Baby Has Fleas.

[TheLottiediarys]

Hi guys,
I've got a bit of a problem here.

My cats are currently struggling with a flea problem,
They were allergic to the old treatment I used so had to get special stuff for them.

I've treated the whole house with flea spray and what not, (not the animal room the floor isn't carpet in here anyway it's Lino so they haven't been exposed to it)

And it's slowly getting better, i spray the house twice a week and hoover every day, and I comb the cats every day to get any off.

I gave baby a bath about two weeks ago and noticed she had a few fleas on her so got the comb on her and she had quite a few, it concerned me, I though they had jumped onto her from my clothes that day, I kept checking her and finding a few and getting them off.

She had some today as well which I got off,
But when I got Anya and Aurora who live side by side with her and combed them they didn't have any on them, not one.

So why does Baby have them and the other girls don't?

I thought they might be getting on the fleece and onto her that way but the girls don't have any and I just found one on my Hamster,
This is crazy, but Atleast I can easily comb them off Baby, my Hamster is very skittish so it's been mission impossible to get them off her, haha.

Is there anything I can do, or just keep doing what I'm doing,
They are absolutely fleas because they're the same I'm getting off the cats.

 

[Wiebke]

Hi guys,
I've got a bit of a problem here.

My cats are currently struggling with a flea problem,
They were allergic to the old treatment I used so had to get special stuff for them.

I've treated the whole house with flea spray and what not, (not the animal room the floor isn't carpet in here anyway it's Lino so they haven't been exposed to it)

And it's slowly getting better, i spray the house twice a week and hoover every day, and I comb the cats every day to get any off.

I gave baby a bath about two weeks ago and noticed she had a few fleas on her so got the comb on her and she had quite a few, it concerned me, I though they had jumped onto her from my clothes that day, I kept checking her and finding a few and getting them off.

She had some today as well which I got off,
But when I got Anya and Aurora who live side by side with her and combed them they didn't have any on them, not one.

So why does Baby have them and the other girls don't?

I thought they might be getting on the fleece and onto her that way but the girls don't have any and I just found one on my Hamster,
This is crazy, but Atleast I can easily comb them off Baby, my Hamster is very skittish so it's been mission impossible to get them off her, haha.

Is there anything I can do, or just keep doing what I'm doing,
They are absolutely fleas because they're the same I'm getting off the cats.

Fleas as all skin parasites are species specific - they cannot survive on the wrong species. They generally drop off fairly quickly again once they notice their mistake.

All you can do is what you are doing or contact your vet clinic to ask for further tips to help your hamster.
PS: Please make sure that your spray is safe to use around small animals.

 

[TheLottiediarys]

I did wonder about the cross species thing because i know dog fleas are different then cat fleas but cat fleas can cross species to dogs and other animals. I know Feline Fleas have adapted to living on dogs, Most of the flea's on dogs are feline flea's now-a-days.

All the information I've read about online says that Guinea Pigs can get fleas from 'other animals in the house who carry flea's' So that's what made me think they must be cat flea's, But no where gives information on flea's specific to Guinea Pigs that I've come across. :/ Just Feline flea's on Guinea Pigs.

I can't wait for these nasty little things to be gone,
All of the animals and my partner and myself are sick of them by now!

The spray is ok, and its nowhere near the small animals, so that's even better

 

[Cavy Kung-Fu]

Are you using constant spot on treatments on the cats? Once fleas set in they're remarkably hard to get rid of.

Best thing to do is get a pet safe spray (pet life do one but I'd still be careful using it too near the pigs) and hoover before you spray, this awakens any eggs which aren't affected by sprays while they're in egg form.

It can take 2-8 weeks I believe depending on the cycle but as long as you're doing that regularly and treating with spot ons you should get on top of it quickly.

Recent years have been killer with fleas due to warmer winters, the pigs should be fine as they don't get fleas like cats do.

 

[TheLottiediarys]

Yeah the cats have their new flea treatment on the day it's due all year but they only have had one lot of the new treatment so far, they're allergic to flea bites and the other spot on made them very itchy, because they were allergic to that too, so that didn't help!

They've had a rough time with fleas just lately. Poor things, we couldn't figure out what was wrong but turns out the spot on was making them poorly so it wasn't even working and it was making them sick!

I hoover every day so hopefully it's getting them all up off the floor and I spray twice a week too, spray then hoover, I've been hoovering and spraying all this month so I guess I just need to persist, but I'll get it sorted!

The animal room is really far away from any carpeted area anyway, only the living room has carpet and the animal room is seperated from that by a hallway and kitchen, and the door is always closed to them but I'm very careful with sprays just incase it gets to them, but I'm pretty sure they won't inhale any spray because of distance and closed doors, but it is safe for them just in case!

Are you using constant spot on treatments on the cats? Once fleas set in they're remarkably hard to get rid of.

Best thing to do is get a pet safe spray (pet life do one but I'd still be careful using it too near the pigs) and hoover before you spray, this awakens any eggs which aren't affected by sprays while they're in egg form.

