fleas, fleas and more fleas....

Pooky

Personally I wouldn't go for a collar - found a cat in the garden in a right state once, he'd come through a bush and the collar had got caught - he was thrashing about and really hurting himself. My big huge lazy cat had a collar when he was younger - for all of about 2 weeks, then he came home one day with it trapped around his mouth, he'd obviously got it caught on something and not been able to free himself completely. Again he was in a right state and took 3 of us to hold him down while I cut him free......

I've been using the "spot on" treatments for the past 2 years and hoover daily....not seen a flea since.

squeaky

sooz wrote:

ok, now the cat is showing off. 3 dead mice in the back garden [fleas and mice - don't you just want to come and visit me????]

any suggestions for what to do with dead mice bits? can i compost them?

i draw the line at making mouse stew, though think this is what the cat is hoping for..

Composting of meat is not recommended - see the link below, and leaving them around can encourage rats, so I think the best thing to do is to wrap them well and put them in your bin.


http://www.hdra.org.uk/organicgardening/gh_comp.htm


And be grateful the bits are in your garden. Sally often leaves hers in my bed!

:eek:

Curry_Queen

purplegirluk1 wrote:

Does anyone know or anywhere that I could buy a flea collar that would be suitable for my 9 week old kitten? We bought her with free fleas included and have managed to remove most (thank God!) but I am concerned they might get back on her again. I have hoovered round and sprayed the home flea spray on carpets etc but want to put something on her to stop them returning. Tried a herbal spot on but it did nothing, I had to give her a flea tablet last night to get rid of them, it drove her mad as they started dieing but she appeciated me combing her with the nit comb to remove them. I really don't want to put her through it again so any collar ideas?

You really need to go and see your vet for a suitable treatment as only a few products are suitable for kittens - Advantage can be used from 8 weeks and Frontline from 12 weeks of age. The kitten will also need worming as fleas transmit tapeworm, again your vet will give you the appropriate treatment because of her age.

Anything you can buy in a pet shop or supermarket will be a total waste of money as none of them work effectively, and again are unlikely to be suitable for kittens anyway and you could harm her by using them.

What is this "flea tablet" you mentioned? If it's Programme then it won't actually kill the fleas but it sterilises them so they can't breed anymore and you still need to use a topical product in conjunction with it at first. If it's anything then else then you have wasted your money I'm afraid and I'd be very wary of giving such a young kitten anything not prescribed by your vet.

And as others have said, please don't put a collar on her if she is going to go outside as they can cause horrendous injuries of they get caught up, including having to have front limbs amputated in extreme cases. It's just not worth the risk.

Combing her with a fine tooth comb is an excellent way to keep the fleas off her and is one of the best things you can do for her at the moment, whilst treating the house at the same time (Sorry to say it but again the products from your vet are far more effective in this case too, e.g Acclaim, Staykill.)

moggins

There is one thing that I have found from my local pet shop that really does what it claims though. It's a tablet that only lasts for 24 hours but it's worked wonders in our house where we could never seem to get rid of the ones in the carpet.

You feed it to the cat and then it wanders around the house and kills off the fleas wherever it normally sleeps too. You can even give it again the next day or even a few days later stopping the egg laying cycle. It's not cheap but is cheaper than the vet and really seems to work. I think it's made by Johnson. We used to suffer from fleas every year as we have the city farm behind us too and loads of hedgehogs and foxes nearby but this year it's been a rarity to be bitten which is lovely

Curry_Queen

I don't suppose you have a packet handy to list the active ingredients in it do you moggins? I'm very intrigued to know what they are and how they work :think:

I'm also a bit concerned about giving an ingestible product to a cat that has the ability to kill off fleas in the surrounding area :eek:


