Cats & Bedbugs

[phxjosh]

So we recently found out that our apartment somehow had bedbugs, we are unsure of how they got here, but they're here now and we are getting the treatment done this week.

They said we need to remove the pets from the apartment for 4 hours while they spray and let it air out, can the bedbugs latch onto cats? We are concerned about bringing them right back when we bring the cats back.

Any ideas? They HATE baths, we tried that once when they got out in the rain and it was horribly, I don't want to subject them to that again, or my arms that got scratched up.

 

[farleyv]

Bed bugs live in old wood. They feed early in the morning, just before dawn. But can be out any time in the night.

They don't live on people or animals. They are actually quite large, about 1/4 inch. They flatten their bodies to get into joints in the bed frames where they sleep and raise young.

I don't believe they live or hide in cats fur.

Google it and you will find information to put your mind to rest.

 

[pipersjo]

My ex had bedbugs and I was terrified that I would bring them home. When I looked up info, I found that the bedbugs would not really be interested in the cats unless they were really hungry.

*DISCLAIMER* I never brought bedbugs home so i never actually had to experience it so i am not talking from experience here.

 

[killerapple]

I wouldn't worry about the bed bugs getting on the cats, but be more worried about the pesticides used to treat bed bugs. I would make sure 4 hours is an ok minimum time for your kitties to be away.

A few people I know had to deal with bed bugs. I don't want to scare you, but I'm not sure a treatment alone will treat the problem if they're lurking in books, etc. So if they do come back, I wouldn't think it's because they got on your kitties, but because eggs might be somewhere not treated by spray. Good luck!

 

[strange_wings]

The cats won't have or bring them back in - however it's easy for the bedbugs to run to other stuff during spraying. Meaning you have a lot of prep work to do otherwise the spraying won't be as effective.
The other alternative is heat treatment, but I don't know how that would work in an apartment.

 

[aileen06]

Make sure they are treating the apartments around You also. I had this problem in My last apt where the upstairs apt had an infestation of bedbugs and We weren't told about it and sure enough they got in My apt. They should have treated my apt as soon as they knew the upstairs had a bedbug problem. This happened shortly before I moved and even though the exterminator said I should be OK to move and even though We got rid of a lot of furniture and anything else that we could I still ended up bringing one to the new apt. Lucky that was it. Bedbugs are extremely hard to get rid of. My vet checked over My cat thoroughly while the apt was being treated because She said They can get on the cat. She didn't find any on Her though. We had to leave Her at the vet for 6 hours before we could bring Her back in the apt.