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Eek! Tiny bug in Shami's fur

post #1 of 12
10/6/07 at 9:43pm
Thread Starter 
I was playing with Shami today and I noticed a tiny little spec sort of crawling amongst his black fur. I don't think it was a flea since it was smaller than a flea and it didn't have the characteristic rapid jumping movements that fleas have. Tried to pick it out, but lost track of it, was so tiny. I checked him all over for more, but couldn't find any. Mites? Just some bug that was in the wrong place at the wrong time? Anything to worry about?
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post #2 of 12
10/6/07 at 9:51pm
I think mites are usually invisible... though some are not.
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post #3 of 12
10/6/07 at 10:52pm
Fleas don't always jump. The ones i've found on chuckie vary in size and they burrow away from you if you try to catch them.
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post #4 of 12
10/6/07 at 10:54pm
At the shelter where I volunteer, I've found many a flea on many a cat, and they often don't move like fleas. They seem to try to burrow down into the fur, especially once they know you're after 'em!

I would say that bug is guilty until proven innocent. Best to take precautions... they multiply so fast!
____________________________

EDIT: Ha! Great minds, Miss Emma!
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post #5 of 12
10/7/07 at 12:44am
Thread Starter 
do fleas have a specific color? if it didn't move, I would've probably passed it off as a fleck of carpet speck (was white).
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post #6 of 12
10/7/07 at 12:53am
it could've been a tick...

here (in CA) we have two kinds of ticks.
The bigger round brown ones and the smaller elongated white ones...

it's the white ones that more often carry lyme isease from what I understand...

eek! get a flea comb and go to town!
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post #7 of 12
10/7/07 at 4:47am
Quote:
Originally Posted by saya View Post
it could've been a tick...

here (in CA) we have two kinds of ticks.
The bigger round brown ones and the smaller elongated white ones...

it's the white ones that more often carry lyme isease from what I understand...
I think you might have misunderstood about the ticks. It is only the deer tick (also called black legged tick) that is known to carry lyme disease. These are a black and reddish brown tick, no white on them at any stage.
Other types of ticks can carry other diseases, like rocky mountain spotted fever.

Fleas are varying shades of brown, even the ones that appear black are really a very dark brown. It's rather hard to mistake them for anything else. If you have problems seeing them, I really suggest you get your eyes checked (not meaning this rudely, by the way) as cat fleas, especially, are rather large. - I have beads that are around that size or even smaller.

If it's white and moving, I'd say mite or lice.
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post #8 of 12
10/7/07 at 9:05am
Thread Starter 
Haha, I'm getting so paranoid now, I was like scrutinizing my bed sheets before I went to bed. So I think we ruled out fleas. I hope it wasn't a grain mite, means they got to my flour or rice and they're everywhere now, or the kitty litter!

Will flea combs be able to get something that small? Anyone use a particular flea comb and like it?
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post #9 of 12
10/7/07 at 7:46pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by strange_wings View Post
I think you might have misunderstood about the ticks. It is only the deer tick (also called black legged tick) that is known to carry lyme disease. These are a black and reddish brown tick, no white on them at any stage.
Other types of ticks can carry other diseases, like rocky mountain spotted fever.

Fleas are varying shades of brown, even the ones that appear black are really a very dark brown. It's rather hard to mistake them for anything else. If you have problems seeing them, I really suggest you get your eyes checked (not meaning this rudely, by the way) as cat fleas, especially, are rather large. - I have beads that are around that size or even smaller.

If it's white and moving, I'd say mite or lice.
not at all, thanks for the education. sometimes you just pick stuff up and it's not always right
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post #10 of 12
10/10/07 at 2:32pm
I don't know about any particular type of flea comb...I just have a little plastic handled one with metal tines. You just comb along and it grabs those little fleas right out. I used it when I rescued Kink from the neighborhood bushes at 5 weeks. I was able to get all 5 fleas off the little guy with that handy little comb.

Those fleas also love to tease you. They show themselves in the light fur, usually around belly or face and when you try to grab 'em they run away into the dark spots so you can't see them. Tricky suckers!
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post #11 of 12
10/10/07 at 4:32pm
Flea combs are one size teeth spacing. Just the handle of the comb can be long or short. They work well to get just about anything out of the fur!
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post #12 of 12
10/10/07 at 6:39pm
Yeah, there's hardly any space between the teeth; fleas usually get caught in between the teeth of the comb, so you can pick them off and drown them in soapy water. That's how I got rid of fleas on Tiny. (Took Frontline for Baby, but she had so freaking many I couldn't get them all with the comb. But I combed her tail--where the fleas were fleeing from the Frontline--say that five times fast!--and got the last few that way.)
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