gross tick question

[bradforde]

I just got a new bun into the rescue that has been roaming at-large for two weeks (according to the people who caught it). it is INFESTED with seed ticks, they are dropping everywhere. Is there anything I can treat him with to take care of this problem? Flea comb is not cutting it – they are embedded into his skin and the comb just rolls right over them.

The vet told me that Revolution doesn’t work on ticks, but I am tempted to try it anyway. anyone had luck with it in treating them?

 

erin

Arkansas Pet Rabbit Network

[Sarita]

Well, the Revolution won’t hurt. Did the vet give you any recommendations or just what wouldn’t work?

Poor rabbit – glad he’s in your care now.

[bradforde]

nope, just told me that there was nothing to treat ticks that was safe for rabbits. ugh.

[KatnipCrzy]

You should manually remove all the ticks you can find by using tweezers- ticks can drop off the bunny and get into the environment and look for other hosts- so you should pluck as many as you can find.

http://www.ehow.com/how_4799694_remove-tick-dog.html

And you can also use a pyrethrin product for ticks- but see the below link as it is important to get the right active ingredient- as they are not the same and the other is toxic to cats (and rabbits).

http://cat-care.suite101.com/articl…same_thing

 

About 4 years ago my neighbor and I caught a big white bunny- probably NZW hopping across the back yards in our subdivision.  I put it in a pet carrier and put it in the trunk of my car and drove it to the clinic where I work and had someone help me pick off over 20+ ticks and the bunny was covered in fleas.  It was so gross I had to spray out the trunk of my car, change clothes, etc.  I manually removed the ticks and treated with a pyrethrin product to kill any ticks I did not find (they can be tiny when they are young) and to treat for fleas.  The next day my husband took it out to the Humane Society so it had a chance to get claimed (yeah right) or adopted.

I did not use Advantage or Revolution for fleas since I knew there was a tick issue and it is best not to use 2 different topical flea products.  I don’t think that pyrethrin works as good and as long term as Advantage or Revolution for fleas- but I had to treat both external parasites.

check inside the ears- they love to attach there and between toes too.  

[Kokaneeandkahlua]

Good tips Katnip!! We were just talking about ticks because I thought we didn’t have any Edmonton but apparently they are here-lyme disease carrying too

[bradforde]

tried to manually remove them, but they are seed ticks, so they are embedded in the skin. i picked at once for about 5 minutes, but then little rabbit started to bleed, so i figure it is not worth it.

I’ll check out the pyrethrin stuff, though. thanks!

[jerseygirl]

Maybe look into food-grade diatomaceous earth (DE) ? It’s been mentioned on the forums before…I just find it pretty interesting stuff. Here’s a link if you want to look into it further. http://wolfcreekranch1.tripod.com/no_flea.html It’d likely need few applications if the younger ticks aren’t as susceptible to it.

[Dextervonbon]

I don’t know if this would be ok but when my dog had a tick we would use a tiny bit of rubbing alcohol on a cotton ball and lightly press down on the tick. Then it would release easily with tweezers. I would check to make sure that is ok with buns first though. Ticks creep me out, when my dog had them (he was a stray covered in ticks when we found him) I would vacuum my whole room and blankets before I would even go to sleep every night.

But poor bun I hope you can get rid of them.

[Deleted User]

Katnip, did you find out at the time what type of ticks were on that NZW? Lint had a tick when he was found and my vet put him on Revolution (the dog kind). It does control American Dog ticks which also feed on rabbits.

[Deleted User]

I just looked up different types of ticks. I am officially ill now. Yikes! Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrossssss! yuk-yuk.

[KatnipCrzy]

No, I did not look to see what kind of tick that it was.  Feline revolution is the same ingredient as Canine Revolution- Selamectin- the dosing is just different for weight and species so it is packaged differently.  In cats it is also labeled for some intestinal parasite protection- the company just did not pursue the testing/clinical studies for dogs, I think.

Revolution only works on one type of tick I believe- the American dog tick.  It depends on what area of the country you live in as to what ticks are prevalent in that area.

I have not done much tick identifying although we have all the literature and charts at work- we typically recommend Frontline for flea and tick for dogs and cats and we do carry Revolution for cats- but don’t recommend it a lot for dogs- only in certain cases.

 

[Deleted User]

It’s so nice to have you on the forum, Katnip. You are a very reliable source of information! I always wondered what the difference between Revolution cat or dog was.

[bradforde]

well, the vet treated him with a pyrethrin spray. he also told me that it probably would just put a dent in them, so unless i want to live in a tick-infested house, i have three weeks to COMPLETELY get rid of every seed tick in my apartment before they turn into adults. blech!

[Kafrn]

Jersey, you are awesome!!! Bradforde: If you can get hold of some food grade diatomaceous earth, or pure perma-guard, it will knock them on the head within days. Be careful with pyrethrin, as it is highly toxic to cats and rabbits if they get it in their mouth.
If you get some Diatomaceous Earth and brush it into your rabbits coat once every few days it will cut into the exoskeleton of the ticks and kill them. Its 100% safe for rabbits and all mammals. Will also kill parasites as they are hatching, so make sure to re-apply after 10 days to get the new babies (if any are around)

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