What are these little brown bugs.

Dr. Marie replied:

Hi and thanks for your question.

The most common parasite that you would see on your pets are fleas. Fleas are only 1-2 mm long and crawl or jump on the skin. Often with fleas you can see flea dirt which looks like little black flecks of dandruff.

Another possibility is ticks. Ticks are bigger than fleas - usually around the size of your little finger nail or possibly a little smaller. However, usually to get this many ticks you would have to be living in an area that has a LOT of ticks and I don't believe Edmonton has a tick problem.

Another possibility is chiggers. These look like little tiny ticks.

Lice are possible as well, although not that common.

It would be a great idea to use a flea and tick product such as Frontline or Revolution. Some parasites like lice can be killed with over the counter flea products. However, these products don't work well for fleas.

Another great idea would be to collect one of the bugs and drop by your vet's office to ask them what it is.

Hope all goes well!

Dr. Marie.

---This question was asked in our Ask A Vet For Free section.---


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