Permethrin – Safe or not ?

[Avantika]

My sister brought home an abandoned kitten from her office premises. He had a bad case of flea infestation. The kitten is now adopted by a man who seems to be really good with cats. In his short stay at our home, he transferred some of his flea to Moshu I checked her entire body for fleas, found nothing except for one that was sitting right on center of her nose  I will keep checking her body. If there are fleas, I will get to know in sometime. 

Are permethrin products unsafe ?

This is Advantage by Bayer and it contains both Permethrin and Imidacloprid : http://www.dogspot.in/advantix-1025kg/

If Permethrin is safe, I can order this.

Before anyone tells me about Selamectin – no, we dont get it here. Neither do we get lufenuron: Program® – Novartis. 

Apart from these four medications, what else can I give ? You may also suggest me some natural remedies. I will use them along with the medicine.

[Bam]

Hi Avantika! Permethrin is not really bunny safe, but I have used it, show-bunny breeders in Sweden use it against fur mites and I was given some when I had found my Bam. He had fur mites and I had no clue about rabbits back then. It MAY give rise to serious adverse reactions though, but that is also the case when you use it on dogs.
As you know we’re not vets here and can’t give veterinary advice, so I’m not recommending the use of permethrin. I’m only describing my personal experience with it.
But I do think that normal Advantage has only imidaclopride and that should be quite sufficient to kill fleas/lice.

[Avantika]

I came across this – http://www.jarvm.com/articles/Vol4Iss4/Hansen-Beck.pdf

I understand your hesitation in giving me advice regarding medications. I also understand the ‘may’ part – some rabbits might show side effects, some may not.

How about a combination of Imidacloprid and Moxidectin ?

How did Bam respond to it ?

[Bam]

Just want to add: do not under any circumstance use Fipronil (Frontline, Effipro etc) on a rabbit. It can be deadly.

You may know this, but other people reading the thread may not.

[Bam]

Imidaclopride and moxidectin is bunny safe. Just looked it up on Medirabbit when another member asked about ear mites.
Bam didn’t react at all, but the fur mites died more or less immediately.
Thanks for the article on permethrin/imidaclopride! Great

[Avantika]

Here is another study – http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2786930/

The gist of both the studies say that both selamectin and imidacloprid+permethrin is effective, however, selamectin does the job faster. And undoubtedly, is safer. There are still some speculations about permethrin toxicity. I was going through a few articles on the same and these are the few points I could make out –

1)The oral route shows no/less toxicity as compared to the dermal route.

2) The toxicity is weight dependent – a smaller dog/cat is more likely to suffer negative consequences as compared to a larger dog/cat.

 

Our bunnies might suffer slight consequences considering – 1) we apply it topically 2) they are smaller

http://phpa.dhmh.maryland.gov/IDEHASharedDocuments/permethrin.pdf (one of the articles I read)

I am putting all this for helping people out. In case they dont put up a thread here, rather go through the existing ones : )

Oh my, its a struggle finding the right medicine for a rabbit in India.

[Avantika]

Fipronil is very easily available here but I know it can be lethal on bunnies. I will never use it, dont worry.

I need one more help. The vet I want to visit wont be available till Thursday. I am not applying anything on Moshu so far, but I want to acquire as much idea as I can about the whole thing. I screened through different flea products that are available in my country and selected two safe ones – 

 1) Bayer – Advocate  ( http://www.dogspot.in/bayer-advocate-external-parasites-large-dog-10-25-kg/ )

    100g/L Imidacloprid +  25g/L Moxidectin

2) Bayer – Advantix ( http://www.dogspot.in/advantix-1025kg/ )

   1pipette contains 2.5ml solution contains 250mg imidacloprid and 1,250mg permethrin.

—

To me, Advocate looks safer. Advantix has a lower composition of Imidacloprid and higher composition of permethrin.

However, both the medicines are FOR DOGS WEIGHING BETWEEN 10-25 KG.

Apart from these two medicines, I dont see any other safe option.

Any of you used either of these medicines – of the same strength, on your bunnies ?

[babipon]

doubt permethrin IS safe for bunnies. But right now I have no choice. I just discovered my fluffy bunnies developed scabs on their feet.

I was looking around for solution and it seems like local rabbit parents in my place use permethrin as a spot on ointment to treat their buns. I’m still in the middle of googling the heck out of permethrin. There’s never a report from them after using permethrin on their buns. I read that they dilute permenthin in coconut oil in order to have the ointment seeps better into the skin (and probably less irritating to the bunnies).

By the way I kinda stumbled upon a safe way to get rid of skin parasite oral way, it’s called Kepromec. Basically it’s an oral ivomec. It seems quite promising as they promise of no chance of over dosing. Maybe you might wanna check whether it’s available in your area. Best wishes to Moshu

[Avantika]

Moshu is fine I posted this 3 months back. I did not use any medicine on her but sprayed her fur with white vinegar solution. I was skeptical, but it seemed to have worked but there is nothing else I used on her and not again I saw any flee on her fur. Her fur became very clean and soft after it. And I did not notice any behavioral changes in her that could say that it troubled her. She was eating well and cuddling with me.

How did your bun developed a scab? You sure permethrin will help it? Consult a vet.

[Author]

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