# My rat has mites



## @nnie (Dec 4, 2008)

I just adopted a rat (Max) today and found out that he has mites all over his body. He also has a wound behind his head. According to his previous owner, he injured himself when he got too excited in his cage. The wound is now still open and there are mites crawling in and out of the wound. I'd tried bathing him with shampoo for small animals. The mites crawling on his face has reduced but there are still a lot under his fur. 

I am from Malaysia and basic supplies and medication for rats are almost none. I heard Ivermectin is effective in curing mite problem. I suppose I can get those dog dewormers which are made out of Invermectin on the rat. But what are the proper dosage of the medicine? I also heard that Revolution is an alternative for this matter. Unfortunately it is not available here. I am really desperate for a solution here. I have 2 more rats (Tickle & Milo) and a hamster (Teddy) at home and I am afraid that the mites will be passed on to them. I wash my hands everytime I touch Max and I make sure I bathe before touching Tickle and Milo. Will my clothes and hair carry the mites and passed them around the house?


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## lilspaz68 (Feb 24, 2007)

@nnie said:


> I just adopted a rat (Max) today and found out that he has mites all over his body. He also has a wound behind his head. According to his previous owner, he injured himself when he got too excited in his cage. The wound is now still open and there are mites crawling in and out of the wound. I'd tried bathing him with shampoo for small animals. The mites crawling on his face has reduced but there are still a lot under his fur.
> 
> I am from Malaysia and basic supplies and medication for rats are almost none. I heard Ivermectin is effective in curing mite problem. I suppose I can get those dog dewormers which are made out of Invermectin on the rat. But what are the proper dosage of the medicine? I also heard that Revolution is an alternative for this matter. Unfortunately it is not available here. I am really desperate for a solution here. I have 2 more rats (Tickle & Milo) and a hamster (Teddy) at home and I am afraid that the mites will be passed on to them. I wash my hands everytime I touch Max and I make sure I bathe before touching Tickle and Milo. Will my clothes and hair carry the mites and passed them around the house?


if you can see the buggies it sounds more like lice, which is treatable with ivermectin. Can you get the large animal dewormer or can you give us a brand name of the dog brand?

http://www.petplace.com/drug-library/ivermectin-ivomec-heartgard/page1.aspx


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## @nnie (Dec 4, 2008)

I manage to get a bottle of 30ml liquid Ivermectin from a vet near by. What should I do next?


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## lilspaz68 (Feb 24, 2007)

Ahh clear liquid? That's injectable...good stuff!! With that you use a very teeny amount and put it on their shoulder (I prefer there because they groom it off and ingest it...whereas Revolution you put it somewhere they would have trouble grooming as it absorbs through the skin)

But its very very important that you have a weight for your girl so we can determine a proper dosage. Ivermectin is more dangerous than Revolution and they are miniscule amounts.


For eg. a 340 gram rat would only get .017 cc's
400 g = .02 cc
500 g = .025 cc
600 g = .03 cc (and so on)

And just so people understand the amounts...the .02 cc is on the right.


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## @nnie (Dec 4, 2008)

Does that mean I don't need to feed the liquid literally to him? I have 2 more rats at home but they are kept very far separated. Should I apply some on their shoulders too as precaution? How do I sterilised the rat cage? Do I need to clean all the area near the infected rat as well?


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## lilspaz68 (Feb 24, 2007)

@nnie said:


> Does that mean I don't need to feed the liquid literally to him? I have 2 more rats at home but they are kept very far separated. Should I apply some on their shoulders too as precaution? How do I sterilised the rat cage? Do I need to clean all the area near the infected rat as well?


Nope I have used injectable ivermectin topically before, it works well. It tastes pretty nasty. You would need to retreat at 7-10 days once or twice. 
Definitely treat all your rats...mites are nasty tricky invisible beasts, that you may have gotten from infected bedding, etc. If you have paper/wood-based bedding, you should freeze it for 48 hours before using it. This will kill all stowaways.

After dosing you need to scrub down the cage, freeze/throw out any paper/wood toys etc...let the cage sit with a bleach solution for 10 mins, then rinse nad scrub again. All fabric is to be washed in hot hot water, and yes clean/vacuum the area as well.

I much prefer Revolution, you can bypass all the scrubbing.


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## ipopcorn (Feb 25, 2008)

most definitely, if you can see them they are lice...I had that problem with my poor little blue when I first got him (from a breeder, I was angrier than I can explain, being a breeder and all he should be taking better care of his rats) anyway, the vet gave me some frontline for cats and showed me how much to put on...the lice started falling of in a matter of hours. Its important to re-treat though cause they attach their eggs to the fur (notice little dark bands on the fur, those are the eggs and you want to make sure the medicine is still there when they hatch.) I treated all my rats just to be safe because the stuff I got from the pet store at first just made the lice run off the rat and onto my carpet and other places. Just be careful not to give them too much!


