Bug Advice

[Notamuised]

Mites or lice? I noticed my poor Peanut with buggies tonight. If you can see them (which I can) then it's lice?

Best treated with Revolution? Where can I get Revolution? Pet store or vet?

I know about the scrub down but what are the recommendations for dosage & repeats etc.

 

[Willow Bean]

If you can see them you have lice. Ivermectin will work well for lice and is a once per week treatment. Revolution is, I know, good for mites but I'm not certain about lice. I know that Ivermectin is a bit cheaper (around here anyhow) but maybe someone else would know and say that Revolution is fine for lice?

 

[Godmother]

Debbie Ducommun's Rat Health Care book (p. 35) recommends oral ivermectin to treat lice in rats. She says to buy it as a tube of 1.87% horse paste wormer (costs about $12-16), squeeze out all the paste into another container to mix it up well and make sure that the medicine is evenly distributed in the paste.

Give each rat a tiny piece about the size of an uncooked grain of rice. She suggests putting it on a tiny piece of bread, adding butter or jam if the rat is reluctant.

She says that other treatments such as Revolution "might work", so you are better off with the ivermectin.

 

[Fidget]

Eek! I've been thru many (what I thought was) mite attacks (Still don't know where they come from). But they can get lice too???
That's new to me.
I'm hoping that if I see too many bites on more than one kid for sibling rivalry then a run of Ivermectin will prove it to be mites and also end it like always.
But lice? How on earth does a domestic rattie get lice?....
But then how on earth does a domestic rattie get mites?

 

[Bronwyn]

I'm not sure how they'd be contracted but yup, they can get lice. Lice are host specific though so the kind that kids come home with from the playground won't transfer to a rat, and vice versa. It's not impossible but extremely rare.

 

[lilspaz68]

Revolution treats lice and mites beautifully. My first buggie outbreak was lice....and Rev got rid of it soo fast and so easily.

You know to treat all your rats Lori, but you will need to get approx weights on them and which tube of Revolution you are using (cat/puppy/kitten are 60 mg/kg) and larger dog is 120 mg/kg). You only have the 4 rats? You can get the puppy/kitten Revolution and you'll still have a tube left over.

You can also do the drop from the tube on the back of their neck. One dose lasts for 30 days which is longer than the lifecycle of the lice itself. IF you are concerned you can redose at 3 weeks but you probably won't have to. Lice are easier to get rid of than mites.

Btw just like mites, lice come in on other rats, on our clothes or in "infected" bedding. Mine came from a cheap bag of aspen. :roll:

Lice don't live off-host for long though, making them not as bad as our oogly friends the mites.

 

[Notamuised]

So can you buy Revolution at the pet store or do I have to get it from the vet? I've seen a few different brands of kitten treatments with the 3 little tubes. Is this the same thing?

 

[jorats]

You can only get revolution from the vet and good luck in trying to get it from our clinic.
She's not fond of revolution for rats.
You can pick up some Ivermectin from that Equine store on the Kingsway.
It's called Bimectin. You give them a dose the size of an uncooked grain of rice, once a week for three weeks.

 

[Willow Bean]

Lice came to u in a bag of CareFresh bedding. Lovely. Don't microwave it!! it burns. Literally. Mites came in the same way... Needless to say that we have switched to Aspen. We keep 2 large ziplock bags in the freezer to kill off the nasty creatures.

Anyhow, I think that Ivermectin works best on Lice and internal parasites and Revolution is best for mites and ticks. Really, though, if your rat has ticks... how hard would it be to just pick them off? :lol:

I thought it was rediculous that you could only get Revolution for the vet and you had to have he/she confirm that it was mites! We got a friend who owns a PET store (no feeders here!) (so they say) to give us a tube. it was wonderful! and illegal. :shock: :lol:

 

[Cityratt]

some of the OTC stuff you can buy at petstores is really harsh and not always safe to put on your pets (I realise that it was revolution you got Willow - it just got me thinking).

As frusterating as it is to have to go to the vet to get revolution for your pet its important because doses do have to be calculated accordingly, and really you want to be sure you're treating with the correct product.
I would rather go to the vet and get a safe product for my dog/cat/rat, then go to the pet store and buy a product that is "revolution-like" and just because it comes in a tube assume it is an equivalent product.
Legally for the Dr they have to have a pateint dr relationship before they can distrubute these medications - and i dont think the FDA would place regulations such as those JUST to make our lives more difficult.
:soapbox:
not implying that anyone here would do that. i've just seen a few cases of "revolution-like" products causing toxicity issues, and ive had ALOT of people get pissed at me because we dont just hand out tubes of advantage or revolution to whoever walks through our pratice door.

ok. Im done ranting now all the best with your pestcontrol problems notamused

 

[Willow Bean]

LOL!! I agree! The not liking having an appointment thing is mostly because I know it's there, he knows it's there, just give me meds! LOL! But I know what you're saying! Better to not have meds than to give so many that our ratties buggies become immune!

Thank goodness it's only lice! Those are pretty easy to get rid of. After dosing my rats with Ivermectin I let them have a nice warm swim as well. Don't bathe them, it'll make their skin too dry, but a nice warm swim is very soothing to a buggy rat!

 

[Bronwyn]

Ditto about what Cityratt said, lol. Revolution is great stuff but it's best to get the rats seen by a DVM before treating them on your own.

 

[jorats]

Problem is... Notamuised has my vet and my vet doesn't give out Revolution for rats. She will give them shot of ivermectin. Unless she can be convinced otherwise. I have tried in the past with no success.

 

[lilspaz68]

Problem is... Notamuised has my vet and my vet doesn't give out Revolution for rats. She will give them shot of ivermectin. Unless she can be convinced otherwise. I have tried in the past with no success.

In this cage go with the Ivermectin

and no Willow Bean, Revolution is successfully used for all the ecto-parasites, plus I believe internal pin worms?

 

[Willow Bean]

really? Good to know! Thanks!

 

[SQ]

too bad about the problems getting revolution

 

[Rodentist]

I just noticed mites on my boys yesterday.....I thought it was dirt, these tiny specks but they seemed too uniform, so I brushed a couple off and looked at them under a microscope and.......&#^*!!!

Little monsters!

I put Revolution on them last night, and when I came home from work today, I combed Trajan's fur and looked at them under a microscope....all dead.

If you do a google search on "cat revolution" you will find all sorts of places to get Revolution on line.

Meanwhile, I am waiting for my SO to get home so we can clean the cages and give the boys a bath. Not a one person job.

 

[Notamuised]

I picked up a tube of Bimectin (Ivermectin) today from our local equestrian store. I will treat my guys tomorrow :roll: