What Bug Is This? (possible Explanation For "allergy")

javo2004

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I posted recently about an allergy, where the Vet says "it could be anything", so my cat has been on steroids for a few months now.
Also I stopped all kinds of preventive treatments (deworming, etc), by vet request.

Today I spotted this sneaky insect while I was grooming my boy. My cat has a long thick fur and it's VERY difficult to spot bugs like this. So I'm wondering if this insect has always been the reason for his allergy (and now that I am stopping all preventive treatments it might just get worse).

I picked the insect and it didn't jump, so I'm not sure if it's a flea. I recorded some footage of it interestingly refusing to let go of a piece of hair.

Can you please help identify this insect?

VID 20190414 175148
 

FeebysOwner

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I think that might be a tick. If so, apparently your cat goes outside, or somehow one (or more) got into your house. Not sure about the 'allergy' connection, but you could call and ask the vet about it.

Here are a couple of articles about ticks and what to do about them.

Home Remedies for Cats With Ticks

Ticks on Cats

Then, again. It might not be a tick either??? A lot of bugs looks similar. It certainly is NOT a flea.
 

CatLover49

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I posted recently about an allergy, where the Vet says "it could be anything", so my cat has been on steroids for a few months now.
Also I stopped all kinds of preventive treatments (deworming, etc), by vet request.

Today I spotted this sneaky insect while I was grooming my boy. My cat has a long thick fur and it's VERY difficult to spot bugs like this. So I'm wondering if this insect has always been the reason for his allergy (and now that I am stopping all preventive treatments it might just get worse).

I picked the insect and it didn't jump, so I'm not sure if it's a flea. I recorded some footage of it interestingly refusing to let go of a piece of hair.

Can you please help identify this insect?

VID 20190414 175148
No its not a flea.I would send video to vet.I may b wrong but doesn't really look like a flea either
Definitely send to vet ASAP
 
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javo2004

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Spotted another one. I'm worried!
These insects are FAST. As soon as I expose one, it moves elsewhere. I see something small and shiny moving along the skin.
I don't think it's a tick.
 

jen

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With so many varieties of tick out there, that would be my first guess. Obviously not engorged with blood yet... I think if it were a flea you wouldn't even be able to record it, it would hop away and disappear before you even could think twice about it.
 

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Spotted another one. I'm worried!
These insects are FAST. As soon as I expose one, it moves elsewhere. I see something small and shiny moving along the skin.
I don't think it's a tick.
Have u looked in the cat's ears??If not do so
 

FeebysOwner

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Here is a pic of a tick - but, that would be before it starts sucking blood out of your cat. It looks the same, but since they are running around and don't seem to be stuck on the cat sucking the blood it might be something else.

But if the pic you took is of a flea - that is one HUGE flea - bigger than I have ever seen.

 

jen

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If that is a flea, that video was taken with one hell of an expensive video cam, with extra zoom power!!!!
I had a hunch but was thrown off by it not jumping... which would also go along with an allergy... perhaps a flea allergy? Even with monthly flea prevention, that one bite is all it takes for the cat to break out in scabs. We have one cat like that. She is itchy and scabby if we forget to treat her.
 

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There's nothing for scale except for that hair, but it looks the right size to me. That is definitely a flea.
 
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javo2004

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They are tiny. They look like a tiny grain of rice, slim, black head and brown thorax.
it lacks the long back legs you see in fleas, so it doesn't jump.
It appears to have some sort of legs just below its head.
 

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They are tiny. They look like a tiny grain of rice, slim, black head and brown thorax.
it lacks the long back legs you see in fleas, so it doesn't jump.
It appears to have some sort of legs just below its head.
Its definitely something I would send video or pictures to my vet .And would Google it:agree:
 

leechi

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If your cat has been on flea medicine, I would try a different one. Fleas can develop immunity to different poisons. Where I live the Comfortis pill is effective, but Frontline is not. The flea in the video looks like it might be dying, which is maybe why it didn't escape while you were filming. Btw, if a flea is in the cat's coat, it will usually try to burrow in deeper to escape you, they won't usually jump unless they're, say, on the floor.
 

jen

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Yeah upon rewatching I think it is a flea too. Fleas do have little limbs right below their head, they also do have long back legs, it is hard to tell what this ones back legs look like being so tiny. It also looks like the flea is trying to stay gripped onto the hair (and not jumping) in the video because there is not a warm body for it to bury into.
 

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Spotted another one. I'm worried!
These insects are FAST. As soon as I expose one, it moves elsewhere. I see something small and shiny moving along the skin.
I don't think it's a tick.
Ok.I looked up ticks n there are 2 types.Attached and Feeding. Loose and Wandering. It may b a tick
 
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