another point for the arson file

[the_siobhan]

Something is chewing the hell out of me and it's driving me bonkers.

The cats have been dosed with the flea poison. They are not scratching. Axel - who sleeps with at least one cat on them every night and has at least one cat crashed out in their bedding all day - is not scratching. Meanwhile I'm being eaten alive.

Of course the big worry is that it's bedbugs - Toronto has a pretty bad infestation. But I've lived in places with bedbugs when I was young and broke and I know what their bites and dirt look like - also they have a very strong and distinctive smell and I have been sniffing around a lot in the past couple of weeks, so I'm 99% sure it's not bedbugs.

Axel thinks it's the ants, but ant bites don't itch. They just hurt. I don't think it can be an allergic reaction because it's individual welts rather than patches of hives.

I have caught exactly one flea during this whole time, and that was while I was sitting on the bus. So maybe I'm picking them up on the bus and bringing them home? Who the fuck knows? More than anything the bites resemble mosquito bites so I even cleaned out under the bathroom sink yesterday looking for standing water where I might be breeding them.

I washed all my bedding again yesterday and sprayed down my mattress. And put the one tattered white sheet I have left over from University days on the bed in the hopes of catching whatever in the act. Cause this is genuinely making me nuts.

Comments

[chasing_silver]

I had this happen to me, and it turned out to be roaches (UGHHHHH). Most older Toronto homes have a few. Have you seen any of those fuckers?

[the_siobhan]

Wait, roaches bite?

I haven't - and we've been moving boxes and furniture around a lot, so I think if we had them in the house I'd see at least the occasional one.

[chasing_silver]

They can, yes. I found this out unpleasantly. Ugh. I hope you find the culprit!

[ysilme]

Oh darn, that sucks! *sympathies*
Just in case, have you combed out the cat's fur with a fine flea comb? Whenever we had fleas husband was never bitten, just me, and one time we really only found out from religiously combing their fur and finding flea poo. I also don't know about Canada, but here in Germany you hear reports of the flea poison no longer working because the regular fleas hereabouts got resistant. Also, could be other kinds of fleas you might indeed be picking up on the bus.
Ant bites can itch if you're allergic, what I am. Also, allergic reaction can show just as a welt and not an area of hives if it's mild - also something I know from experience. It's rare, though, admittedly; only one kind of ant I ever encountered - and not in Germany, but in Sweden - caused that reaction for me.
We also have "sticky traps" you can put on the floor, meant to catch certain kinds of bugs, but they're also good to find out what might be on the loose around your bed or so. I don't know if you have something similar, but if not you can craft some yourself: take a thin piece of white cardboard or strong paper, about 2 inches wide and 6 inches long, and fold into a tent with a base of 2x2 inches. On this base, put double-sided adhesive tape, and place under your bed close to a foot or wherever bugs might climb up, or anyplace else where it seems possible and something might wander along. If the cats won't leave it alone on the floor, fashion a small upside-down cardboard box to go on top with wide sections cut out on the bottom so any bugs won't be prevented from wandering through. (I hope my explanation makes any sense!)
--> I just found this image of a newer kind of trap which might work even better, shape-wise.
I'm keeping my fingers crossed that you'll soon find out; I can relate so well to this driving you crazy! *sympathies*

[the_siobhan]

I've been inspecting their fur and not seeing anything. I will try it with a comb. If it is a case of drug-resistant fleas, I can't figure out why Axel isn't getting bitten at all.

The sticky traps are a really good idea - I'll definitely do that, thank you.

[jo]

Axel maybe be being bitten but if not allergic to the bites, wouldn't react to them? One of my sisters seems to be immune to flea bites, whereas, growing up, the way we knew our cat had fleas was because I'd be scratching like mad.

[the_siobhan]

Possible. I would think the cats would be scratching though.

[dark_phoenix54]

Huh. I've had ant bites from several types of ants, and most of them itch like crazy. But then, everything makes me itch. Hope you catch the culprits.

[the_siobhan]

I guess it's not impossible I've developed an allergy after repeated exposure?

But I would think I would notice ants crawling on me with this kind of frequency.

[elusis]

You likely won't remember this, but I went through a hell of being chewed on for months after I moved to Oakland. Ultimate dx: bird or rat mites, either from an abandoned bird nest on the roof or roof rats. I eventually pressed my building into some exterminator visits and they vanished. MISERABLE beforehand though.

[the_siobhan]

Huh. That looks entirely possible.

Do they leave any dirt or anything behind you can ID like fleas do?

[elusis]

No, there was nothing. An exterminator set up some kind of traps to try to see if it was fleas or bedbugs and IIRC got nothing but the occasional spider. Which is when they surmised that it was likely bird or rat mites - they found evidence of roof rats and bird nests both on our flat roof, and my unit was in the corner of the top floor. So they did some kind of abatement and the bites stopped. But I was covered tits to knees in bites - over 100 at one point.

[the_siobhan]

That might be it. I"m on the top floor.

Ugh. I picked up some of the glue traps that ysilme suggested, so we'll see if I catch anything.

[elusis]

Well, mites are too small to see in a glue trap so if you don't catch anything, it's a good bet. Meanwhile: Lots of hydrocortisone cream, Benadryl at bedtime.

[the_siobhan]

Nothing in the traps this morning, but more bites. So your theory might very well be the winner.

[houseof9cats]

There's a lotion called Kwellada-P that should kill whatever the hell it is. I got it by prescription once for what the doctor thought was scabies, but I think it was actually bedbugs. In any event, they bite you, they die. It worked.

[the_siobhan]

Oh God, scabies. I hadn't even thought of that.

[greylock]

Everyone has suggested everything I may have, but, have you tried putting your sheets (washed in boiling water), in the freezer?

Roaches and ants don't make sense to me. But, different hemisphere.