Fleas & Advantage II? ETA: And myxomatosis!

[Pip & Prim's Mom]

Ugh. My two buns and I just moved into our own apartment, which was sprayed for bugs and carpet cleaned a couple of days before we moved in. I vacuumed as well once I got there, because I found some dog hair on the floor and still get the occasional whiff of “dog smell” from the previous tenant.

Anyway, it’s been over a week and I’ve just discovered fleas on my buns! (Well, on one of them anyway — Pip, the other one, is a Lionhead/Jersey Wooly mix so it’s impossible to see on him, haha.) Not a lot, just one or two, and the buns don’t seem distressed, just irritated. They are both shedding right now so I didn’t think anything of their frequent grooming and scratching until I saw the flea on Prim’s neck yesterday.

I talked to my vet and she told me to use Advantage II for small cats, 0.4ml dose. My vet has 20+ years of experience with rabbits and was recommended to me by a local HRS educator, so I trust her judgment, but I wonder if she meant to say Advantage II for kittens, because my buns are both only a little over 4 lbs each and the small cat dosage is for cats 5-9lbs. Has anyone used the Advantage II small cat formula with buns under 5 lbs?

 Also, is there anything else I can do to get rid of the fleas? Unfortunately we are in a studio apartment so I can’t move the buns to another room in order to put spray or powder down in the carpet, and since they have been extremely stressed by the move I really don’t want to put them through any further disturbance if I can avoid it.

Thoughts? Suggestions? I’ve never dealt with fleas before so all help is appreciated!

ETA: Also, I live in the Southeastern United States (Georgia, to be precise). Does anyone know of any cases of myxomatosis here? I know there were some recent outbreaks on the west coast but I haven’t found any info about this region. It terrifies me to think that as simple an annoyance as the flea could potentially transmit a deadly disease to my buns, especially since the vaccine is not available here!!! My buns are both only a little over a year old and one is prone to health issues, so I’m now way more stressed about this flea issue than I was before I started thinking about the myxo possibility.

[Stickerbunny]

Diseases from fleas are pretty rare. Your vet would probably be alerted if there was an outbreak in your area though, you could ask. If you want to treat your apartment, you can get them an x-pen or crate (so they don’t ingest it) and treat the floors with borax powder then vacuum it up and let them back out once the powder is removed. With the apartment being cleaned/sprayed and the lifespan of a flea being so short even without poisons, I sincerely doubt it’s left over ones from the dog that used to live there. Either some hitched a ride on your clothes from outside (happens), or a neighbor has fleas and didn’t treat their pet, would be my guess. My dog was allergic to fleas, so we always kept our house/dogs treated, but our neighbors didn’t so she’d get the occasional flea from them and it was so annoying, her skin would break out in these thick brown scabs. I felt so bad for her. We had to treat her with skin ointments because of it. One of the downsides of living around people. If you keep having a flea problem, I would let the landlord know, but a one off might just be a flea found it’s way in somehow.

Vacuum up the carpets really well. Wash all the bedding, clothes, curtains etc in the apartment. Washing everything will remove any nesting hiding areas for them. Treat your bunnies (I have never had to treat a rabbit for fleas, hopefully someone else can chime in on what they used) and if you have questions about what medications you should use, call the vet and ask for clarification. It is never bad to ask them too many questions to be sure you are giving the right thing to your pets.

[Roberta]

I use Revolution Puppy and Kitten with the pink/lilac banner. I find it the easiest to dose and the safest…

And being in Australia infection with Myxo or Calici via mosquito, flea or mite is a constant concern as it is all across the country since being released into the feral rabbit population. We can vaccinate for calici but the government will not give us access to the Myxo vaccine..YET!

[jerseygirl]

Medirabbit indicates 3mg per kg or 1 cat dose.
http://www.medirabbit.com/Safe_medication/Anti_parasitics/safe_antiparasitic.htm
I agree though, confirm with quick phone call with the vet.

Another tip I’ve read about is to put a flea collar in your vacuum so anything taken up is also treated there.

ETA: Do you know what the apartment was treated with?

[hannaroo]

I would call the vet and get them to confirm it

[Author]

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