# Can pigeons get fleas?



## Hillybean (Oct 30, 2005)

Hey Everyone,
Yes, I know this is a weird question.

We just took the dogs,cats, and ferrets, in for the flea treatments.

It got me thinking, can pigeons get fleas??

I know probably couldn't if they were outdoors. Mine are indoors, and are around one of my dogs (Kendra-my Chihuahua). Don't worry it is always supervised and she ignores them. She follows me everywhere though, so is sometimes around the birds.

The pigeons get baths often, and are even sevens dusted once a month, unless there is a reason to do so more often.

Just Wondering,
Hilly


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## MaryOfExeter (Sep 30, 2007)

I don't think so 
Last year everyone's pets around here had such a bad flea problem, but my birds hadn't a bug on them. I mean people were pouring into the vets because their pets had gone anemic from flea infestations  And all I had to do was sit in the grass and I was eat up last year.
I don't think they would, because their feathers are so close-fit. The fleas you see on dogs are much bigger than feather lice and mites, so it seems like they'd have a hard time digging through the feathers to get to the skin, without being picked off first. A squab may have problems though, but I really don't know. I've thought about it before, but I've never heard of it.


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## little bird (Aug 11, 2006)

The answer is no, Hilly. Fleas as we know them need to be able to navigate thru a furry animal as if we were running thru the woods. Fleas can't move that way in overlaid feathers. For the same reason, pigeon flies don't get on furry critters cause they move crablike in the layers of feathers and can't negotiate the upright standing hair of the furry critters. Unfortunately humans have neither fur nor feathers and the occassional flea or pigeon fly will get on a human and take a bite, I know...been there...done that.


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## John_D (Jan 24, 2002)

I had always thought fleas were only found on mammals, but apparently this is not so. A quick look online brought up a site which states that (in the UK, anyway) there are many species of fleas of which 95% are found on mammals and 5% on birds. Some can transfer from one type of host to another.

John


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## little bird (Aug 11, 2006)

Were they talking about the plain old fashioned flea as we know it from our dogs & cats or a different species? Did they show a pic?


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## John_D (Jan 24, 2002)

little bird said:


> Were they talking about the plain old fashioned flea as we know it from our dogs & cats or a different species? Did they show a pic?


To be honest, I didn't have time to look too far before going to work. It may well be that there is a bird mite which is 'scientifically' part of the flea family (?). I'll have a good look later.

John


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## John_D (Jan 24, 2002)

http://priory.com/vet/vetflea1.htm

http://www.the-piedpiper.co.uk/th5d.htm

or Google on Pigeon Flea

John


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## little bird (Aug 11, 2006)

3000 different species...........learn more every day of our lives. They thrive on blood, but it didn't say that common dog & cat fleas would seek a pigeon for a meal and I think it extremely unlikely that Hilly need to worry that her dogs would share their uninvited boarders with her pigeons.


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## John_D (Jan 24, 2002)

I think you are probably right Nona. I believe the difference in blood temperature could affect how they would cross species of host, too.

If only 5% affect birds anyway, I imagine it would be quite uncommon to find them on more than a very few birds.

John


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## spirit wings (Mar 29, 2008)

there is a new product out now called vectra 3d it is in the line of topicals put on your dog or cat once a month, say bye bye to fleas. you can get it at your vet...and if you can't afford a 6 months supply ask for a one month application and go by the vet once a month to have them apply it. these products are so good at getting rid of fleas as I have seen a big change since I began Grooming 20 years ago...back then all cats and dogs had fleas but now I only see them once in a while...frontline and advantage still work well on my pets still also. the birds may get bit if they a desperate but I don't think they would like the bird as a host, unlike a dog or kitty.


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## little bird (Aug 11, 2006)

spirit wings said:


> there is a new product out now called vectra 3d it is in the line of topicals put on your dog or cat once a month, say bye bye to fleas. you can get it at your vet...and if you can't afford a 6 months supply ask for a one month application and go by the vet once a month to have them apply it. these products are so good at getting rid of fleas as I have seen a big change since I began Grooming 20 years ago...back then all cats and dogs had fleas but now I only see them once in a while...frontline and advantage still work well on my pets still also. the birds may get bit if they a desperate but I don't think they would like the bird as a host, unlike a dog or kitty.


Is VECTRA 3RD safe for collies & persians???


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## spirit wings (Mar 29, 2008)

little bird said:


> Is VECTRA 3RD safe for collies & persians???


oh yes, this is a product you get at the vet, and the application is easier than the front line and advantage, they made the tube easy to apply. good product.


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## Hillybean (Oct 30, 2005)

Thank you all for the replies.

I was hoping and thinking they couldn't, but just wanted to double check. 

Vectra 3rd....hhhmmm...I'll have to look into that. Thank you so much for bringing it up .

-Hilly


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## little bird (Aug 11, 2006)

Hillybean....that stuff is VECTRA 3D, and I googled it. It is a very new product and not too much feedback on its' use yet. On one blog a man used it on two greyhounds and both became ill. The warning from the company says to NOT use on cats and not on any dog that a cat may groom, it is very dangerous to cats.
Personally I would not use it until further feedback is known....and it is 1/3 permethrin listed in the active ingrediants.
Another flag to me is the warning that if you notice a rash or irritation to the skin, you should immediately bathe your dog with shampoo and water!! ......yet they claim the product is good for at least 30 days and is not affected by BATHING OR SWIMMING.
My advice....stick to the safe flea killers......pyrethins. Take it from an old dog groomer ....the dog has fleas...BATHE it.....lather up any dog shampoo and let the dog sit lathered up for 20 minutes and you will kill the fleas on him, if the infestation is bad, use a pyrethin shampoo but the main killing factor is the 20 minutes drowning the fleas.


