treating mites

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Lady_Sweetpea

New member
Joined
Dec 28, 2013
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2
a bit of background info on the vet
Its a walk-in clinic friendly to all (and i mean ALL) animals and always has a cheap fee ($35)
First time I took Sweetpea there, I had panicked because she was itchy all night and i had only had her for a month. They gave her a clean bill of health because she wasnt itchy while we were there (I suspect quilling since she was roughly 3 months old)

I moved and she got a much better vet. Moved back to where I was originally...

Second time I took her there was about 2 months ago when she gave me a scare. She was drinking a lot of water and hardly any food was eaten. Same vet said it could be diabetes, bad teeth, infection... waited for my princess to pee for the vet for an hour, but no success and lack of funds made me unable to put her under for a thorough exam. Vet treated her for everything. Gave me diabetic, wet cat food (Sweetpea didnt like it), and antibiotics to give twice daily by mouth. She got better and to this day I dont know what kind of infection i killed with antibiotics.
This previous monday (12/23/13) I noticed patches of fur and skin falling off and suspected mites. I got her to the vet yesterday since it was my day off work. Vet said it looked like mites, didnt do a skin scraping or anything like that and gave her a dose of Revolution and gave me 3 doses to give her in 3 weeks and after that 4 weeks and another 4 weeks. After reading threads here for about an hour I conclude that 4 rounds is not normal.

Since shes getting Revolution, how do I get the flaxseed oil and vitamin e oil to ease her itching?? Is it available in a dropper bottle or do I extract it from a capsule?? Im a pharmacy tech so I have access to what I need, I just want an opinion on what to do. Also, would an oatmeal bath help any?


Pics are 2 patches that fell off and miss Sweetpea at about 2 years old
 

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An oatmeal bath can help itchy dry skin, just don't do it right after a dose of Revolution because you don't want to wash of the medicine. An easy way to do an oatmeal bath is just to put some rolled oats in a sock and swish it around in the water until the water gets cloudy, then put the hedgie in the water and use a cup to pour it over their back. To help keep it away from her face you can hold up her front paws with one hand. This has worked well for both of my hedgehogs when they get dry skin from time to time.

I get flaxseed oil in capsule form because it was the only I could find it being sold near me. I just poke a hole in it with a needle and put a few drops on their backs. It does come in liquid form in a bottle also, but I don't think it comes with a dropper. I'm not really sure because I have never used the bottled kind.

When I got my second hedgehog I suspected she had mites, so I took her to the vet and they only did one dose of Revolution, but we never really concluded if she had mites or just dry skin, and her symptoms cleared up. I know it is common with other animals to do treatment of fleas/ticks/mites in rounds to keep the animal free of parasites, so for a severe case it may be necessary, but I don't know how often it is safe to do for hedgehogs. Someone else may have more insight on that part of it.
 
I gave her an oatmeal bath. Put some puppy oatmeal shampoo in the bath and poured a capsule of flaxseed oil into it so it helps a little more. While she was in the bath (I didnt lather her up, just let her walk around in the bath) i saw all the hair loss and irritation to its full extent. It looks like its healing on its own, but i just want to speed up the process and make sure she feels a lot better. Shes not very cranky, just angry that i wake her up to check on her everyday. How long on average does it take for the skin to heal??
 
I've never experienced the hair loss part of it, so I honestly don't know how long it will take to heal up. If she has open wounds check them daily to make sure there are no signs of infection (drainage, redness of the surrounding skin, swelling), and keep doing what you're doing to relieve her itching. I hope she heals up quickly!
 
The chunks of hair loss aren't something I've seen before with mites. It's making me think fungal or bacterial infection. Not sure...

If it was just mites, I'd give Revolution. Wait 2 weeks; then then next dose of Revolution. Wait another 2 weeks; then the final (ie, 3rd) dose of Revolution. In general, Revolution is pretty safe, so I'm of the opinion that it'll be fine to give it. I'm not surprised the vet didn't do a scraping for mites since there are reports of false negatives. Many just treat anyhow. Though it would have been nice to do a scraping so the vet could look for a bacterial or fungal cause.

For baths, I'd use plain oatmeal in a sock or colloidal oatmeal instead of the shampoo versions (the shampoo ones have added ingredients that aren't necessary... and I figure, if not necessary, why throw more chemicals into the mix?). I'd want the Revolution to do its work before bathing. So I'd wait until close in time to just before the next dose to give an oatmeal bath.

But, getting back to the big flakes with fur... the closest I've had to that was on the other side... a staph infection where quills came out in bunches along with the scab. Pretty yucky stuff. The possibility that we may be looking at something bacterial or fungal makes me want to keep away from adding an moisturizing oil.

Normally, if just dry skin, I'd get a flax seed gel cap and a quill (there's usually one lying about... like one that I pulled out of my foot the other day), and use the quill to poke a hole in the cap. Then I just squeeze some of the oil out of the capsule onto hedgie... a few drops here and there... Repeat a few days later to hit up the spots that still look dry...

In this situation, I think I'd add the drops to her kibble. This way, it'll get to where it needs to be going without accidentally "sealing in" the possible bacterial or viral skin infection. Though it'll take a couple of weeks instead of a couple of days to see results.

The other think I'd do is take a good hard look at her... if the skin and fur issue seems to be getting better with the Revolution, an oatmeal bath, and flax seed oil to the kibble, I'd just continue as is. I might look into adding Sunshine Factor as a dietary supplement too. But if things remain the same or worsen, I'd bring her back to the vet (or another vet who you trust) and have her get a sample of the skin irritation in order to look for possible bacterial or fungal causes.
 
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