OMG... Could it be Cheyletiella, too?

[Jenk]

It now seems that we likely have yet another parasitic issue. It's hard to believe, since our home was twice chemically treated (sprayed, not fogged), and all three of our pets received four Revolution treatments 14 days apart this past fall. (The last home and Revolution treatment was on 11/10/11.) But, now, there are signs of the Cheyletiella mite. You'd think that all forms of parasites would've been killed during the most recent pet/home treatment.

Everything I've read suggests that he home environment be treated with pyrethrins, along with the pets being treated with Revolution (or Ivermectin). What have others done who've had the Cheyletiella mite?

My DH has put up with a great deal of vet expenses over the past 4.5 years but has reached the breaking point at the thought of this being another parasitic infestation. (If I'm right, it will be our third in less than four years.) Last night, he said that if we must treat the pets/home yet again, he wants all the animals rehomed after the treatment. He is done, as in, stick a fork in him. My emotional side is split in half because I know he's right; we've given up too much for the animals' sake.

Jenk

 

[JadeIcing]

How did this come about?

 

[Jenk]

JadeIcing wrote:

How did this come about?

Assuming you're referring to the possible parasite issue I've mentioned, I'm not really certain. The only place our pets go is to the vet's office, and our cat doesn't go outdoors. And we humans are homebodies.

Pink's showing signs of another issue, which hasn't been uncovered by diagnostics. One person suggested he may have lowered immunity, which opened the door for a fur-mite issue. But, as I've said, you'd think that nothing would be living on him, after the pet/home treatment we did this past fall.
:?

Anywho, I'm taking Pink to the vet today in the hope that she'll prove/disprove my theory. But fur loss, which Pink now has in a small area on his shoulder, isn't usually caused by dry skin. (Emma, as of yesterday, has begun scratching/grooming noticeably more; I said I wouldn't take action on the idea of this being parasites unless/until at least one more pet started showing itchy symptoms.)


Jenk

 

[LakeCondo]

I'm sure you know that re-homing would be difficult until they all were proved to be healthy & once they were healthy there wouldn't be much reason to re-home. It's a real catch-22.

Do you live in an apartment or other attached setting where the parasites could be coming from outside your unit?

 

[Jenk]

LakeCondo wrote:

I'm sure you know that re-homing would be difficult until they all were proved to be healthy & once they were healthy there wouldn't be much reason to re-home. It's a real catch-22.

The health situation is why my DH said we'd treat the pets/house (again), if this turns out to be a parasite issue. We know that we couldn't consider re-homing anyone unless/until the issue is (seemingly?) eradicated.

There is a definite reason to re-home: the cost of vet bills, which we can't keep up with anymore. Unless I find full-time work--which is tricky with my and the pets' health issues--it likely wouldn't be possible for us to keep them. (What we've spent in 4.5 years' time, between vet bills and parasitic treatments, has been a major blow to our savings.)

Do you live in an apartment or other attached setting where the parasites could be coming from outside your unit?

No, we're in a single-family home. I am stumped, unless parasites in my area have built up a tolerance to Revolution, which is the go-to choice of vets here. (I know of parasites building up a tolerance to another parasiticide that was used by the vets in that region; it can happen.)

 

[MandyK]

Jenk wrote

Pink's showing signs of another issue, which hasn't been uncovered by diagnostics. One person suggested he may have lowered immunity, which opened the door for a fur-mite issue. But, as I've said, you'd think that nothing would be living on him, after the pet/home treatment we did this past fall.

This is the case with my rabbit. Her immune system is very poor, and she couldn't fight off the mites on her own. They seem to have come out of no where. Sometimes there is no explanation.

Have you thought about tearing up the carpet in your home, if you have any? I don't know too much about pest control, but I'm assuming it's easier for them to hide in carpet than it is to hide on hard wood or tile.

 

[LaylaLop]

Well, if vet bills are out of range, I doubt a home flooring remodel would be doable, Mandy.

Have you tried doing a fogging? When I rescued some rodents and they turned out to have parasites (some had mites, others had lice) I had to move all my animals out into the garage and treated them all with meds. We then fogged the entire house with a fogger that was actually sold by the vet. It, along with the meds put an end to it.

I switched their bedding to having no soft cloth and only pelleted paper since it was slightly harder for parasites to thrive in.

Have you looked at your hay as being a potential in for parasites?

 

[Jenk]

MandyK wrote:

This is the case with my rabbit. Her immune system is very poor, and she couldn't fight off the mites on her own. They seem to have come out of no where. Sometimes there is no explanation.

The parasite we had this past fall wasn't officially diagnosed by the vet, but the larva she and I saw under the microscope looked like that of the cat flea. (I'd looked it up on Google to help identify it.)

Is it possible that something survived? It's possible but seems unlikely. I caught the issue very early, starting treatment of my cat on the sixth day that he was affected; the rabbits started being treated four days later. All three pets received four Revolution doses given 14 days apart--so they were essentially protected for about 10 weeks. And the house, though not fogged, had its floors sprayed twice, which should have given 60 days' worth of protection. With all the vacuuming I did, the chemicals applied to the floor, and the animals being protected by Revolution, the problem should be gone.

