corvus Posted March 11, 2010 Share Posted March 11, 2010 Erik and Kivi have been acting restless and wired all week, to the point that we had Kivi keep us up half the night on Tuesday night because he couldn't settle. He was so restless I was on the verge of calling the vet (at 1:30am). It was so uncharacteristic of him and I couldn't figure out what his problem was. Meanwhile, Erik has been scratching like mad. I thought he'd picked up a flea or two from my parents' place, but he's on Comfortis and I couldn't find any fleas on him. He's red and itchy as hell, though. He woke us up at 3:30am this morning because he was so itchy he couldn't sleep, poor fella. It was all a mystery until I got some itchy spots as well, and discovered what I assumed was a miniscule tick smaller than a pin head. So tiny I had to put it on white paper under a light to detect legs. Anyway, I conveniently found another one on me just now while I was at work and my colleague is a macroinvertebrate specialist (although he says this critter is just barely "macro"). He tells me it's a mite rather than a tick and the irritation would be from the critters getting under our skin in their search for dead skin cells to munch up. They are so little they can just wriggle their way in there. He says one of the dogs probably just walked through a bush that had a nest of them and now they are getting on everyone. They are pretty fragile and should wash right off, except the ones that are under the skin where they are safe. My workmate said I might have to wash the dogs a couple of times. Has anyone else experienced this? We swabbed Erik's itchy belly with rubbing alcohol this morning, which took care of the one my partner found under his skin earlier. I'm just not entirely sure what to do with Kivi. His fur is so dense I think they are just on his face. He sure was rubbing it on me on Tuesday night. Should I just douse his head with water and see if he settles down? I don't really want to put any chemicals on his face. I put a tick collar on him this morning, but not sure if it would have any effect on any he might have under his skin... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
persephone Posted March 11, 2010 Share Posted March 11, 2010 I guess you would need to ID the mites first they could be a bird mite--- AFIK mites don't live in bushes.. but they do seek other hosts if their host dies. Bird nests/dead birds are a source of infection. They could also be rat mites..... Killing them? Not sure- plain water wouldn't do it.. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
corvus Posted March 11, 2010 Author Share Posted March 11, 2010 Yeah... I might go with what the macroinvert expert says. He's taking my mite home to check under the microscope, but he thinks it's some kind of Tetranychidae. Showed me some pictures and told me the genus he suspects, but he isn't sure. They are pretty distinctive as they have two very long legs at the front that they wave around like antennae. We could just see them with the naked eye. I've seen mites like them in loads of macro samples I've sorted. They turn up in alcohol traps pretty much anywhere at all. AKAIK, some mites do live in bushes. They feed on sap. Or other mites. Or pretty much any dead organic material. It's pretty weird for us to have problems with them living on us (or trying to), but I guess if we walked through a pile of them maybe they are just trying to do what they do and find food. Guess I'll just give the dogs a flea bath and see what happens. Maybe the rubbing alcohol will be a winner even with the fur to deal with. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
poodlefan Posted March 11, 2010 Share Posted March 11, 2010 (edited) Have you thought of visiting a vet? Something like a general spot treatment (Advantix or similar) might knock them over. I'm sure a vet could advise. ETA: Ivermectin works a treat on most mites but can't be used in conjuction with Comfortis. Edited March 11, 2010 by poodlefan Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
persephone Posted March 11, 2010 Share Posted March 11, 2010 Well, if they are mites who live on sap..they shouldn't live on mammals very long at all. So- not really mystery solved... mystery as to what,how and why! How my brain works Of course I know of spider mites living on plants ! But just saw 'mites' and thought of mammalian host-specific ones which do NOT live on plants :D Have fun solving the mystery!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AmandaJ Posted March 11, 2010 Share Posted March 11, 2010 If it's stick fast flea (poultry flea) which is VERY small - good luck and have fun - we didn't. The female burrows under the skin in areas where the coat is thin and lays her eggs under the skin. We ended up ripping out our grass and putting down artificial. They don't appear to like fake grass or the special sand that goes under it or on it. The dog is alergic to them too - so when he does get an "attack" he's on antihistamine until we get it back under control. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
