CAT FLEAS - merged

Kimberley

Ika

My friends cat got killed by a car the other day. At night especially cats are more on the go. The reason i'd never let a cat out is because they are not only a danger to themselves but a danger to other people if a car hits them, it could cause a crash. If you love your cat it's not worth the risk. Here is a pic of the cat run i'm building. It's a picture of someone who has just built it for her two Bengal cats. They love it and spend all day out there. She will be extending it when the cats are bigger, so you see there are ways to let your indoor cat have fresh air. Also I'm going to be training my kitten on a harness and lead so that he can still have a walk around my garden and feel the grass and chase butterflies etc.

Here is a pic of the enclosure and a picture of my friends two Bengals on a harness in the garden.

lady_stardust

Leela the cat likes hanging round with hedgehogs, other cats, dogs and even foxes so inevitably she has brought home fleas. I wish we had noticed before we were soft on her and let her sleep on our bed for a couple of nights. I have put the bedlinen in on a boil wash to kill the little sods, but can't get to the launderette to wash the duvet. Do you think putting the duvet in the tumble drier for a bit might work?

Big vacuum coming up when we get home too...

hamzramz

Thanks for the replies. We used to let our previous cat out most of the time, but it still meant fleas!

suki1964

Nope - you need to wash it - and then spray the whole house with Indorex and also frontline the cat.

Dont forget to empty the hoover bag as well

katie1

Has anyone used Stronghold flea treatment for there cat? I took my kitten 19 weeks old to vets today cos she has fleas , the vet gave me Stronghold treatment i've never heard of this , does it work ? how long does it take to get rid of the fleas anyone know ?

Also she gave me a worming table for Tilley (my Kitten ) told me to give her half now then half in 2 weeks :rotfl: who is she kidding Tilley will not take it o way no how tried all sorts .

mariauk

Hi Katie

Stronghold is a very well known brand and seems to fight the fleas a lot better than Frontline, which doesn`t seem to work as well as it used to

HTH

Maria

katie1

oh thank you , i was worrying i'd got a not so good brand .

moomin5

lka200 wrote: »

IMO unless there is a very good reason for keeping a cat indoors eg..because of a health issue/deafness/blindness etc it is cruel as cats are outdoor animals. They need to express their natural behaviour and they cant do that shut up indoors. Keeping a cat indoors just because you dont want fleas is IMO not good. If you have animals then you have to buy the necessary products to keep fleas in check and the good effective ones are not cheap.
Flea prevention is an essential part of a cats requirements.

In countries like America its often advised to keep cats indoors becuase of the various predators that will happilly eat them if there wandering about outside. I presume if they have not known any other way, then they will be happy with an indoor lifestyle.

Frontline works well for fleas, our dogs have never had any. I'm not sure if its the same for cats but dogs can get worms from fleas.

moggylover

My personal preference is for Stronghold, which also keeps ears clear of ear mites.

I do think it is "nice" for cats to go out but I have 6 indoor cats and 4 who have to be kept in a cattery as they were inherited and my own cats will not accept them - as well as 4 who do roam: mostly this is because of the road we live on and the fact that my neighbours would probably hate me if I had that many cats on the loose.

My indoor cats are perfectly happy - and very contented. Even the two who had spent all of their lives excluded from the house before their owner died! They think that they too have died and gone to cat heaven - a clean warm bed - no fleas, plates of dinner served by a waitress twice a day - window sills to curl up on - and if the door is left open they turn tail and clear off to the bathroom, which is the first room they were put in when brought home, and look at me as if to say "ah, please no - we like it in here!"

Under NO circumstances AT ALL do I approve of cats allowed out all night, and mine are fed late evening so that I can get the 4 in and out cats to come in and settle for the night.

Having worked on and off as a volunteer in animal rescue since I was about 16 - the vast majority of cats injured on roads are night-time victims when they misjudge the vehicles approach or freeze in the lights.

As an answer to your question - my mums cats never went out cos she lived on a main road - and she never got a flea problem in all the years she had them - so it does work - should probably not be the ONLY reason for keeping them in though.

However, keeping them in - as opposed to having them shot with an air-gun like another MSE posters cat was the other evening - then I suspect the cat would vote for staying in!!

lka200

Kimberley wrote: »

Ika

My friends cat got killed by a car the other day. At night especially cats are more on the go. The reason i'd never let a cat out is because they are not only a danger to themselves but a danger to other people if a car hits them, it could cause a crash. If you love your cat it's not worth the risk. Here is a pic of the cat run i'm building. It's a picture of someone who has just built it for her two Bengal cats. They love it and spend all day out there. She will be extending it when the cats are bigger, so you see there are ways to let your indoor cat have fresh air. Also I'm going to be training my kitten on a harness and lead so that he can still have a walk around my garden and feel the grass and chase butterflies etc.

Here is a pic of the enclosure and a picture of my friends two Bengals on a harness in the garden.

Kimberley those cats are gorgeous and i can see why they cannot be allowed to roam. I have 2 cats they are both 15 years old and i have had them from kittens. They are in great health and are still going strong. I dont go to bed until theyare both in at nighttime..i have always got them in a night as this is when they get up to mischief. I am lucky that i live in the countryside and dont have a main road anywhere near my house so i feel my cats are safe from being caught up in a RTA. my two who i did unfortunately lose in traffic accidents was when i lived on a one way street in town about 12 years ago.
I suppose its personal choice as to how different people want to bring up their pets its not set in stone but if i had 2 cats like yours i wouldnt let them out unsupervised..ps the cat enclosure is great but if you are going to have one of those wouldnt you like it to be a bit bigger for your 2?