If not fleas, then what's making us itchy?

[phoozles]

So my kitties have been through a lot lately, including what I figured to be a bout of fleas. I started to find red itchy bumps all over myself (since my rescue kitten Alley seems to think I am a perfect cat bed), and noticed that both my kitties were itching quite a bit. I never actually saw any fleas, but since I don't know what to look for, I did some research and found that the spots on me looked a lot like flea bites.

I gave both of them a dose of Advantage, vacuumed the house and sprayed the premises. Problem solved, right?

Not so much.

While they are not itchy as much as they were, I noticed that both cats are still scratching at their necks quite a bit, and I still have those red itchy bumps - mostly hanging around one leg at the moment, instead of all over as before. They are in groups, much like flea bites, but these "newer" ones don't have the red dot in the middle like my other ones did.

We took Alley in for her final booster, and the vet gave her a look and said she had some dry skin, but that's all.

What's the deal? Could both of them have dry skin, and me as well? Is it possible I didn't get them all - that's why they are still biting me? If it's not fleas, are there any other parasites that bite that they could have?

They are both indoor cats, btw.

I know there's a chance that what I have isn't related - it just seems as though there's a great possibility.

Any help would be appreciated - I can't handle the itching! Of course, my boyfriend has no signs, so he's less concerned than I.. *sigh*

[Longblades]

There is a problem with bed bugs in some areas. All it takes is a visitor to an infected room to bring them to your house. They are very small and hard to see.

http://www.toronto.ca/health/bedbugs.htm

The link says they can bite other mammals. Something to check out anyway,

[phoozles]

Eww! I suppose bed bugs are a possibility - I did vacuum the bed, but probably not as well as I should have..

I did find that the only places I haven't really been bitten are my face and the lower parts of my arms. Everything else is fair game.

Thanks for the idea, Longblades, I'm going to take a look at home tonight.

[Element~5]

There are a few other parasites that bite the skin other than fleas. Like mites, ticks, and lice. This website goes into fairly good depth about different skin parasites:
http://delusion.ucdavis.edu/

Also, another thing to consider is that with a adequate blood meal, a flea can last in an ideal environment for up to a year and a half (although most only live about 3 months)...so even if you have treated the pets with advantage, the fleas could be living else where...and still getting a good supply of food, therefore still biting you or your pets. A quick test to do if you find what looks like small pieces of dirt on your pets (or looks like black pepper) scrape some off with a flea comb, or whatever small tooth comb you have onto a white peice of paper towel and dampen it with water. If the black dirt turns into a rusty red colour, then you know you have fleas. The dirt is actually the fleas feces (which is basically blood because that's what they live on), and therefore will turn a rusty red color when you add water to it.

Good Luck!

[phoozles]

Element, I think you're right - I think the fleas are still around.

I keep finding new bites, and the cats are still itching - which I thought was odd because they are both treated - I thought that once they were treated they would be fine until their next treatments .. ?

The good news is that last night my boyfriend FINALLY found some bites on him - which means he's finally going to start wanting to help me with this problem. It's been so frustrating trying to battle this alone - he feigned interest, but didn't get involved because he didn't know how insanely itchy it could be!!

I guess tonight I'm back to vaccuuming and treating the house again. Man, I hope this will be the last bout. I'm so itchy!

[bendyfoot]

I thought of bed bugs too. They tend to leave bites in clusters of three...

[phoozles]

Originally Posted by bendyfoot

I thought of bed bugs too. They tend to leave bites in clusters of three...

The only reason why I'm not sure it's bed bugs is because a lot of the literature I've read says

Bed bugs bite at night, and will bite all over a human body, especially around the face, neck, upper torso, arms and hands"

and I don't have any bites on my face, neck, arms or hands. Right now they are sticking to my legs and a couple on my lower torso. It does seem to be worse at night, which is making me think I didn't get the mattress good enough.

Unfortunately almost all bug bites look the same. I look at pictures of flea bites, and I say "hey, that's what I have!" Then I look at pictures of bug bites and I say "hey, that's what I have!" .. Stupid bugs biting the same way.

I've got a feeling these bugs are from the previous tennant - we just moved into this house about a month ago.

You know what would be nice? No big bites at all! I'm going to tackle the bedroom again tonight, and if I'm still bitten, I think I'm going to ask for a pest control service for Christmas. What a way to spend the holidays! :sad:

[shredy]

I hope you get your buggy problems under control soon. I did want to mention to you that fleas are a very strong allergen so even if the flea bites teh cat and dies because of the advantage they can still have a severe reaction if they are allergic. A large percentage of animals are allergic to fleas. If you are still getting bites they are probably not gone though Do you have a yard that could be infested? Good luck!

[sugarcatmom]

Originally Posted by phoozles

I think the fleas are still around.

I heard one way to check for fleas in your home is to put a bowl of soapy water on the floor under a lamp in a room that the pets frequent (but don't let them in while you do this in case they knock it over). The fleas will seek out the heat of the light bulb and end up jumping into the soapy water and drowning. That might give you an idea of the scope of the problem.

[kylben]

I had a roommate, many, many years ago, with two poodles who were badly infested with fleas. So bad they infested my bed as well. We had to dust the entire apartment. Have you treated your bed, the carpets, etc., or just the cats themselves?

