Found a flea

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toyabrooke

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Hello everyone,

I have found a flea on our 10 week old baby Netherland Dwarf. We got him three days ago and has been settling in amazingly - bikines and flops on my leg in the first day! He loves being stroked while he lays flat on the ground, but today while he was purring away I saw a little black dot crawl across his face and go into his fur. I had hoped I was imagining thing, but when I stroked him later while he was laying in his litter tray, one crawled onto the tray! I managed to kill it after a lot of attempts, and Ray doesn't seem fazed by them (he grooms a lot but no itching or anything like that).

I know I would have to use a kitten grade flea killer for such a small bunny, but I did have a look over a small part of his back and couldn't see any fleas. Should I just do a thorough look over him (my mum will help) and kill any I can find rather than risk poisoning him with flea killer? He is so small and young I just don't want anything to happen to him. If we do find though that he is infested (which I highly doubt), should I then use the flea killer to make sure it doesn't get worse/spread to our apartment?

Any advice would be great.

T
 
Revolution Stat!

Just Kidding I would ask your rabbit vet about using revolution or something else if you see more definitely. If you just found one it might have just jumped on and hadn't been on him too long. You can look for Flea Dirt on his skin and go through him very carefully. This is quite an excessive amount of flea dirt but if you find alot of this then there is more than just one.

4786517998_0af6504282.jpg


Definitely treat any dogs and/or cats you own and check them too. Revolution comes in a puppy and kitten dosage but for 10 weeks you really want to ask how much to put on (it can be dosed with a syringe and drops on the nape of the neck)

For dogs it is 6wks and cats is 8wks I would check him over more thoroughly though
 
Another thought. If it was a female adult flea the life cycle from egg to adult is about 35 days. So definitely keep checking him over. If you end up treating with revolution it kills the adults and eggs. Just because you kill the ones you see doesn't mean the fleas are gone.

(also a little thing i learned to see if it really is flea dirt and not something else you can put it on a paper towel and put rubbing alcohol on it. Break up the dirt with the alcohol and if it looks like blood then it is a positive for flea dirt) Flea dirt are droppings or excrement of a flea

Good Luck
 
Thanks so much for the help! I had read that Revolution was the best to use with bunnies (here):
http://www.rabbit.org/faq/sections/groom.html

So far I haven't seen anything like that picture on Ray - His fur seems very clean.

As far as other pets he hasn't been around any - Just us and him in our little apartment! I think he may have been around other pets though with the breeder, so it could be a possibility he got them from there.

We were thinking we might use the 'flea comb' to start with as he is a very calm and quiet bunny that loves being stroked. Then I also don't have to worry about poisoning him with a wrong dose of Revolution or him having a bad reaction.

Thanks again!

T
 
I'd call the vet to see what they do with bunnies that are very young. Be careful that fleas don't start living on you or in any fabric in Ray's environment. I think he should be fine for a dose of Revolution but would want to be careful about dosing it properly since he's probably tiny.
 
Yeah he is sooo tiny! Do you think it's a good idea to try the flea comb first and then do the Revolution if we find more? So far I have only seen one (I know they lay eggs though).

Our vet is a friend and I'm sure she would just say slap some flea stuff on him... She is less cautious than I am :p

T
 
Start out with the flea comb and observe. If you find another, than use the Revolution. But that's just me.

K:)
 
We used the flea comb and there was nothing! Yay! :D I will definitely keep an eye on it though - Maybe flea comb once a week for a while? He is very calm and happy to sit for any length of time, so that is probably the best option for him.

We also have this airplane mite spray (they use it on the planes when they land back in Australia to spray the passenger cabin to kill any bugs that may have gotten on) that we might spray his cage with/the apartment with. It is completely safe for humans to breath it (they do it while we all sit in our seats when the plane lands, and also spray all the cargo levels with it too), so I assume there would be no bad things for animals in it either? Just a thought to be doubley careful to take care of any fleas they may be around.

Other than that Ray is doing just splendidly :D

T
 
Find anything? Hope it was just that one flea. But the grooming every day does do good for both bunny and it's loving human. Does make the bond so much stronger.

Neville has learned that grooming is fun and will purr now when grooming. No fleas but LOTS of hair and wool. So I need to be very vigilant so that "wool block" doesn't occur since he's only 3 months old and I can't give him papaya.

K:)
 
I would just want to make sure you get an accurate weight on him and give the right dose for that weight. Usually you give x mg per kg of bunny, so you'd have to scale the dose down to whatever he weighs.
 

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