Licking his flea treatment – eek

[Lemonsoup]

Teddy is now a one year old English Angora. I’ve just applied his Revolution flea treatment and he’s licking himself like crazy. I’m not sure he can reach it as such (since it’s between his shoulder blades) but he’s also scratching the area with his foot and then licking his foot. He’s probably done this before, but I simply haven’t noticed beforehand. Any tips on how to prevent him from doing this. I’ve tried distracting him – but he clearly hates the treatment.

[Bam]

If a vet prescribed the Revolution for him, I think you should contact them. He could be having an adverse reaction. It is rare, but it’s still a possibility.

Revolution doesn’t just act locally on the skin, it’s absorbed into the bloodstream.

[Lemonsoup]

Thanks Bam. Yes, it was prescribed by a vet (we do it monthly) and I had emailed them but they can take a little while to get back to me so I thought someone on the site here may have had some recent experience.

Fortunately he’d calmed down after about half an hour and stopped the scratching and incessant licking.

The vet just got back to me now saying “Revolution doesn’t pose any risks if they lick it” which is great to know (they’re exotic vets too). She said that some treatments irritate some animals but not others and that I could try switching to Advantage but that only covers fleas and not mites. So as it’s not a risk to him health wise – I’ll stick with the Revolution.

What is really strange is that the last time he had it applied was just after he’d had all his wool shaved off. His pink skin was literally on display and the vet who did this (another exotic but one who is super familiar with angoras and doesn’t need to anaesthetise them) said I could give him the Revolution the next day (which is when he was due) – I was worried this would be super irritating to him – yet he didn’t even blink an eye on this occasion which was so unusual. Strange little creatures they are 

[jerseygirl]

Glad to know he settled down.
I wonder if it is the sensation sometimes? It’s carried in an alcohol (isopropyl, I think) so it could have a cooling affect on the skin. Or perhaps he’s more conscious of it when the fur wicks it up, as opposed to when just on the bare skin?

Ive been wondering how you got on at the new vet that was going to sort out the matts he got after being boarded. Were you happy with everything?

[Bam]

I’m happy to hear he settled down =) Thanks for the update!

[Lemonsoup]

Hi Jerseygirl,

Ooh, yes, I totally forgot to post on that front. The vet was amazing (she was recommended to me by another boarding / rescue place – Porches Rescue). She’s based in Richmond, so it was a long drive for us to get there (over an hour) – but well worth it as she doesn’t need to anaesthetise them (like my vet said she’d have to do with him as he’s so feisty) – but it did take two people to hold him whilst she worked on him. But she was so brilliant. No nicking of his skin – which was incredible considering she literally takes off virtually all of this wool (leaving his head and feet alone of course). He looked so tiny after having it done. I couldn’t believe the size of some of the mats. I didn’t even realise that one of his back legs couldn’t fully extend properly because of a matt! I felt like such a bad bunny mama. And I had no idea that his tail was actually long – as it looked like a massive pom pom – which again, was just a gigantic matt.

She told me the blades to buy and showed me how to do it – but based on how big he is and how feisty he was, I’m totally throwing money at it every three months and heading to see her. She also told me about a practice that she visits every few months in North Sydney which is so much closer to me – so I’m thrilled not to have to drive so far to see her.

My daughter has set up an Instagram for Teddy – he’s called @teddy_is_a_bunny so you can see his wool-less state. Funnily enough, the overly ‘pink skin’ look he had really only lasted a few days as their wool just grows so darn fast. But at least I’ve been able to keep all the matts at bay so far. And he really only requires brushing of his ears and chest at present – it’s great!

Re the flea treatment – yes, I wonder if it’s the case that his wool becomes quite stiff after application and might have a slight pulling effect that wasn’t noticeable when it was just bare skin?? And yes, it’s certainly ‘cooling’ as I’ve felt it on my fingers. It has the same sensation as nail polish remover – not pleasant.

[Author]

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