Should I use Ivermectin on Mimi?

MaryRobinson · 01-20-2020, 08:26 AM

Hi all,

It's been a while since my last post in June last year when we adopted our crazy rescue girl but she soon settled into her Detolf and is the sweetest (and most spoilt!) little ham nowadays - a far cry from the mad, stressed little bundle we rescued.

I'm possibly a bit OCD about freezing all her food and treats and stuff before giving anything to her.. which is why I was dismayed to find 8 or 9 mites in her house the other day and then the day after... tiny tiny specs in her Rodipet wooden house. Then I remembered some cereal treats we had been given for her at Xmas which had gone straight in to her house in our excitement - d'oh!

She seems fine and I have done a total cage clean (much to her annoyance). She is maybe itching a tiny bit more than she would in the normal daily scratch'n'clean ritual she's always done but has no sore patches and looks glossy and normal. So: do you think I need to treat her with Anti Parasite spot on? I bought some Beaphar 25ug Anti-Parasite spot on for golden hamsters from Pets at Home (as our vets refused to give me ANY advice unless we bring her in, even though I said there was nothing to see - grr). But.. I know Ivermectin is not to be messed with and obviously has some toxicity. Should I treat her with it to kill off any invisible tinies still lurking? Or should I leave it?

Thanks all!

cypher · 01-20-2020, 08:30 AM

I wouldn't treat her, with any luck you will have got rid of the nasties with the cage clean, Ivermectin is quite toxic so best not to use it unless you absolutely have to, I would just keep an eye on her for now & see how she goes.

MaryRobinson · 01-20-2020, 08:41 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by cypher

I wouldn't treat her, with any luck you will have got rid of the nasties with the cage clean, Ivermectin is quite toxic so best not to use it unless you absolutely have to, I would just keep an eye on her for now & see how she goes.

Thank you - I did wonder. Ok. Hopefully as there were only a handful of the minute wanderers we have scoured them out of existence without having to treat Mimsie with chemicals!!

Engel · 01-20-2020, 09:25 AM

I agree ivermectin is quite toxic and can make your hamster very sick! I used something similar on my rats but they did have a bad infestation and I had to bath him too. Rats are a bit different to hamsters though, IMO they're a bit more hardy.

Also, in case you weren't already aware, animals have mites naturally on them, including us! It's kind of like the good bacteria in our gut. We need them and coexist with them in harmony, they often cause no issues. Having a course of antibiotics or mite treatment can affect good mites/bacteria not just the bad ones. I know this is probably something that you don't want to hear/know, especially if you are, as you put it, a bit 'OCD' about things, but definitely something worth knowing.

Pebbles82 · 01-20-2020, 11:45 AM

As the others say, the cage clean will have sorted it I think. The mites that hamsters get are not visible with the human eye, so they were probably some kind of weevil or grain more from the treat stick. Hope all is ok now. If you do ever suspect hamster mites though, best thing is to take her to the vet for a skin scraping to be sure it is mites. There are various treatments they can give then, including an injection. As Cypher says, over the counter invermectin is very toxic to them and always best to get vet prescribed meds in the right strengths etc.

You have made me think though - I have sometimes put in a treat stick without freezing as well!

MaryRobinson · 01-20-2020, 02:01 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Engel

I agree ivermectin is quite toxic and can make your hamster very sick! I used something similar on my rats but they did have a bad infestation and I had to bath him too. Rats are a bit different to hamsters though, IMO they're a bit more hardy.

Also, in case you weren't already aware, animals have mites naturally on them, including us! It's kind of like the good bacteria in our gut. We need them and coexist with them in harmony, they often cause no issues. Having a course of antibiotics or mite treatment can affect good mites/bacteria not just the bad ones. I know this is probably something that you don't want to hear/know, especially if you are, as you put it, a bit 'OCD' about things, but definitely something worth knowing.

Haha, no, I completely agree... In the wild she'd probably be munching beetles as they tramped past so I can't be too squeamish!!

That's a very good point. I don't want to cause more problems than there were to begin with. Thanks!

Quote:

Originally Posted by Serendipity7000

As the others say, the cage clean will have sorted it I think. The mites that hamsters get are not visible with the human eye, so they were probably some kind of weevil or grain more from the treat stick. Hope all is ok now. If you do ever suspect hamster mites though, best thing is to take her to the vet for a skin scraping to be sure it is mites. There are various treatments they can give then, including an injection. As Cypher says, over the counter invermectin is very toxic to them and always best to get vet prescribed meds in the right strengths etc.

You have made me think though - I have sometimes put in a treat stick without freezing as well!

Yep, these were crazily small but definitely still visible wandering about! Urgh! About the size of a full stop I think.

I know, I was just kicking myself about the treats - so annoying when I'm usually so careful.

Also it's sad because when our departed Dora started skin cancer in 2018 and we took her to the vets because of her sore patch, they insisted it was mites (didn't do a skin scraping and I told them I didn't see how it could be) and they gave her Ivermectin spot on at first... They didn't question it... which is why I thought it was a prescribable thing. (Also then why do they sell it in P@H?? Yet another thing that they shouldn't market for hams?? Tsk...) So I will be much more wary of the stuff now - and I feel horrid that I gave it to Dora without cause.

Now I've gone all itchy just thinking about mites..!!!

AmityvilleHams · 01-20-2020, 03:31 PM

A lot of things are sold for pets despite their lack of safety or even being outright deadly. I know there are still tons of rawhide and other dangerous products on the market for dogs, along with cotton fluff and such for hamsters and numerous other products that should just be banned outright. Sometimes you'll see dangers in the "natural" products too(natural kapok fiber for example is just as unsafe as cotton, and for dogs a lot of companies use pennyroyal as a parasite repellent even though it is definitely not safe for cats or dogs - and this isn't even 1% of the "all natural" dangers).