Btw, the fleas on hedgehogs and foxes are different species to cat fleas, although it doesn't stop the odd one jumping on for a bite, and could be transmitted into your home that way

moggins

I don't have the packet any more CQ as we gave the last one to the cat a couple of weeks ago when DD got bitten after the cat sleeping on her bed. I've been using them for about a year now and they don't seem to have done any harm to my two. They can't be much worse than frontline though as that is absorbed through the skin and also kills the fleas by poisoning them. To be honest, we were so fed up with the situation and had tried nearly everything else, including everything from the vet that it was coming close to having to get rid of the cats My little girl was getting bitten from head to foot (they seem to like her) I just couldn't see her suffer like that any more because of our pets.

emma_b_4

havent time to read the whole post but we had fleas bad stylee a year ago, didnt even have a cat he had died and fleas appeared 3weeks later think sum1 walked them in to be honest and they just loved me covered in bites, fles used to drop off me in the bath god it was awful

tried the staykil spray (3tins) and still had them
empty your dyson every time you hoover
only way we got rid was when council came round it took then twice..was £40 and i wish i had known sooner as we spent a small forune on the bombs and sprays
now have a new cat just use the drops from time to time but havent had a problem yet..TOUCH WOOD

Curry_Queen

The difference with Frontline is that it doesn't actually enter the cat's circulatory, neurological or digestive systms and remains at a subcutaneous level. The fleas don't actually have to even bite the cat in order to be killed and are killed on contact with the fur if using the spray rather than the "spot-on" type.

The tablets you're describing will pass through the digestive system, as well as liver and kidneys, and obviously contain some sort of toxic chemicals to be able to kill fleas in the surrounding area! This must be something relatively new to the market as I've never come across them so I'm going to do a bit of digging about and see what I can find out

The problem is that because the use of Frontline has been so widespread for a number of years now fleas are building a tolerance and animals need to be treated more frequently, as often as 4 weekly when there is a heavy infestation. It's a good idea to rotate products year on year to help with this.

The reason so many people are now having flea problems is due to putting the central heating on and all those flea eggs that have lain dormant in carpets and soft furnishings for months are now starting to hatch.

I know a lot of people complain about vets prices, and they can vary enormously in different areas, but we have a member on MSE who can supply veterinary products at very good prices, on production of a prescription from your vet. And, from next Monday 31st October your vet is no longer allowed to charge you for writing out a prescription so there are big savings to be made on veterinary treatments if you shop around

Here's the advice from Andrea ...

MSE_Andrea wrote:

Just to let you know Sam_26 has asked for permission to post in the past and Martin has agreed as his pharmacy can often be quite competitive. Obviously do still check to see if you can get a better deal elsewhere before going to him.

Andrea

Curry_Queen

I think it might help some people if they have some understanding of the life cycle of fleas so they can break the cycle and use treatments effectively.

The typical life-cycle of a flea (C.felis) is a follows :

• A female flea lays hundreds of eggs on or off the host, but fall off into the environment - usually where the animal normally sleeps.
• A maggot-like larva hatches from each flea egg - usually less than 10 days after the egg has been laid
• The larvae move away from light and downwards in response to gravity - into a protected area of the environment which is often in a warm location such as near to radiators, in carpet pile, into cracks in wood etc
• The larva moults twice to form a 3rd stage larva, which then forms a cocoon and pupates
• The adult flea emerges after a period of 5-140 days depending upon environmental conditions which ideally are warm and damp.
• Often numerous adult fleas emerge at the same time - leading to a sudden outbreak of fleas
• Female fleas start laying eggs within 5 days of eating her first blood meal

This whole life-cycle usually only takes 3-4 weeks to complete and, in favourable conditions over a period of 60 days, one female can lead to the production of over 20,000 adults !!

Because of the requirement for warm, damp environmental conditions flea outbreaks in cooler climates are often seasonal. In the UK for example the "flea season" often starts in August and peaks through the autumn period. Adult fleas can survive for 12 months without feeding in the absence of an animal host to feed on.

Modern treatment regimens against fleas are designed to break the life-cycle as well as to kill individual fleas.

moggins

I've never had a prescription from my vet, he just sells me the darn stuff