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Bugs on cat cushion - not fleas -anyone know what they are?

post #1 of 11
10/16/11 at 7:22am
Thread Starter 
Hi
I've not been well for a few weeks..some of the cleaning, my work etc has fallen by the wayside...
My cat has an old brown cushion she sleeps on in my office/'junk' room - somewhere she only really goes if I'm in there to keep me company...and I haven't really been in there much for the last month - and she sometimes sleeps on other surfaces - I don't think she has sat on it for at least a week...
She does have fleas at the moment - and I'm currently trying to get on top of them - so have mustered up the energy to come to clean her cushion/around it - on it I noticed some cat fur, white specks (a bit like salt -flea eggs?) and 3 small pale brown bugs - about the size of an adult flea but these look more like ants/mites -they are not fleas. Also I was surprised that there appears to be no flea dirt...wondering if these bugs have eaten it...
Was going to hoover them up and then thought actually they might be doing a useful job...depriving flea larvae of food...on the other hand they might be bad for her....
I would take a photo but they run too fast...
I don't think they have been living on her (think I would have found at least one in my frequent flea combing!) I don't think they are ticks - they are not round enough... if I do a google I get lots of info about bed bugs -and these aren't bed bugs (these have smooth backs)...Does anyone know what these are?
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post #2 of 11
10/16/11 at 7:30am
Look up "cat louse" and see if that's what you're dealing with. They're pretty rare, according to what I've read.

How are you treating your cat's fleas? I would think most topical treatments like Advantage would kill the lice, too.
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post #3 of 11
10/16/11 at 8:14am
Thread Starter 
Thanks - I don't think they are cat lice - their body shells are smooth and they have smooth legs...they look like little ants but with rounder bottoms...
I don't know if they have come off the cat - or have just been attracted to a good food supply...
It might even be something you would normally find outdoors - there is/has been stuff in here from my old (leaky) shed -(the roof blew off altogether and I had to put stuff here until I got a new one)...
Was kind of hoping I'd found a natural (insect) flea control ...
I have posted in reply to someone else's flea problem - I'm looking at getting a flea collar for her with a different pesticide than the current one she has...when I can get out and about more - for now I'm combing her everyday and vacuuming more...
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post #4 of 11
10/16/11 at 8:39am
Please be very careful what you use on your cat for fleas. There have been countless tragic posts here from people who used over the counter flea treatments on their cats.Cats can, and sometimes do get very sick and even die from these treatments.

By far the safest course to take is to see your vet about the flea problem.


Robin
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post #5 of 11
10/16/11 at 8:46am
My vet has always said that flea collars are a waste. You put it around their neck to kill the fleas and the all run to the tail end instead.
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post #6 of 11
10/16/11 at 9:38am
If you have seen fleas in your home you probably have many more and need to stop the problem, eggs and larva if it's at that stage.
Even with something for your cat that usually kills adult fleas but not the life cycle of the flea.
Check out this site very informative on fleas and natural maybe some here has tried it.

http://www.fleasmart.com/

Like others said don't use over the counter my experience was not pretty. I used something off the shelf in the cat section and within seconds sneezing, twitching and clumps of hair from the application site thought I was killing my cat from that junk.
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post #7 of 11
10/16/11 at 10:45am
it does sound like cat lice to me. cynder had them when he first came here as he was a barn kitten.. i treated him with advantage every 2 weeks for 4 months as the advantage doesn't kill the nits on them so you have to treat like this to break the cycle.. he good thing is is that cat lice DO NOT transfer to humans so you will not get them, its just a pain to treat look on the fur for white specks attached to the hair and a dull coat, if you find that you got cat lice good luck and use a safe treatment and they do run fsat and will not be picked up by a flea comb trust me i tried that route too.. Check her fur as well part it down to the skin in various areas and if you see them then thats what they are...
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post #8 of 11
10/16/11 at 1:41pm
Thread Starter 
Could cat lice live on her bed without her for a week? And would they eat the flea dirt (very surprised there wasn't any...)..yuk yuk yuk another problem..
Re the flea problem - as I said in another post she seems to pick fleas up from outside as well (we live in quite a rural area)
and the fleas do seem to get immune to the different pesticides - I'm thinking of returning to a kind of collar she had before and it seemed to work...when she has a collar I do check for fleas/flea dirt about every two weeks and when they are working I see nothing...
I believe that the spot on ones -which break the cycle - are supposed to work better on cats that don't come into contact with fleas from other sources...
I think the vets must get a healthy cut from the flea products they sell... Frontline did work for a while ...about 2 years - when it stopped working the vet's assistant told me it was because I hadn't treated the house ...surely whether the house was treated or not shouldn't have been a problem by then...(she also told me I would never catch a healthy flea with a flea comb - any I caught must have been dying' hmmmmm - not in my previous experience with strays ...)
I guess I could try advantage ... but I wouldn't use frontline again...
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post #9 of 11
10/16/11 at 4:55pm
If you have fleas, your cat will have tapeworms. You may be seeing those segments. You need to take your kitty to the bed and get her dewormed for tapeworms (tapeworms don't show up on a regular fecal) and flea preventative.
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post #10 of 11
10/23/11 at 1:57am
No! No flea collars; very toxic.

The Frontline probably didn't work as it was either expired, or the fleas in your area have adapted. This is common. Try Advantage or Revolution. Do not use other brands as they may be extremely toxic to the cats.

Just an FYI, if you use a flea product on your cat & it starts acting unusual (such as twitchy), get that cat in the sink asap & wash thoroughly 3 times with something like original Dawn, no scent. Otherwise, your cat may suffer neurological damage or worse, die.
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post #11 of 11
10/23/11 at 6:47am
Please don't put flea collars of any kind on your cat. Follow the advice here and use advantage, frontline plus or revolution for cats. Your cat will also need a dewormer for tape worm, from the fleas. Droncit is for tape worm.

If she goes outside and hunts, she probably has round or hook worms also. If you use revolution, that will take care of round and hookworms (and mites) but will not treat the tape worms so she will still need the droncit.

If you use frontline plus, she will need drontal, which is a broad spectrum dewormer.

Please do get one of the tried and true and safe spot ons now, and the dewormer, all from your vet. Imagine how miserable she must feel.

I hope you are feeling better, too.
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