felix Posted March 11, 2010 Share Posted March 11, 2010 Mites are easily the least known group of animals. We are not even able to guess how many species are there. Some of them live in the soil when they feed on fungi, plant material or other smaller animals. Some of them are parasitic and live on animals or plants. Many transmit diseases on plants or animals. I would expect that any treatment for ticks would be effective on mites as well. But don't know for sure. I did work on some mites that live on isects long time ago. They are quite cool, but frustrating since there is simply no information on them. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Loraine Posted March 11, 2010 Share Posted March 11, 2010 I use Advocate as it contains something that kills off mites. It was thought my itchy boy had mites (but he didn't). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stormie Posted March 11, 2010 Share Posted March 11, 2010 Revolution can be used to treat scabies mites - might help there? I'd want to get them properly ID'd so you know exactly what you're dealing with... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
corvus Posted March 11, 2010 Author Share Posted March 11, 2010 Can I use a spot-on flea treatment with Comfortis? I thought I couldn't... They are at the end of their month and ready for another tablet, so I could skip the Comfortis and give them a spot-on treatment instead, except that none of them work on our fleas anymore. I've finally managed to get the dogs completely flea-free after last year's resistance nightmare. I'm pretty scared of giving them a chance to make another comeback! I'll give the flea bath etc a go, but if it doesn't get rid of them I'll talk to the vet. I'm confident my workmate can ID the mite as accurately as anyone can. Probably better. He has lots of friends at the museum that love that kind of thing. Thanks for the help, guys. Are you sure you had stickfast fleas, AmandaJ? I thought they laid eggs like normal fleas. These guys are definitely not fleas. They have 8 legs for starters. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
poodlefan Posted March 11, 2010 Share Posted March 11, 2010 Can I use a spot-on flea treatment with Comfortis? I thought I couldn't... They are at the end of their month and ready for another tablet, so I could skip the Comfortis and give them a spot-on treatment instead, except that none of them work on our fleas anymore. I've finally managed to get the dogs completely flea-free after last year's resistance nightmare. I'm pretty scared of giving them a chance to make another comeback!I'll give the flea bath etc a go, but if it doesn't get rid of them I'll talk to the vet. I'm confident my workmate can ID the mite as accurately as anyone can. Probably better. He has lots of friends at the museum that love that kind of thing. Thanks for the help, guys. Are you sure you had stickfast fleas, AmandaJ? I thought they laid eggs like normal fleas. These guys are definitely not fleas. They have 8 legs for starters. Revolution is Ivermectin - not to be used with Comfortis. I don't know about any of the others. If they are under the skin, you're going to need something other than a bath to get rid of them. Scabies mites would have been my best guess, especially if they were on you. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Clyde Posted March 11, 2010 Share Posted March 11, 2010 I've finally managed to get the dogs completely flea-free after last year's resistance nightmare. Are you flea free because of the Comfortis? I am curious how effective it really is. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
corvus Posted March 11, 2010 Author Share Posted March 11, 2010 Clyde, Comfortis has been a godsend. Last year every flea treatment was ineffective and even flea bombing the house only knocked them down for a week. Once the doggies went on Comfortis it took about three months for the fleas to disappear. I don't know what we would have done without it. Probably ripped up the carpet by now, anyway. It made Kivi a bit nauseous the first few times, but he doesn't get that anymore. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AmandaJ Posted March 11, 2010 Share Posted March 11, 2010 Are you sure you had stickfast fleas, AmandaJ? I thought they laid eggs like normal fleas. These guys are definitely not fleas. They have 8 legs for starters. Definitely stick fast - vet checked it (unless they got that one wrong too) - painfull to get rid off Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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