you should treat her cause unfortunately if there is one there is probably two. You shouldnt need to take her to the vet but a call to find out what kind of flea med you can use on her would be a good idea. If you find another one you will want to crush it between your finger nails because they have a really really tough exoskeleton and as you have notice you wont be able to squish it that way.

If Oreo only has a few fleas, the safest way to get rid of them is with a flea comb. Comb him thoroughly daily. You can kill the fleas by dipping the comb in warm soapy water, then rinse the comb before continuing to use it.

If he has several fleas, he will need to be treated. The kitten dose of Advantage is what is usually recommended. That’s what I used on my rabbit several years ago when he inexplicably got fleas. He was an American Fuzzy Lop and with all that fur we didn’t notice it right away. We put the drops on the back of his neck–a place that he couldn’t lick. We had to get it from the vet and I assume that is still the case. Since it’s been a few years, I don’t remember all the details, but I think that one dose did the trick. You will also need to thorougly clean and vacuum the area daily. The fleas are only on the animal part of the time, the rest of the time they are in the carpet or on the curtains, etc., so just treating the rabbit won’t get rid of the problem.

I would try to find more fleas with a flea comb and if you do find more get something from your vet. Revolution is bunny-safe. There are a couple of others but some are very dangerous, even deadly, so you have to make sure to get bunny-safe.

I found a flea on one of my cats once. I combed all the cats and buns and didn’t see any more but I treated them all with a dose of Revolution just in case. My vet even measured out the proper dose of Revolution based on the bun’s weights and put it into syringes for me.

If you’re not sure if it was a flea, just google image it. They are nasty looking and if it was a flea you will surely recognize the pictures.

Do you have other pets?

I don’t know if you saw my previous post, but don’t forget to vacuum well, since there may very well be fleas or flea eggs hiding in the carpets and rugs. It could be that the flea was transported by one of you while walking out in the grass. I never thought that my house rabbit would get fleas, but I think in his case, my husband brought them home from his mother’s cats.

Even though Advantage and Revolution (kitten formula) is generally thought to be safe for rabbits, if there are only a few fleas, it would probably be best to use the comb method to find and destroy the fleas, and not resort to the medication. If it does turn out that Oreo has an infestation, you will probably need to use a medication.

Hopefully, just one flea came in on your clothes or shoes and that is the end of it.

If it turns out that you have to use one of the products, make sure you put the drops on the back of Oreo’s neck where he can’t reach to lick it. After I applied it to my rabbit’s neck, I soon noticed him turning his head this way and that way and biting at himself. I found out that the fleas get angry when the product is applied and start biting the animal before they drop off and die. I’m not sure if that happens in every case, but I felt so sorry for my bunny, especially since there was nothing that I could do to stop the fleas from biting.

Oh and don’t forget to change the vacuum bag once you have vacuumed -otherwise any eggs you vacuumed up will hatch and jump out of the vacuum.

 yep, that definitely sounded like a flea.  The best place to look for more is along the spine line.   Even if you can’t find more fleas right away, you can tell if they have been there and you can figure out how many more if you see alot of flea dirt (poo) which is left in areas that a bunny can’t easily reach and is sometimes where the fleas will sit if the settle on the animal.   (again…along the spine line)  Carefully go through the fur backwards and if you see alot of black dots — those are flea poo.  yuck.  

Normally when you do see one, there is more and/or eggs.  I do recommend using Advantage or Revolution.  However, we have some fleas that are now Advantage resistant, (and I have learned that this is not uncommon now, so I think that is why Advantage came out with Advantage II.)   I called my vet to find out if it was okay, and she said yes and she recommended that i use the feline 5 – 9 pound for rabbits over 5 pounds, and for rabbits under 5 pounds, to use only half the dose.   Now that is what MY vet recommends and you should double check with your vet to make sure what is best for you bunny. (and be sure you know the weight of your bunny!)

