Mites ? Lice?

[gizmo.ella]

I'm currently looking after my friends 2 girls ( one white long hair and one black long hair ) and I noticed in the white one she has the black specks in her fur. I presume they are on the black one aswell but I can't see them as she is black.

I contacted my friend at the airport and she said that I can treat them and she will pay be back. But she strictly told me to not take the wood shavings out of the cage as she has none left, it's really good quality and it lasts for ages! I have chickens some I'm going to use the hay for them but what about the wood shavings ? Do live live in wood shavings?

What I was going to do it put all the wood shavings in a bag. Give the cage a really good clean. Put the wood shavings back in. Give the hay to the chickens and get some nice new hay. Would this work?

If not what can I do? Gizmo is upstairs and they are downstairs so I hope to god he didn't get them!

 

[Wiebke]

I'm currently looking after my friends 2 girls ( one white long hair and one black long hair ) and I noticed in the white one she has the black specks in her fur. I presume they are on the black one aswell but I can't see them as she is black.

I contacted my friend at the airport and she said that I can treat them and she will pay be back. But she strictly told me to not take the wood shavings out of the cage as she has none left, it's really good quality and it lasts for ages! I have chickens some I'm going to use the hay for them but what about the wood shavings ? Do live live in wood shavings?

What I was going to do it put all the wood shavings in a bag. Give the cage a really good clean. Put the wood shavings back in. Give the hay to the chickens and get some nice new hay. Would this work?

If not what can I do? Gizmo is upstairs and they are downstairs so I hope to god he didn't get them!

It rather sounds like hay/fur mites, but please see a vet if in doubt. Do not treat on spec with low dosed shop products that are geared towards the prevention of (and rather serve to build up resistence to ivermectin!), but NOT the treatment of an acute case.

We seem to see quite a number of cases that seem to come rather with shop bought imported hay and not from untreated local farmer's hay like in previous years. Hay mites don't come in the shavings.
This new type of hay/fur mites seems to be more resistent and may need a two-pronged approach of a suitable high-dosed ivermectin product plus an appropriate shampoo. Please discuss it with your vet. Be aware that any topical treatment needs 48 hours to get to work before you can apply anything else.