Revolution mite treatment?

by Sam Mon 10 Sep 2018, 10:22 pm

Before I get into this, I have used Revolution for puppies/kittens twice on small animals. I do prefer it to ivermectin, mostly because I cannot get pour on ivermectin and the oral dose is once a week, which isn't easy to give to squirmy mice and takes 3-4 weeks to work.

Two of my remaining three mice, the other being temporarily separate from an ASF companion, have definitely got mites. They are just barely large enough to see, buy they're definitely moving on the skin. Luckily none of my other rodents seem to have them, but there are one or two I may treat anyways because they're slightly dusty and one was kept beside the infested girls bin.

I just found out that my exotic vet retired, leaving me with one so called exotic vet. I'll definitely try her out, but I am going to really miss my regular doctor. We phoned and this new doctor is away for two weeks, so they're going to let us buy some revolution as long as we have the weights of the mice.

My original doctors dosage of Revolution for puppies/kittens for mice was one drop behind their necks every two weeks. One mouse was 22 grams while the other was nearly 50, and all was fine, so I don't think I need to worry about improper dosage from varying weights. Does that sound okay?

My real questions are:
Does freezing really kill mites? Because I have been freezing bedding and hay (although maybe I forgot to once) and still I now have mites. None of my other small animals on the same bedding seem effected. I don't freeze food and keep forgetting to freeze new grass/wood toys, could that be it?

And do I need to throw away all of their wood toys? If freezing works then obviously that problem is solved.

When my hedgehog had mites and was treated with Revolution I asked about how much/often his cage would need deep cleaned. The vet responded that it would help but isn't necessary. Rat owners seem the same, saying that eventually the treated rats will attract all stray mites and the medication will get rid of them. I'll clean more often but do I really need to scrub and spray everything?

Yes those are questions best for a vet, but I don't know anyone anymore. My local vet was a pain rather than helpful the first time my mice had mites, and I can't contact this new exotic vet for another two weeks. Any info is appreciated Very Happy

by CallaLily Tue 11 Sep 2018, 7:17 am

Revolution is a very good, safe treatment for mice under the advice of a veterinarian. Ivermectin is just more talked about here because it’s easy to get ahold of (for most), safe, and usually effective. I’m not sure on the proper dosage of revolution but if your new vet is giving you the dose based on their weights, I would trust it. I agree with the vet and rat owners that treating or extra cleaning of the cage can help but isn’t necessary. But if you’re struggling to get rid of them, maybe put everyone in a bare minimum setup on newspaper or paper towels, with easy to thoroughly clean toys/hides until things are under control.

There is a whole thread with advice on topical ivermectin treatment (oral is not recommended) if you’re interested. It is information put together by BarbaraFunMouse (of theFunMouse Forum) with the help of her veterinarian when she was desperate to find a safer solution for treating a lice outbreak in her mousery and the oral treatment was causing more problems than solving.
https://www.petmousefanciers.com/t17-itching-hair-loss-and-parasites
There’s also info there on freezing and baking bedding/toys. Personally I’ve never bothered but it may be worth the extra steps if you’re having trouble getting rid of them. The freezing really only works if your freezer gets cold enough and if it’s left at that temp for a time (details in the link).

by Sam Tue 11 Sep 2018, 1:43 pm

That helps clear things up a lot, thanks!

I'm not surprised oral ivermectin isn't recommended. It was hard on the mice and me, and when I tried talking about pour on for cattle she gave me a little lecture about how that's too powerful for horses even. I know it's diluted, but here it's prescription only (or you need to be a farmer with a number/card or something) and the vet wasn't cooperative

From my experience revolution seems to start working two or three days in, so I think I'll do a better cleaning than normal around that time just to give them a boost. Everyone on my hamster communities think freezing works, so I may as well. I have no idea if my freezer gets to those temperatures, so I almost wish it was winter. I could just leave them outside in a plastic bag overnight lol

I'm hoping that a few mites were spared on these girls from the last infestation, because otherwise I could be havings mites every other month from whatever product is bringing them. Guess I'll find out

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