If you think you got rid of the one flea and there is no more, then just keep a very close eye because they can grow in numbers in a very short time — one month — tons more babies!

I don’t know about boric acid. What I have used and works very well is “Knock Out” area treatment. I can only get it from my vet. But I only use that as a last resort because it is a chemical and you do have to take your bunny out of the room for at least 12 hours — I always do for 24 hours and air out the room with fans during that time. But I don’t do that unless, treating my bunny and vacuuming regularly (with the flea collar in the bag) doesn’t put a stop to it within 2 weeks or if the fleas have spread to the rest of the house. If I get bit by fleas, they turn to welts so I am more aggressive too about getting rid of them quickly. Fleas will hide off in the corners and edges so when you do vacuum be sure to get the edges and use the hand wand thing to to the furniture and corners as well.

Flea dirt is easiest to feel on dark haired animals – put your fingers underneath the fur and it feels like really hard, tiny specks of dirt. I always found the most on the base of the spine near the tails and along the shoulder blades. We had flea issues when I lived at my mothers house due to neighbors and unfortunately advantage stopped working after a few years, yuck. Took a lot of work to keep them away and my dog was allergic.

Take everything down and wash it, vacuum well – boric acid is recommended by the sacramento house rabbit society but I don’t know any studies done on it’s toxicity level in rabbits.

Since Oreo is black which makes it difficult to see flea dirt, place her on a white towel and comb backwards through her fur. You could use a comb or your hand. That should dislodge the dirt and make it fall to the towel. Hopefully, there is no dirt to be found.

I have heard of making simple flea traps using a pan of soapy water and a light source.  That may tell you if you still have any fleas in your apartment, and will kill the fleas too.   Here is a website that offers a few different variations on the  homemade trap.

http://www.wikihow.com/Make-a-Flea-Trap

The HRS page regarding fleas does mention that borax and diatomaceous earth are “safer” ways to treat your carpets, but that doesn’t mean that they are totally safe and without some risk, so it’s hard to say if borax would be okay to use.

http://www.rabbit.org/faq/sections/groom.html#Fleas

Might just be one flea that came in with you or another person – they can get on clothes etc if you walk in an area with fleas in the yard. I once went to a person’s house who had animals and their yard was SO BAD I had 3-4 fleas on my leg just walking through the grass, yuck. Just do a thorough wash and with the advantage treatment you’ll probably be OK. If she has no flea dirt on her that you can tell, likely it wasn’t there long.

I like the idea of the flea trap — light over a soapy water dish. (just have to figure out a way to keep Vivian from messing with the trap.) Like the article said, it won’t eradicate the flea problem, but it may be a good way to monitor how infested the area really is and help keep the numbers down. No fleas would be a good sign I would think!

When did you treat and with what? Revolution can take days and Advantage can take up to 24 hours. The fact that the flea ” fell off” may mean that it is dying.

Advantage doesn’t kill them on contact – it’s a nerve toxin that prevents them from feeding, so they starve to death. If the flea got on her after you put it on, it’s not unusual to see them 48 hours later… but they do die.

It causes paralysis on contact (well, slowly causes it through contact), eventually leading to death – but it takes some time to work. It was not unusual to see fleas on our dogs for the next 48 hours when we had a flea problem – but after that we didn’t see fleas anymore. Used it for 5-6 years at my mothers house for our dogs. Another day and you shouldn’t see any more on her, unless you have a flea infestation in the house somewhere. They do have to come into contact with the animal that has advantage, then the toxin has to have time to work – so if fleas are in the house and weren’t on her when you applied, you will continue to see fleas until the house is clear of them.

 The packaging does say that it kills them within 12 hours or something if I am remembering that right, but I think because of the special dosage that  vets recommend is (1/2 just like your vet did), that it may just take longer?   I don’t know if that is why or not, but the slower death of some of the fleas (though many do die right away) is typical of my experiences anyway.