Hmmm. Don't know why, but things like this fascinate me.
Could they (or their larvae) have been carried in on your shoes perhaps? Or blown in through a window from a passing bird or from nearby trees? I thought maybe a plant that you may have bought but you said the vet said it had to be a live host.
Let us know if you find out where they came from.
x
The answer doesn't seem to be clear on whether people can carry mites in to their cats. Some sites I found said humans can be carriers until the mites find the cat or dog, although it's not common. Others said no way, there's no possible way a human carried it in.
They are highly contagious but for pet to pet transfer, I think that the infected cat has to be near the non-infected cat, although it said that the mite can live a short time out side of the ear canal on the cat or in the environment. It's possible it hitched a ride on you.
I couldn't find whether or not the mite can jump.
They can't jump, but only crawl. They are fun to watch in a microscope, though. Also, they have no larval stage in their life cycle.
So, CowD, are these apt to be different than rat mites, or... the same.
If they can live for a short while outside of their hosts (which seems likely to me), maybe they did hitch a ride on me. The only other cats I have contact with are my fiancee's, and she is rigorously regular with their Revolution monthly treatments for parasites.
I will proceed under the assumption that somehow some ear mites took a ride on me into my inner sanctum, although I really hate the thought. I just don't know what else to think. And thanks all of you for replying. My boys got a thorough cleaning, and have received 2 of 4 weekly treatments of Otomite drops, so I guess they'll be okay.
Fun if you're cjhsa, enjoy baiting people, and aren't the owner of the infested cats.
The babies will be back to normal in no time.
snood wrote:Fun if you're cjhsa, enjoy baiting people, and aren't the owner of the infested cats.
I answered your question twice on the first page. That's not baiting, that's intelligence. Sorry you can't recognize it.
Well, I think I can be allowed a little skepticism about the sincerity of your desire to give a straight answer to anything I ask, cjhsa - given our history. Whether you acknowledge the overall prickly nature of our exchanges, or not.
osso - which type of rat mite did you mean?
