Treating Rabbits For Fleas In Three Steps
Caring for a rabbit takes patience and the battle with fleas is no different. Rabbits are sensitive to chemicals, so flea bombs, sprays, powders, dips, or shampoos are considered deadly and should be avoided. With persistence and the apt tools, getting rid of fleas in your home and from your animals can be accomplished.
Allotment one of the flea battle should be a visit to the vet for all of your animals, not unbiased your rabbit. Fleas will jump from one animal to the next without hesitation, so only treating one animal will only state the situation up for failure. Educate yourself before you go as to what types of flea treatments are considered safe and dangerous for rabbits before your appointment, especially if you are seeing a vet with limited rabbit experience. Advantage Multi for Cats is considered the safest and most effective topical treatment that can be prescribed for fleas in rabbits. Be sure to separate all animals so they cannot lick the medicine off one another.
The second step of the flea battle is cleaning. Using an insect bomb in the area that a rabbit will later be in can cause death from the extremely toxic chemicals used in the bomb. Avoid using these at all costs, despite how effective many people seem to think they are. A gigantic household and topical treatment for fleas is food grade diatomaceous earth, or d-earth. Made of fossilized algae that has been powered, d-earth is microscopically tantalizing and will carve an insect's hull as it comes in contact with it. This causes rapid dehydration and will result in death of the insect. It is also effective with eggs and larvae of insects. D-earth is also effective against roaches and other bugs you do not want to share your house with. Farmers often mix this substance into feed for animals so that bugs do not raze food. This also helps keep internal parasites to a minimum in the animal. To exhaust d-earth in your home, simply sprinkle onto the carpet after you vacuum and use a broom to sweep into the carpet. This will be a dusty process, so proper ventilation is recommended.
Grooming is part three of this ongoing battle. If the rabbit is an Angora, there is no hope for the wool - shear the rabbit, bag the wool, and throw it away. Make a itsy-bitsy investment in a good flea comb with very tight teeth. You might not be able to use it effectively on an Angora, but most other breeds with smooth hair should benefit greatly from the use of a flea comb. If you get a flea on the comb, coat it with liquid soap to smother it and flush it down the toilet. Avoid flea baths and flea dips as these have proved deadly to rabbits time and time again. Dust the rabbit with d-earth to relieve kill off any fleas and eggs that are left over from treatment with the prescription flea medicine.
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Filed under Fleas by on Jan 25th, 2012. 