External Parasites on Feeders & Pets

My dogs have been rather itchy lately, to the point where one of them has scratched herself so much and now has a nice little scab on her face. These dogs are inside dogs and rarely go outside so I don't normally use any sort of external parasite preventative as I'm a little skeptical about putting an insecticide directly on my dogs. Anyway, I've thoroughly checked them and I see no fleas or ticks so I was thinking that perhaps they have some sort of lice. If they do have lice, I would imagine they got it from the feeders I bring home. So my question is do any of you dog owners do something to the feeders you bring in to your house so as to avoid cross contaminating your pets? I'm sure spraying the feeder bin with PAM would help, but idk how feeders + PAM + snakes would turn out.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

Rat mites and lice are species specific. Meaning that they stay on rats. They don't even spread to other rodents.

You can pam the feeder bin the same way you would pam a snake's enclosure. If you follow the directions, it wouldn't hurt your snakes if they ate those rats. People feed rats in their enclosures that they've pamed just fine.

I breed my own feeders and deworm the colony from parasites once a year. I give a rice sized dose of horse ivermectin paste to each rat.

I suggest just putting Revolution or Advantage on your dogs.

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As a vet tech, I know that itchiness can be caused by many different things. Just because you don't see fleas doesn't mean your dog wouldn't be affected by them. For some animals, a single flea bite can cause full blown "flea allergy dermatitis" and they can scratch themselves raw. Indoor animals can easily get fleas as well, from adults being brought in on our clothes, on from stepping on and tracking in larvae or eggs.

Lice in general are very rare to find on dogs, and is unlikely to be the problem. I also know for a fact that the lice you find on rats and mice are a completely different species than dog lice, and can't even live on dogs (or humans for that matter). Since both dogs are affected, I don't think it would be allergies, unless you've recently had your yard sprayed with something or something new in the house.

I would probably take them to the vet to determine the cause of the itch, because even if it is only fleas, they will be able to give you something better than the over-the-counter medications, which can be more dangerous (in my opinion) than prescription medications. If you have a choice, get something like Comfortis or Advantix rather than Frontline. Frontline just doesn't seem to be as good as it used to be. The vet can also give you a list of antihistamines that are safe to use for your dog and the proper dosages.

Spraying your feeders with PAM will probably kill the feeders and possibly your snakes if fed with PAM sprayed rodents.

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Originally Posted by Sita

Spraying your feeders with PAM will probably kill the feeders and possibly your snakes if fed with PAM sprayed rodents.

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You do not spray PAM on the animals themselves but you spray the enclosure just like you do with snakes.

I have done it with new blood being brought into my colony and everyone is still alive.

My dogs get dry skin and scratch like they have fleas every winter. i think it's from the forced hot air heat killing the humidity in the house. I use coal tar shampoo on them and it clears it right up.

Thanks for the responses. Since the lice or species specific, I guess it's time to go back to the drawing board.