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Vikane and cat toys
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notarobot
newbite
Joined: Jul '12
Posts: 4offline
Posted 10 months ago
Thu Jul 5 2012 0:43:19
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Hi, everyone. My apartment building is infested (for the second time in 10 months) with bed bugs. The pest company will be tenting the building and fumigating for several days with Vikane.
Last time this happened, my unit was not affected. I took all of my cat toys with me and just ran them through the dryer for an hour to be safe, rather than leaving them in the apartment.
This time, however, my unit is pretty badly infested (as in I've had probably between 30 and 40 bites, and both of my cats have been bitten). I don't want to take anything with me beyond my food/cat food and medications, enough clothing to last me the five days of the treatment, and the cats themselves, and I'm taking precautions not to take bugs with us, and to definitely not bring them back again.
My question: Is it safe for me to leave my cat's toys behind to be treated? These are toys that they chew on frequently.
The exterminator says Vikane is safe and does not leave a residue, but he also told us at a meeting this week that bed bugs do not bite cats or dogs, which I know is untrue. And the pamphlets we received about the fumigation procedure told us to remove anything that is ingested from the building before fumigation.
Should I leave the toys behind, or go the dryer route again? Or just throw the majority of them away?
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notarobot
newbite
Joined: Jul '12
Posts: 4offline
Posted 10 months ago
Fri Jul 6 2012 6:30:35
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Update: While I was picking a couple of my cats' favorite toys to go with them, I found a bedbug in one of their food balls in their toybox. So I will be throwing the whole box out post-Vikane whether it's safe for them to keep or not; I can get them new toys. Their couple of favorites I've washed and dried, and will wash and dry again before moving back in.
So this isn't really urgent anymore, but I am curious about the answer.
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rAVENSFAN99
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Joined: Nov '10
Posts: 271offline
Posted 10 months ago
Fri Jul 6 2012 13:38:40
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I had my cat's bed Vikaned in a truck with some of my other belongings when I moved. He's still alive, so my uneducated guess is that your cats will be fine.
But the hypochondriac in me would just get rid of the toys and buy new ones. It's such a small price to replace most of them.
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