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## Teresa (Jul 10, 2005)

Wow, incredibly useful info here, for my other pets.
I always use Advantage for the cats and Advantix for the dog. I was starting to wonder if Vectra 30 might be better, but now I'll stick with these.
Frontline doesn't work at all in Portugal, not even for a week, and I don't know if that is because of the actual species of flea, the weather, or whether, considering that it was, until recently, the market leader, the fleas have developed an immunity to it.

"3000 different species of fleas" -- eek, that's 3000 too many, but nothing freaks me out as much as pigeon flies! They get top rating on 'truly disgusting'!


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## little bird (Aug 11, 2006)

Yup...pigeon flies are the WORST. A bite from one of them is ten times itchier than a flea or skeeter.


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## Zenmont (Oct 17, 2006)

When I asked about getting rid of flat flies and lice, my Avian Vet advised me to use "Zodiac Flea and Tick Powder for Cats and Dogs" on the pigeons. I've done it a few times and the lice are all gone the day after the dusting. This powder would also handle the flea issue if it is, in fact, a problem at all for birds.

Also, in response to flea products being okay on dogs, but not on smaller animals: There was a huge story several years ago on 60 Minutes or 20/20 about a flea product (think it was by Hartz) that was killing cats. Dogs were okay, but smaller animals like cats were affected. The reason was that these flea products kill fleas by destroying their nervous system. Unfortunately it also destroyed the cat's. The product was recalled, but some stores were still selling it. I actually got into a huge argument with the manager of a drug store after he insisted that his main office (who he called while I stood there) had not heard anything negative and couldn't take it off the shelf just cause I saw a TV show about it. So when he wasn't looking I took the rest of the products off the shelf and hid it behind some other items way out of sight.


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## feralpigeon (Feb 14, 2005)

This topic of pigeons and fleas comes up from time to time....I believe the flea that pigeons get is called the 'stick-tight' flea. 

http://cache.search.yahoo.net/searc...ght+flea+pigeon&d=RmMm3i72RLOv&icp=1&.intl=us

http://www.nhm.ac.uk/research-curat...ribution/database/Flea.do?listoption=flealist

From this article at VetInfo Digest;

http://www.vetinfo.com/subscriber/0101digest.html

This quote:

"Echidnophaga gallinacea, which is also referred to as the "stick-tight flea" and associated with poultry, will infest dogs, cats and humans, if it needs to in order to survive." 

And this quote:

"The next most common flea is Pulex irritans, or the "human flea", which is found mostly in tropical and subtropical climates. In the United States, Pulex irritans is the most common flea found on pets in the deep South, where it nearly displaces the cat flea in many areas."

If your dog seems paranoid....maybe there's good reason

This a a cute article on the evolution and extinction of parasites:

http://cache.search.yahoo.net/searc...fleas+tapeworms&d=MlnNKS72Q-Id&icp=1&.intl=us

Appararently, the Passenger Pigeon's extinction also was thought to cause the demise of two particular feather lice which lived on the Passenger Pigeon. From the above link:

"Unlike most stories of extinction, this story does, however, have a happy-ending for louse fans. Two years ago, Roger Price, Dale Clayton and colleagues at the University of Nevada decided to study the two known species of passenger pigeon lice. Based on careful analysis of the original specimens and more lice that they collected off dead passenger pigeons, Price and colleagues concluded that Colombicola extinctus lives on
happily (to the extent that a louse can be happy) on another species of pigeon. Unlike many bird lice, C. extinctus was not restricted to a single species of bird (maybe it knows how to hitchhike on flies). As is usually the case with extinct insects that are rediscovered, there was no celebration, no big news story. The passenger pigeon louse was quietly reborn under the name Colombicola columbae and continues to ride the Band-Tailed pigeon across North American skies."

fp


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## spirit wings (Mar 29, 2008)

little bird said:


> Hillybean....that stuff is VECTRA 3D, and I googled it. It is a very new product and not too much feedback on its' use yet. On one blog a man used it on two greyhounds and both became ill. The warning from the company says to NOT use on cats and not on any dog that a cat may groom, it is very dangerous to cats.
> Personally I would not use it until further feedback is known....and it is 1/3 permethrin listed in the active ingrediants.
> Another flag to me is the warning that if you notice a rash or irritation to the skin, you should immediately bathe your dog with shampoo and water!! ......yet they claim the product is good for at least 30 days and is not affected by BATHING OR SWIMMING.
> My advice....stick to the safe flea killers......pyrethins. Take it from an old dog groomer ....the dog has fleas...BATHE it.....lather up any dog shampoo and let the dog sit lathered up for 20 minutes and you will kill the fleas on him, if the infestation is bad, use a pyrethin shampoo but the main killing factor is the 20 minutes drowning the fleas.




there IS a vectra just for cats......and one for dogs... they say to bath with dish soap or a non puppy shampoo to strip it off if they get irritated by it. I work at a vet and see hundreds of sick dogs come through here and not one has been sick from vectra....this will keep the fleas from breeding . control of the adult flea, flea eggs, flea larvae and flea pupae.....it is just like anything else.. you give your kid an antibiotic and you don't know if they will have a reaction to it or not, very few may....most don't....tape worm will be present if fleas are around as they carry them, so, get rid of the fleas on the pet and in it's enviroment! these are safe products for the majority of pets.


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## Hillybean (Oct 30, 2005)

Thank you everyone for the replies. There was a ton of helpful information.

Taking the dogs, cats, and ferrets in for flea stuff is mainly a preventive. The pets are taken 3 times a year, more if needed for check up and treatments. I was just wondering if something similar had to be done for the birds since they are indoors, and my Chihuahua (Kendra) is sometimes around them.

Thank You All,
Hilly


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