And you can see fleas with the naked eye, it's just difficult because no matter how "small" you think you are focusing your eyes, they're smaller. It's like an optical illusion, until you see one, you don't know how to see them. Try shaking out a suspect area (bedding, cats, whatever) onto a sheet of white paper, and see if any of the resulting dust and debris moves of it's own accord.

--Kyle

[phoozles]

Originally Posted by shredy

Do you have a yard that could be infested?

Nope, no yard - and the cats haven't been outside at all. I do kind of live in the country now - lots of farm combines and such driving past my house, so maybe it's a country thing.. ?

Originally Posted by sugercatmom

I heard one way to check for fleas in your home is to put a bowl of soapy water on the floor under a lamp in a room that the pets frequent (but don't let them in while you do this in case they knock it over). The fleas will seek out the heat of the light bulb and end up jumping into the soapy water and drowning. That might give you an idea of the scope of the problem.

That's a good idea - I'll check it out. Thanks.

Originally Posted by kylben

I had a roommate, many, many years ago, with two poodles who were badly infested with fleas. So bad they infested my bed as well. We had to dust the entire apartment. Have you treated your bed, the carpets, etc., or just the cats themselves?

And you can see fleas with the naked eye, it's just difficult because no matter how "small" you think you are focusing your eyes, they're smaller. It's like an optical illusion, until you see one, you don't know how to see them. Try shaking out a suspect area (bedding, cats, whatever) onto a sheet of white paper, and see if any of the resulting dust and debris moves of it's own accord.

I have treated the carpets, furniture, etc by vaccumming and spraying with a premise spray. My bf vaccuumed the bed, but I'm thinking maybe it wasn't done all that well.

As for seeing the flea dirt, this is where it gets odd. The cats are constantly scratching, but when I combed Jake I found nothing, as well as when I wiped him with a kitty wet nap (which, I have to admit, has lost some of its moisture). Also the vet supposedly checked out Alley and said there were no signs of fleas (I say supposedly because I wasn't there, and I think my boyfriend may have just said that to appease me).

Do you think it's possible that we are 'flea free' but just still reacting to the bites from before? Perhaps the bites I had before didn't act up until now so I believe them to be 'new'? Would the same be true for the cats?

[CearaQC]

A couple of months ago, I kept waking up with insect bites on my legs and under my arms and could never figure out where they were coming from because I never saw any bugs.

Checked the cat and couldn't find any fleas.

Last resort I tore the bedroom apart, did a mega cleaning job with bleach water and the problem went away.

[want4rain]

it took us quite a while to get over out MINOR flea infestation. i never saw any on the pets (go figure, most of them are black!) but things rally quieted down once we put flea preventative on them. it toook us another month or so of steam cleaning, vacuuming and more vacuuming to finally be rid of them.

good luck with it!!

-ashley

[phoozles]

Maybe I'm just impatient, and it'll take a while to finally be rid of them - it's just so irritating right now

I actually thought of marking all the bites on me to see if new ones arose. Then I realized I would be covered with little black dots instead of red ones and I'm not sure that's better!

[kylben]

Do you think it's possible that we are 'flea free' but just still reacting to the bites from before?

I can't say for sure, but I'd think it's more likely there are still some in your own bedding, sofa, etc. CearaQC's "mega cleaning" seems like the next thing to try. May not stop the problem, but if your place is anything like mine, it's a good idea anyway. . When I had the roommate problem, I'm pretty sure I remember just throwing out my entire mattress. (And shortly after, throwing out the roommate as well )

If the vet checked them out as flea-free, then I dunno what to tell you. . Maybe he missed them, maybe they're not primarily infesting the cats, but something of yours (which argues more for the bedbug theory), or maybe it's something entirely different. Have you switched your brand of laundry detergent lately? There's one brand I'm terribly allergic to.

Just to add to your confusion, a few months ago, my girlfriend and I noticed we were getting a lot of bites on our legs and ankles. Turned out to be ants.

--Kyle

[want4rain]

Originally Posted by phoozles

Maybe I'm just impatient, and it'll take a while to finally be rid of them - it's just so irritating right now

I actually thought of marking all the bites on me to see if new ones arose. Then I realized I would be covered with little black dots instead of red ones and I'm not sure that's better!

yep, you sound just like i did when we were going through that. i researched bed bugs... talked to my doctor, to my vet... by the time i exhausted my researching i stopped getting bites, or the ones i had faded away.... whichever!

-ashley

[phoozles]

Originally Posted by want4rain

yep, you sound just like i did when we were going through that. i researched bed bugs... talked to my doctor, to my vet... by the time i exhausted my researching i stopped getting bites, or the ones i had faded away.... whichever!

Actually, I'm relieved you said that - because it seemed as though everyone I talked to who had fleas got rid of them right away. But that's probably not the case! This morning we did another run of vaccuuming the mattress, and all the bedding has gone back into the wash - I'm going to give the living room another vaccuum as well, and hopefully this will be the end of it.

Feels like I got new bites this morning, but again, they might be old ones that just decided to be itchy again.. I never did try that marking test..

Thanks for the help, and hopefully there won't be any more itchy pests to report very soon!

[want4rain]

i put an allergy case thingy over my bed. i think thats what finally did it.

you arent crazy, its pretty unlikely you have anythign other than fleas biting you and it WILL go away in time if you keep up with the flea treatment.

-ashley