The issue with fogging is that it's only effective for parasites in the adult stage, and it's killing effectiveness lasts about 4 hours; after that time, it's just an ineffective odor that you're smelling. (I'm not knocking the idea of foggers; we did use them, along with a floor treatment, during our 9-month-parasite experience.)

Have you thought about tearing up the carpet in your home, if you have any? I don't know too much about pest control, but I'm assuming it's easier for them to hide in carpet than it is to hide on hard wood or tile.

After our first, 9-month-long parasite ordeal, we put hard flooring upstairs. We now have one small rug at the top of our stairs, a carpet runner in front of our couch, and an area rug that covers most of the dining room. It would pain me to throw them out because we couldn't replace them; but if we do have a third round of parasites, I will pitch them.

We still have carpeting downstairs; it's not affordable to replace it now. Ironically, some sources contend it's harder to treat for parasites on hard flooring than on carpeting (something about the parasites being able to slip beneath the wood planks). But who knows what's true?

Jenk

 

[Jenk]

LaylaLop wrote:

Well, if vet bills are out of range, I doubt a home flooring remodel would be doable, Mandy.

I want to clarify what I mean about the vet bills being out-of-range. Last year, two of our four animals cost $2,400 in vet bills. The one rabbit who passed away in August cost us nearly that amount on her own. And, then, we had to spend money to fight parasites in the fall, which was about another $500. In the end, we were faced with at least $4K in vet-/parasite-related expenses last year. To my mind, that is far beyond what should be the norm.

Have you tried doing a fogging? When I rescued some rodents and they turned out to have parasites (some had mites, others had lice) I had to move all my animals out into the garage and treated them all with meds. We then fogged the entire house with a fogger that was actually sold by the vet. It, along with the meds put an end to it.

For the mite issue we had nearly 4 years ago, we had the house fogged and sprayed--three times total because the issue was bad. But as I note in a previous post, fogging is only effective on adult parasites--not any of the other stages--and it's effective for about 4 hours after being released. After that time, only the smell remains.

Unfortunately, we can't have the pets in the garage at this time of year due to the cold. So there's the added expense of boarding them at the vet's during any chemical treatment. If we fog the house, we'd have them boarded overnight as an extra safety measure.

I switched their bedding to having no soft cloth and only pelleted paper since it was slightly harder for parasites to thrive in. Have you looked at your hay as being a potential in for parasites?

Our one bun has sore hocks and, thus, needs her flooring covered. When the parasite issue occurred in the fall, I washed her blankets in hot water and Borax daily. And I dried everything on a high-heat cycle.

Hay was the source of our first mite problem. This last (and possibly current) issue started with a stray cat that stood outside my porch screen door. S/He had something that was transferred to my cat, who started scratching noticeably 24 hours later. And, of course, the problem eventually made its way to our two rabbits, since they exercise on the same floor space that our cat navigates all day.


Jenk

 

[Jenk]

LaylaLop wrote:

When I rescued some rodents and they turned out to have parasites (some had mites, others had lice) I had to move all my animals out into the garage and treated them all with meds. We then fogged the entire house with a fogger that was actually sold by the vet. It, along with the meds put an end to it.

I'm curious: did any of the your rodents live on the floor 100% of the time after you fogged your home?

When we had the house sprayed and fogged three times, I washed most of the buns' floor before we brought them back into the house each time. (I left about a 6" boarder up to the baseboards untouched, so as to leave the chemicals there intact, since parasites like to hide in baseboard cracks.)

I'm worried about putting more chemicals into our home at his point. Grand total, we've put chemicals on our floor six times now. (Three of those times included fogger.) The thought of the pets being exposed to even more of them scares me, although I know we can't allow a parasite issue to overrun our home, either. This feels like a Catch-22 decision at this point.

 

[Jenk]

LaylaLop wrote:

When I rescued some rodents and they turned out to have parasites (some had mites, others had lice) I had to move all my animals out into the garage and treated them all with meds. We then fogged the entire house with a fogger that was actually sold by the vet. It, along with the meds put an end to it.

I'm curious: did any of the your rodents live on the floor 100% of the time after you fogged your home?

When we had the house sprayed and fogged three times, I washed most of the buns' floor before we brought them back into the house each time. (I left about a 6" boarder up to the baseboards untouched, so as to leave the chemicals there intact, since parasites like to hide in baseboard cracks.)

I'm worried about putting more chemicals into our home at his point. Grand total, we've put chemicals on our floor six times now. (Three of those times included fogger.) The thought of the pets being exposed to even more of them scares me, although I know we can't allow a parasite issue to overrun our home, either. This feels like a Catch-22 decision at this point.

Jenk

 

[Ape337]

I've read about people using food grade diatomaceous earth for parasite/mite control. Since it's not a pesticide there is no resistance. It just slices and dices. But it could cause problems if inhaled when applying so I'd wear a mask. If you google DE on the web you will see descriptions about its use and safety concerns with small animals. They say it's safe for rabbits and other small animals, but I have no experience at all with its use indoors with any animals. I'm a gardener so I know its uses outdoors. My job is IPM in ornamental plants, so I'm spraying/killing insects every day. I must rotate chemicals, and I push organics whenever my clients let me (and my boss let's me).
I read even people and animals eat DE to worm themselves! :?

