RatPalace.com - Pet Rat Care and Discussion

Sun Feb 12, 2006 12:03 am

I rescued a girl rat yesterday, someone brought her in to the rescue I volunteer at who said their kids weren't taking care of her. She is very thin/dehydrated, and is absolutely COVERED in tiny little bugs/parasites and dirt (I think she was kept on soil as a bedding, ick). I gave her a bath with a tiny bit of dog shampoo yesterday, which cleaned her up a bit and got rid of a few of the mites or whatever, but I was wondering if a flea bath would be too toxic to her skin? She is absolutely CRAWLING with bugs. I can't exactly tell what kind, but they are very very tiny and reddish colored. Any ideas?

She is getting exhausted by all the scratching, and some of her hair is coming out either from the scratching or, if they are mites, then because of those. I can't really even hold her because I don't want to get whatever they are. She never came into contact with my other rat, but should I worry about her too? They are across the room from each other, and Daphne (the rescue) is in a ten gallon so the parasites cant get out. I also have a dog, and several other animals that I don't want to be affected....tips?

I gave her every type of food I could think of (regal rat, mixed seeds, veggies/fruit, wet cat food mixed with dry dog food, and a tiny piece of bread. She ate some apple pieces last night, and a few seeds, but that's about it. She is running around ok, her eyes are bright, and before I realized she had parasites, she was very sweet and would crawl all over me (took a shower after that, lol).

Well, that was probably longer than it needed to be. Anyone have any ideas? Especially about the flea bath.... Sad

Sun Feb 12, 2006 12:10 am

I don't think the flea bath will be enough. You should get her to a vet as soon as possible to get an injection or a topical slution. Little red dots are usually fleas and there's no need to worry about your other animals as the fleas are species specific. The vet will most likely want to treat the rat that did come into contact with the new girl. I would not try the flea bath without talking to a vet first.

Sun Feb 12, 2006 3:03 am

I too would warn against flea baths - ivermectin once a week for three weeks will get rid of whatever is crawling over her. If you can see the critters, it's probably lice or fleas rather than mites but the ivermectin will sort it out. Ask the vet to either drop it onto her skin or to give it by mouth rather than injection, and be sure to treat the cage, any areas around the cage, places she might have walked or play and any other rats that are living in the same place. There are some recent threads with good advice on exact steps to go but basically bleach, freeze or hot wash everything you can - and things you can't do that to (like carpet) treat with a flea powder or spray (with the rats out of the room) and vacuum thoroughly.

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Andy & The Rats

~ Darwin ~ Maisie ~ Ella ~ Zak ~

~ Finn ~ Malachi ~ Azrael ~ Newton ~ Charlie ~

Sun Feb 12, 2006 3:34 am

Actually, if I remember correctly, Ivermectin doesn't affect fleas (but she probably has mites and/or lice, too). You can treat all of them by using Revolution - one drop between the shoulders where she can't reach to groom and let it dry. More on ectoparasites here:

http://ratguide.com/health/integumentary_skin/ectoparasites.php

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Scout of Manitou Mischief Rattery

Sun Feb 12, 2006 4:19 am

Aye ivermectin isn't reported as great for fleas (though Selamectin is supposed to work fine for all three) but it's not completely useless - other unrelated products are often better against fleas. Surprisingly, I found some research that says - out of the group of chemicals that ivermectin and selamectin belong to, none of those are supposedly more effective than the ivermectin at getting rid of fleas.... so that's bizarre.

However another thought I've just had is that if she has fleas, there's a good chance of internal parasites as well, so it's worth taking tests such as fecal samples and, if necessary, treating with a medication that will resolve those as necessary - such as ivermectin, metronidazole etc.

_________________
Andy & The Rats

~ Darwin ~ Maisie ~ Ella ~ Zak ~

~ Finn ~ Malachi ~ Azrael ~ Newton ~ Charlie ~