My boys

[jennifervb]

I need some insight onto something I discovered last night.

Of my four boys, three of them have scabs all over their backs! They do not seem to hurt them but Albert let out a squeak and a jump when I stroked him! :shock:

I cannot see anything but I can feel them! Ben, Basil and Roquefort were enthralled with the back massages I gave them although I could not feel any scabs on Roquefort.

I am very careful with their diets and make sure that I don't give them too much protein.

I can't see any mites anywhere, so I can only assume that these scratches are from their power-grooming sessions and fall outs. Ben and Albert often puff up at each other but I have never seen any blood. It is usually Ben who is the aggressor and Albert who tries to reconcile. (Albert ousted Ben from the upstairs hammock and Ben has been pissy ever since. )

I will be taking Ben in for his annual check up so I will have Dr. Davis check him. If he has mites, then they all do and will be treated. I can't take Albert in to be examined because I am afraid that he will bite Dr. Davis. He doesn't bite often, but when he does, it is vicious! :shock:

Because of the pain it seemed to cause him, last night, I just don't want to risk him digging his incisors into Dr. Davis' hand! OY!!!!!

If anyone has any other ideas of what the issue could be, please let me know! I change the towels daily and scrub the cage down once a week with hot, soapy, water and vinegar.

They are not lethargic and have had absolutely no lapse in appetite. There has been no weight loss.

:hugs:

 

[Godmother]

It really sounds like mites, and I don't think they are visible. Maybe your vet could put Revolution on three of the boys and send you home with some to do Albert.

 

[jorats]

Definitely mites. You can't see mites and even a skin scraping will come up negative.

 

[jennifervb]

Thanks Ladies!!!

I will schedule Ben for a check-up and get them on their Revolution.

My poor little fuzz-bundles. What I don't understand is where the mites cropped up from! The boys were treated for mites!

 

[jorats]

The thing with mites, you have to go nuts cleaning. If you have any wood in the cage that would need to be frozen for 48 hours or put away for 3 months.

 

[user 78]

The few times I've used Revolution, I haven't needed to do all of that cleaning. Revolution covers the entire mite life cycle, so it gets the current adults, then the eggs when those hatch. I froze their wood/paper toys for 48 hours, but I didn't scrub the cage or anything major like that.

Ivermectin was another story all together. You have to scrub the cage down within 24hrs of the dose, so once a week, for three weeks, I was having to haul cages into the tub and scrub them down. Swap toys from the freezer with current toys, wash all their cage linens and all the fabric they came in contact with during Out time.. It was such a bloody hassle. I hated it, and will stick with Revolution just for that reason.

 

[jorats]

Ivermectin was another story all together. You have to scrub the cage down within 24hrs of the dose, so once a week, for three weeks, I was having to haul cages into the tub and scrub them down. Swap toys from the freezer with current toys, wash all their cage linens and all the fabric they came in contact with during Out time.. It was such a bloody hassle. I hated it, and will stick with Revolution just for that reason.

See and I've had the opposite experience. I find with Revolution, the mites just won't go away. Yet, in the past when I used Ivermectin, since it's 3 doses for 3 weeks, you get the mites at all stages and I've never had to redo a treatment, unlike the Revolution.

I did speak to my vet about which treatment she recommends and it's the oral Ivermectin. She says it's the safest of the bunch but Revolution is a close second. BUT... she warns against using the horse paste wormer, it's not accurate enough for any animals other than the horse. It's easy to under dose for rats since there is no way of doing a proper dosing. There have been many reports where dogs were overdosed when their caregivers tried to medicate their dogs with the horse paste.

 

[user 78]

Revolution stays active on the skin for 30 full days. It, too, gets the mites at every life stage. Poor Tully went through 2 months of mites before I finally listened to Shelagh and got the Revolution, then her mites cleared up almost immediately.

 

[anita1216]

I have had good luck with Revolution as well. Its worked quickly and I never had another issue with mites. Im sure it helps that I no longer use traditional types of bedding and only use fleece and fabric liners in thier cage.