It can take 2-8 weeks I believe depending on the cycle but as long as you're doing that regularly and treating with spot ons you should get on top of it quickly.

Recent years have been killer with fleas due to warmer winters, the pigs should be fine as they don't get fleas like cats do.

Do you mean they don't get Feline fleas or they don't get 'cavy' fleas
Because she definitely has fleas on her I've been combing them off everyday and they are fleas, the same ones I get off the cats :/ But all fleas look the same to the human eye so that doesn't mean they are the feline fleas :/

 

[Cavy Kung-Fu]

Yeah the cats have their new flea treatment on the day it's due all year but they only have had one lot of the new treatment so far, they're allergic to flea bites and the other spot on made them very itchy, because they were allergic to that too, so that didn't help!

They've had a rough time with fleas just lately. Poor things, we couldn't figure out what was wrong but turns out the spot on was making them poorly so it wasn't even working and it was making them sick!

I hoover every day so hopefully it's getting them all up off the floor and I spray twice a week too, spray then hoover, I've been hoovering and spraying all this month so I guess I just need to persist, but I'll get it sorted!

The animal room is really far away from any carpeted area anyway, only the living room has carpet and the animal room is seperated from that by a hallway and kitchen, and the door is always closed to them but I'm very careful with sprays just incase it gets to them, but I'm pretty sure they won't inhale any spray because of distance and closed doors, but it is safe for them just in case!



Do you mean they don't get Feline fleas or they don't get 'cavy' fleas
Because she definitely has fleas on her I've been combing them off everyday and they are fleas, the same ones I get off the cats :/ But all fleas look the same to the human eye so that doesn't mean they are the feline fleas :/

If they're itchy I would also recommend a wheat free diet if you aren't already doing it, I had a similar problem with my girl and it cleared up on a grain free diet

Fleas can get on any animal but they won't live there like they do cats, it's the same as we can find a flea on ourselves but we're merely a vessel, a means of transport.

 

[TheLottiediarys]

If they're itchy I would also recommend a wheat free diet if you aren't already doing it, I had a similar problem with my girl and it cleared up on a grain free diet

Fleas can get on any animal but they won't live there like they do cats, it's the same as we can find a flea on ourselves but we're merely a vessel, a means of transport.

I've taken them off wet food and I give fresh meat like chicken and fish daily, they still have dry food though,
I know it's that he's allergic to the fleas and the spot on because he had all sorts of tests at the vets to get to the bottom of it

I'm now confused because your saying they don't have fleas that live on them but Wiebke said that Guinea pigs get species specific fleas?
But if they are cat fleas that are just jumping onto her from the fleece or floor why don't the other girls have them and why does she consistently have so many?
It doesn't make sense?

 

[Cavy Kung-Fu]

I've taken them off wet food and I give fresh meat like chicken and fish daily, they still have dry food though,
I know it's that he's allergic to the fleas and the spot on because he had all sorts of tests at the vets to get to the bottom of it

I'm now confused because your saying they don't have fleas that live on them but Wiebke said that Guinea pigs get species specific fleas?
But if they are cat fleas that are just jumping onto her from the fleece or floor why don't the other girls have them and why does she consistently have so many?
It doesn't make sense?

Yea fresh is always good, I'd check the ingredients in the dry as they vary so much depending on brand (eg. Whiskas, Go Cat, Iams & Royale Canin etc being heavily grain based). With cats being obligate carnivores you wanna see high meat and no/very few grain

I believe what @Wiebke said is that fleas are species specific and just can't live on the wrong species.

As far as I'm aware piggies don't have a species specific flea. They tend to get hay lice/mites and such.

As to why Baby has some on her and not the others I cannot say. Just keep up with the cat & house treatment and they'll be gone soon enough

 

[TheLottiediarys]

Yes that makes more sense now! I got very confused for a moment wondering why I couldn't find any infomation on Guimea Pig flea's

Some infomation I've read suggests that Feline fleas are able to live on some small animals but it doesn't give details so a bit confused on that front,
But hey ho, hopefully I can get rid of them and it won't be an issue any more!

It's a good thing i happened to be combing her with a fine tooth comb to get off some dandruff else I wouldn't have noticed them!

 

[Cavy Kung-Fu]

Yes that makes more sense now! I got very confused for a moment wondering why I couldn't find any infomation on Guimea Pig flea's

Some infomation I've read suggests that Feline fleas are able to live on some small animals but it doesn't give details so a bit confused on that front,
But hey ho, hopefully I can get rid of them and it won't be an issue any more!

It's a good thing i happened to be combing her with a fine tooth comb to get off some dandruff else I wouldn't have noticed them!

I've never heard that but the Internet has differing opinions all over the space. I'd still be inclined to say it's not right in the same way that fleas can't live on us. I've got a cat and piggies, they've never been affected by fleas so it's probably just bad luck that you happened to find a few on Baby