop in the ovaries. This mainly affects females between 18 months and 5 years old, but research shows it’s most common in female piggies between 2 and 4 years old.
Most ovarian cysts affect both ovaries. They can be different sizes between 0.5 cm to 7 cm. – which is HUGE when you think about how tiny guinea pigs are. They usually start small but get bigger as the pet gets older.
Ovarian cysts can cause a hormonal imbalance.
This can lead to bald spots and skin. Guinea pigs with ovarian cysts are infamously cranky because of the pain. This can escalate quickly and cause fallouts between previously happy groups of females.
If you want to know more about why female guinea pigs fight, check out 10 Crazy Reasons Why Female Guinea Pigs Fight (You Need This Now).
The only way to remove an ovarian cyst is through surgery. But it’s a delicate procedure and not all vets are comfortable performing it on such a small animal. So, you might have to
Ovarian cysts occur in almost 76% of female guinea pigs and are more common among unspayed pigs.
Barbering
Bald spots can also be caused by barbering. Barbering is when the pig bites or chews its fur too much. This usually happens to pigs with long hair, such as the Silkie, Peruvian, and Texel breeds.
If you wanna know more, check out my post, Hair: What You Need to Know About Why Guinea Pigs Eat It
Common causes of barbering include:
- Boredom
- Stress
- Frustration
- Infection
- Allergy
If your piggie loses hair because of barbering, it will grow back. But there’s a few some exceptions. If the hair follicles get damaged, the hair might not grow back.
Guinea pigs often use barbering to show dominance. If you see one guinea pig barbering another, it might be a power struggle. This isn’t a huge issue unless you notice that a piggie is being bullied away from food or if blood has been drawn from a fight.
Constant Drooling
Drooling is a normal behavior for guinea pigs. But if they drool too much, it might be a problem. Excessive drooling can be a sign of an underlying health problem.
This might be mouth infections, oral tumors, or teeth issues.
In most cases, the drool contains pus or blood. This drool often stains the fur around the mouth, making it look matted. If not treated early enough, bald spots may appear around the mouth.
The vet shouldn’t trim the incisor before examining the other teeth if they think the drooling is from overgrown teeth. Back teeth can be a big issue, too, when it comes to dental problems for piggies.
Infections (Fungal and Parasitic)
There’s tons of fungal and parasitic infections that can lead to bald spots in guinea pigs. Some common examples include:
- Ringworm
- Yeast infection
- Mange
Fungal infections often cause skin irritation and redness. If left untreated, it may lead to hair loss and bald spots.
Mange is a particularly severe skin infection caused by tiny mites that burrow into the skin and lay eggs. The resulting irritation and itchiness often causes the affected piggie to scratch excessively, which leads to hair loss and bald spots.
Other parasites can cause bald spots like lice and fleas. These parasites cause baldness in a similar way as mange. They cause irritation and itchiness that leads to excessive scratching.
Parasitic infections are very contagious. If you have more than one guinea pig, it’s likely that the others will get infected – especially if you can’t separate them safely.
What Does An Infected Guinea Pig Eye Look Like?
If your piggie has an eye infection, their eye might look red and swollen. Sometimes there might be a clear or pus-like discharge coming from the eye. If it gets really bad, your fur baby might have trouble opening his eyes.
Guinea pigs can get eye infections very easily. This is because their eyes are very fragile and close to their skull’s surface. This makes them more likely to injure their eyes.
There’s many different types of eye infections that can affect guinea pigs. They all look different. But the most common symptoms are redness, discharge, and inflammation.
Cavies have poor eyesight naturally. So if you think your guinea pig has an eye infection, take it to the vet right away. If the infection isn’t treated, it can cause blindness.
Can Stress Cause Hair Loss In Guinea Pigs?
Yes, stress can cause hair loss in guinea pigs. When stressed, guinea pigs tend to groom themselves more often which can lead to hair loss and bald spots.
So, sometimes the missing patch of fur is not due to an underlying health condition but rather the guinea pig’s reaction to stress.
Stress can even be fatal for piggies. I wrote about it in an article called Can Stress Kill Your Guinea Pig? (What You Need to Know).
Many different things can cause stress in guinea pigs. Some of the most common include:
- Changes in environment
- Loud noises
- Strange smells
- Too much handling
- Unfriendly cage mates
- Poor diet
A small enclosure can also be a huge stressor for piggies. Always make sure that your pet’s cage is at least 7.5 square feet. But, as far as guinea pig space is concerned, bigger is ALWAYS better.
How To Help A Guinea Pig Maintain Healthy Fur
Helping a guinea pig have healthy fur involves a lot of steps. You need to do several things to make sure your piggie’s coat is thick and lustrous.
Some of the things that can help a guinea pig’s fur stay healthy include:
- Nutritious diet
- Vitamin C supplements
- Early disease diagnosis and treatment
- Making sure their teeth are healthy (plenty of hay to keep them a manageable size)
- Eliminating stress sources
- Healthy living environment
- Isolation of sick pets
It’s important to give your piggies weekly health checks. This will help with early diagnosis of any health condition that may cause hair loss.
Let’s Wrap Up!
If your guinea pig is losing its hair, it’s a cause for concern.
It could be a sign that they are not feeling well. If you notice bald spots or patches of missing fur on your guinea pig, take them to a licensed health expert right away.
They may be too sick and not showing any symptoms. Better safe than sorry.