my pet rat has lice!
Ok, so i know that there are many threads on this topic.. but i have one question that hasnt been answered in ANY of them. My daughters one rat (montana) has what im 99% sure are lice, I called around to local vets and the closest one to us is about and hour and a half away and charges A LOT and i mean A LOT, so i have decided to treat montana at home. Given everything i have read on numerous sites it seemed that ivermectin was the treatment of choice, so i ordered it... it was suppose to come yesterday and when it didnt, seeing as how ill she was acting and my daughter was beside herself that we NEEDED to do something right NOW, i gave her one drop of advantage on her skin (which i also read is ok to use).. anyway, finally here is my question... the ivermectin came today, should i start using the treatment plan for the ivermectin even after giving her the advantage yesterday? Should i hold off on the ivermectin and just use the advantage? Should i use both as directed? i dont want to hurt her and i cant find the answer anywhere. thanks in advance!
thanks jason i called the vet i use for the cats and they have no idea, i then called the only vet in the area and im waiting for a call back... i cant believe that a vet, any vet, wouldnt be able to help me.. after the advantage last night, i can tell she is not as itchy, maybe i will give it another day or two to see if her scabs start to go away and then give her the ivermectin. Maddie just had a rat pass away on sunday (she was old) and lord knows i dont need to be doing anything that could potentially harm this one!
Well I understand however non-exotic vets really don't know much about the rats anatomy. When we had rats we only had a very few vets that could do anything with them in our area. It's better for them to say "I don't know" than sure it will be fine and it end up killing your rat.
If you rat does seem better I would surely wait it out for a few days and see what happens before trying the ivermectin just to be on the safe side. Good luck and I hope to see you back on here soon!
P.S. I'm sorry about the bad coloring of the forums currently. We are about to release a completely new web design and I'm having to work with the forum portion of the site live. I promise it will be much better here very soon. ;)
When I had rats several years ago Advantage was not ok to give to treat rats, HOWEVER, in reading on it now it looks as if it is now approved for rats as long as you use the Advantage for cats, not dogs, as the dog type contains pymethrin which is toxic to rats. Apply 1 drop for rats weighing less than 1 pound. For a larger rat greater than 1 pound, apply 2 drops. Apply once per month or based on veterinary assessment.
At this point, if you are using the cat Advantage, I would stick with just using that and not bring the Ivermectin into the picture, particularly since it sounds as if Montana is already showing signs of improvement. The Ivermectin should be fine to shelf for future use. Do be sure to go through the process of cleaning down the cage and replacing any bedding to remove any stragglers that aren't actually on her.
Hope she is less itchy and flea free soon!
So hows the rattie? We look forward to hearing about her...
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This is a tuff call but I will explain what I know about both of them and you can make a decision based on that. Ivermectin works by stopping the body from producing GABA. GABA is required for many worms and other parasites to survive as they can't produce this themselves. When the parasite stops getting the GABA they become paralyzed and can't eat which kills them in a number of hours.
Advantage is a topical insecticide that will kill fleas and other external parasites.
These are two very different types of medications which I would assume would not interact but I can not guarantee such. Do you have a vet that you could call and ask to be sure that the two medications won't interact in an adverse way?
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Jason
Pet Research Admin
To err is human, to forgive and to love is canine