How to get rid of persistent pet lice affecting my pets, home, and me?

Hello and thank you for your question! Cat lice is species specific and will not infect you or any other species of animals you may have in your home. However, I would wash all of Chance's bedding, blankets and anything else he has come into contact with and wash all the areas he spends time in. Launder and wash what you can, but for items that can't be washed in a washing machine, you can place in a tight sealed bag for 4 weeks. All toys and other items like crates, litter boxes, and cat carriers should be disinfected. Your furniture and rugs, etc should all be washed and cleaned as well. All of these steps are necessary to prevent reinfection. However, most importantly, Chance should be on a monthly flea/tick preventative, like Fipronil or Selemectin Rx by your veterinarian each month to help kill the lice and prevent new lice from hatching. I hope this has helped! Best of luck!

I am so sorry that you have had so much trouble with this! I didn't see that you included the type of tank you had (freshwater vs. saltwater) - the treatments can be different depending on the type of tank that you have. I also didn't see if you had definitively diagnosed that it was fish lice - there are not a great deal of parasites that are similar to fish lice, but if you haven't been able to have someone identify these parasites, I would recommend that it be a place to start. I am not sure what medical treatments you have attempted, but there are several that can be attempted. Some of them are oral treatments and some are treatments for in the water. Manual removal of the parasites is also possible. Given all of the things you have tried already, I would recommend evaluation of one or more of your fish by a veterinarian. They will gather information from you about your husbandry, and then will perform an examination on your fish. This will include evaluating samples of the gills, the skin, and of the parasites under the microscope. Your vet can then assist in helping to guide treatments and decide what is best for you and your tank.

Fleas can be very frustrating to deal with! In my experience, Hartz products and other over-the-counter options like flea shampoos, diatomaceous earth, etc. are not very effective. First, I would recommend getting good quality prescription flea medication from your vet for Darwin and your two cats - you won't have any luck getting rid of the fleas in the house until all of the animals area treated. Nexgard or Bravecto are the best choices for dogs, and Revolution or Advantage Multi would be best for the cats. Once that's done, you can treat your house and yard with a premises spray like Knock Off to get rid of the fleas and eggs in the environment. If the problem is severe, you may need to have an exterminator come and treat the environment professionally. Keeping all of your pets on a good quality flea control medication year-around in the future will help to prevent this from being an issue again.

It's difficult to know what you are describing without seeing it, but I'm guessing it is either fleas, or lice that are causing the problems. Mites tend to be microscopic. There are fur mites that can be seen if you look close and long enough, but require magnification to see them well. In order to rid the cats and your environment of the infestation, you will first need to know what you are dealing with. For this, I recommend taking Titian to a veterinarian. They will be able to identify it and give the most effective treatment. You will also need to do some good environmental clean-up. Pay particular attention to dark areas (i.e. under furniture and bedding) when cleaning. For more information, I recommend you read the article at the link below. https://www.petcoach.co/article/5-tips-to-get-rid-of-fleas/ I hope that helps and you are able to solve this problem soon.

Fleas tend to live in the environment (your house, the garden, etc.) and will hop onto a cat or dog only when they are hungry, in order to bite. Once the flea has eaten, it will hop off again. For every flea you find on your animal, there may be 100 fleas in its surroundings! You will need to do thee following: So you need to treat all your pets as well as the environment (which contains the fleas, their eggs and larvae). . Flea treatment:  1) Get some flea medication such as a Flea spray or a spot on from a pet shop or your veterinarian and apply monthly 2) get flea powder, put some in your vacuum cleaner bag and hoover your house and furniture and also non-carpeted areas frequently to remove flea larvae and eggs which live off house dust., Dispose of the bag in the rubbish bin outside. Hot-wash all the pet's bedding, If you do this diligently for a few months you will get rid of the fleas. Flea products: Spot-ons: Many, if not all of those are only available from your vet. Advantage, Advantix Advantage Multi (Advocate in the UK) Frontline (ticks as well) Bravecto spot on (ticks as well) - for cats, in tablet form for dogs Stronghold Tablets: comfortis (will only kill fleas once) Collar: Seresto (ticks as well) House spray: Indoorex

Hi and thanks for using Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach! Sorry to hear about Jaydence. Fleas are particularly bad near the end of summer and throughout the spring/summer depending on the weather. What you should do is EITHER discuss this with your local vet and let them evaluate your pets or treat him with multimodal flea/tick products and see if that doesn't help get the skin calmed down and the fleas under control. The irritated areas are typical for dogs that have a flea allergy and each time Jaydence gets bit by a flea the allergy intensifies. Flea allergy dogs may require antibiotics or topical treatment to calm down the allergy/itching. Multimodal treatment involves using a vet advised topical product (Revolution, Advantix, Vectra, Effitix, etc) along with an oral flea/tick medicine (Comfortis, Bravecto, or Nexgard). You should also treat your indoor environment since the bulk of the flea problem is immature stages in the environment. Your vet can help you with all of these treatments to get Jaydence and all of your pets back to normal and not scratching. Good luck with Jaydence.

Thanks for using Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach. Unfortunately, there is nothing orally for cats that works to my knowledge. All the options for cats that I am aware of are topical. If you do decide to try a topical product PLEASE read the labels carefully as there are a few that are sold for dogs that are FATAL to cats. I like Advantage II from Bayer. It is over the counter, very effective, and lasts about 4 weeks - long enough to break the life cycle. Unfortunately, all the cats would need to be treated at the same time to prevent re-infestation. Best of luck to you and the cats!