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## lilspaz68 (Feb 24, 2007)

ipopcorn said:


> most definitely, if you can see them they are lice...I had that problem with my poor little blue when I first got him (from a breeder, I was angrier than I can explain, being a breeder and all he should be taking better care of his rats) anyway, the vet gave me some frontline for cats and showed me how much to put on...the lice started falling of in a matter of hours. Its important to re-treat though cause they attach their eggs to the fur (notice little dark bands on the fur, those are the eggs and you want to make sure the medicine is still there when they hatch.) I treated all my rats just to be safe because the stuff I got from the pet store at first just made the lice run off the rat and onto my carpet and other places. Just be careful not to give them too much!


ipopcorn, be very very careful with frontline, its toxic to rats if ingested. Some people use it still because it does work but you have to be soo soo careful. It can kill.


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## ipopcorn (Feb 25, 2008)

really...? why would my vet give me something that is toxic? I guess im lucky i still got two rats, could that be why Earl and Blue died suddenly, on the same day? What is best to use and where can you find it if I ever have to treat a rat again?


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## lilspaz68 (Feb 24, 2007)

ipopcorn said:


> really...? why would my vet give me something that is toxic? I guess im lucky i still got two rats, could that be why Earl and Blue died suddenly, on the same day? What is best to use and where can you find it if I ever have to treat a rat again?


the main ingredient in Frontline is Fipronil

_Technical fipronil caused a number of toxicological effects in chronic animal
studies at relatively low doses. *Clinical signs of neurotoxicity were
reported in rats and dogs at doses as low as 0.07 and 1.0 milligrams per
kilogram body weight per day (mg/kg/day)*, respectively. Although not
specifically conducted to evaluate neurological effects, clinical signs of
neurotoxicity were also reported in a 21-day dermal exposure study in rabbits
at a dose of 10 mg/kg/day, indicating that neurotoxicity can result from
dermal exposures._

Revolution is safest and easiest on you and your rats


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## @nnie (Dec 4, 2008)

I came across an article in the web that says that we actually can bathe our rats with Dettol to cure the lice problem. It that so?


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## lilspaz68 (Feb 24, 2007)

Ugh, no I wouldn't do that. There's soo much bad information out there on the world wide web. Imagine getting some into their eyes??


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## @nnie (Dec 4, 2008)

This is the third day since I've treated my rat with Ivermectin. The lice on my rat's body has reduced but there are still some crawling on him. Is that normal? I read some post saying that the lice will drop of after a day. Can under dosage cause ineffective in the treatment?


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## lilspaz68 (Feb 24, 2007)

Underdosing sure can. But be very careful as ivermectin is very toxic.

The lice should be dead by now, not crawling 3 days later.


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## @nnie (Dec 4, 2008)

I think should be under dosage then. So should I give him another dose now? or wait until the next dose?


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## lilspaz68 (Feb 24, 2007)

@nnie said:


> I think should be under dosage then. So should I give him another dose now? or wait until the next dose?


Wait until the next dose. How much did you give? Is it the oral paste or injectable ivermectin used topically? How much does your rat weigh?


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## @nnie (Dec 4, 2008)

It's injectable ivermectin used topically. My rat is 252g. My dosage measurement cannot be too accurate because my syringe's reading is not in small unit. (Mine is like yours in the picture you posted earlier). The dosage should be 0.0126cc but I gave roughly 0.01+ to him.


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## lilspaz68 (Feb 24, 2007)

@nnie said:


> It's injectable ivermectin used topically. My rat is 252g. My dosage measurement cannot be too accurate because my syringe's reading is not in small unit. (Mine is like yours in the picture you posted earlier). The dosage should be 0.0126cc but I gave roughly 0.01+ to him.


That sounds right, and you are sure that the lice are moving or are you imagining it?


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## @nnie (Dec 4, 2008)

The lice are surely moving. I'm clueless now of what has gone wrong. The next dosage is 3 days away. So should I give a little bit more for his dosage?


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## lilspaz68 (Feb 24, 2007)

Hmmm...very strange. Can you get your hands on Revolution instead?

Did you see any of the lice die?


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## @nnie (Dec 4, 2008)

Revolution is not available in Malaysia I think. I can already see some of the lice on him not moving, but there are some that are still moving. I suspect its because of under dosage.


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## lilspaz68 (Feb 24, 2007)

@nnie said:


> Revolution is not available in Malaysia I think. I can already see some of the lice on him not moving, but there are some that are still moving. I suspect its because of under dosage.


Your math looks right though 

Could your ivermectin be expired? Could you get the oral paste instead?

I think you are gonna have to do the olive oil route and drown those suckers carefully. Your rat is not going to enjoy it though, and you will have to do it every week to kill the adults.


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