My cat has little white bugs attached to her fur, any ideas?

Question

These little guys have lite cream bodies with a dark reddish head. I can see little white things all over her dark fur. So I looked at them closer, they have flat bodies. The way that they are attached reminds me of lice. She is an outdoor cat and we try to do all we can for her, but bugs still get on her. It's easy to say "Bring her to the vet", but with everything else costing so much, I'd rather save $100 and buy the medicine myself. If anyone has any idea what they could be, I'd appreciate it very much. I would like to keep the little guys off of her.

Answer 1

Your cat has either lice or mites of the cat variety. I've never seen them on cats but whenever I buy a new pet rat that's exactly what I get to deal with. Unfortunately if she's an outdoor cat you're probably looking at containing the situation through long-term medication. She does need to see the vet so they can determine exactly what type of lice/mite you're dealing with since there're different medications for the different types (it would be even worse to buy some medication only to have it be the wrong kind!). Good luck! It can take a while to get rid of them, but as I said, if she's outdoors then she'll probably pick them back up the same as she would fleas.

Answer 2

It could be any type of parasite, but my educated guess is this is the larva stage of a flea or it could be maggots.  Both of these match your description.

The flea larva can be killed using a good vet quality flea medication.  Please do not use the OTC store brands.  They use a synthetic of the chemical the vet products do and it can make your kitty very ill or kill her.  I know this from experience..luckily my cats did not die, but I made them very ill.  This was summer of 1993, when I was a novice pet caretaker.  After treating 5 ill cats, I still had to fight the fleas.  Now no matter the cost, I only use vet products.  I prefer Advantage, it does the job, it is a little less expensive than Frontline and the odor is not as offensive.  I can treat even my most timid kitty without her knowing what I'm doing!

Also, if she has this many of the larva stage of fleas, she has a severe infestation.  Kitties can quickly become anemic from fleas.

Does she have a wound anywhere on her body?  If not, you can rule out the maggots.  That would be wonderful, because if she does have a wound, a vet trip is definitely in order.

Here are a couple of links with pictures to hopefully help you identify the parasite on her.

Purrs to you and kitty.

Answer 3

You should of thought about the price of vet fees before you bought a cat!!!!!!

Answer 4

Well, the only problem I'd say there is with not taking your cat to the vet, is you can't check for yourself if the bugs have or haven't transmitted any diseases/sickness to your cat.

It could be a type of flea, or some lice sort of bug. You could try brushing them out of her fur and getting rid of them, or buy a cat shampoo that is good for getting rid of cat lice/bugs.

Otherwise, I'd seriously consider taking your cat to the vet anyway, just to make sure there's no diseases or anything.

Answer 5

sounds like lice or mites. the vet will know what to do.  plz dont use anything otc it could really be bad for your pets.

Answer 6

HAHA sorry your gonna have to spend 100 bucks!!!