Good luck, I was just trying to think of something that wasn't a chemical bc it sounds like you've got some strong pesticide resistance in your home.

 

[Jenk]

Ape337 wrote:

I've read about people using food grade diatomaceous earth for parasite/mite control. Since it's not a pesticide there is no resistance. It just slices and dices. But it could cause problems if inhaled when applying so I'd wear a mask. If you google DE on the web you will see descriptions about its use and safety concerns with small animals. They say it's safe for rabbits and other small animals, but I have no experience at all with its use indoors with any animals. I'm a gardener so I know its uses outdoors. My job is IPM in ornamental plants, so I'm spraying/killing insects every day. I must rotate chemicals, and I push organics whenever my clients let me (and my boss let's me).

We tried DE before using chemicals for our first parasite (mite) issue. It was a horrible mess. For one thing, the pets must be out of the home for days because you don't want them walking on, ingesting, or inhaling it. (I know some people use food-grade DE to de-worm cats and dogs, but I wouldn't feel safe giving it to our animals--at least not our rabbits.)

Also, DE sticks horribly to hard-wood flooring. We thought we might have ruined our floors, for as hard it was to remove it. It's also damaging to most vacuum cleaners because the particles are so fine that they can "gum up" the works, so to speak.

I think DE is fine for outdoor use; indoors, not so much. And since you must leave DE on floor untouched, you're not "waking" the parasites to hatch through vibration (from vacuuming and walking around). If they don't hatch and walk through the DE, then they remain safe.

In an ideal world, DE would work as quickly/effectively as chemicals.


Jenk

 

[Jenk]

I just spoke to the vet, who gave me the Revolution dosage for each bun.

She suggested I give three Revolution doses 14 days apart, then switch to a monthly dose for a long while--like about a year. She feels bad because of the expense of the Revolution alone. (I'd told her yesterday about my DH's desire to re-home all of our pets; she's sensitive to the situation.) I'm on the fence about the effectiveness about this treatment plan, since entomologists say that both the animals and environment should be treated simultaneously. Ugh.


Jenk

 

[MandyK]

Jenk wrote:

I just spoke to the vet, who gave me the Revolution dosage for each bun.

She suggested I give three Revolution doses 14 days apart, then switch to a monthly dose for a long while--like about a year. She feels bad because of the expense of the Revolution alone. (I'd told her yesterday about my DH's desire to re-home all of our pets; she's sensitive to the situation.) I'm on the fence about the effectiveness about this treatment plan, since entomologists say that both the animals and environment should be treated simultaneously. Ugh.


Jenk

If it helps any, when my rabbit was diagnosed with fur mites, my vet didn't suggest treating the environment either. If your vet understands your situation and felt you should treat the environment too, I'm sure she would have said something.

 

[Jenk]

MandyK wrote

If it helps any, when my rabbit was diagnosed with fur mites, my vet didn't suggest treating the environment either. If your vet understands your situation and felt you should treat the environment too, I'm sure she would have said something.

But I now think this problem is likely the cat flea, which would be repeating itself from last fall, when we'd treated for it. If it's the flea, it's much more insidious than fur mites; it can go dormant for about a year. :shock:

I need to discuss the issue with my DH tonight; I suspect he'll want to have the house treated. We can't keep going through this cycle of treating the pets and house for parasites. It got very expensive and old a loooong time ago. I am mentally/emotionally burned out from washing laundry and vacuuming daily for weeks--even months--each time that we go through this mess.


Jenk

 

[rabbit_friend]

Just ran across this thread researching my own bunnies Cheyletiella issues -- how are things going and did you resolve the problem? I found a great website that goes into huge detail about Revolution and how it works. From from reading it, it seems that any life stages in the environment (except eggs I guess) will be killed by eating Revolution-contaminated dander and mite droppings from the treated animal. Actually, my reading seems to imply that once you start the Revolution, you should probably NOT vacuum so that the Revolution-impregnated dander, etc. will stay around for mites to feed on. Maybe that's why the vet(s) didn't mention cleaning the environment?

The website is: http://www.pet-informed-veterinary-advice-online.com/revolution-flea-control.html

 

[LakeCondo]

Medical people tend to overvalue medical treatments & undervalue environment treatments, at least that's what I think.

 

[Jenk]

LakeCondo wrote:

Medical people tend to overvalue medical treatments & undervalue environment treatments, at least that's what I think.

I agree. Then again, I've talked with enough exterminators to know that they suffer from the opposite problem: overvaluing environmental treatments and undervaluing medical treatments. Ah, well.

In any case, I no longer believe it's a Cheyletiella issue. At least, my other two animals--one bun and a cat--aren't itching excessively anymore. My vet thinks they may have been more itchy, and, thus, groomed more, during the wintertime due to drier air (and skin).

My male Cali continues to groom a lot more than the other two animals; no apparent cause as been found.

Jenk