Tips for my cat? 6 May 2005 at 10:00AM in Pets & Pet Care 80 replies 8K views

catznine

Just walked down my garden and found another corpse to bury (poor thing) it is definately the downside of having cats! But you can't fight instinct!

BatCat

Hi,
I don't think this has been mentioned yet, but often it is cheaper to buy Frontline from the Continent (where it is much much cheaper). My friends and I club together to save postage and order from this site:
http://www.beautycenter.co.uk/liste_articles.php?id_rayon=794
this one is also very good
http://www.zubialcompany.com/zubial/laboutique/frontline.html
as the Frontline here is much cheaper than what they're selling to us in Northern Ireland.
Don't buy flea killer from supermarkets (especially the spot ons) as they are utterly useless and your cat and you will just suffer.
Cheers,
BatCat

Jay-Jay_4

Those of you with cornflake cats....(cereal killers ) have you put bells on their collars. It cut wildlife deaths down to around 10% when I installed big ben replicas on my two.

Curry_Queen

i don't know how much you're paying in NI but I've just looked at those two sites and they're actually more expensive than the vets here! Don't forget to add P&P which is rather expensive

spendaholic

Jay-Jay wrote:

Those of you with cornflake cats....(cereal killers ) have you put bells on their collars. It cut wildlife deaths down to around 10% when I installed big ben replicas on my two.

My Tinker(belle Dingle) has 5 bells on her collar. We save them every time she gets a new collar. She's chipped so my husband doesn't see the need to put her out with a collar on and worries that she'll get it caught somewhere and hang. Then he pulls her collar off over her head - I rest my case.

Yesterday something rather amazing happened. A huge, great tortoiseshell cat crept along the fence at the bottom of our garden and got attacked by a blackbird. I've seen magpies attack cats but never a blackbird. So I deduced that Mr Black has a family in one of our trees. Yet Tinker is never attacked by the birds. While this was going on she was in the middle of the path in the middle of the garden pressed flat to the slabs (what a hero), and when she wandered up to the fence to have a sniff after the now chased off Tortoise, Mr Black left her alone.

Does she no longer pose a threat? Do they recognise her?

And sorry, mods/guides, I went a bit off topic there and chattered again. :silenced:

Cat72

Hi

Just came across this board and was wondering if anyone could help me ! I have three cats. One of them has bite/ lump / scabs marks on the skin and has had it a good while now. Took her to the vet who said it was fleas and gave me drops for her and the other one ( never had the third then). I have never seen fleas on her, and examined her fur very carefully, and never seen any eggs or traces. The drops made no differance and the vet was no help ! As she is the only cat with these lumps ( and no other signs of fleas or the dreaded worms ). I am totally sceptical that this is what is wrong. I think it could be an allergy to maybe some pesticides etc ? Maybe I am wrong but the vet charged me £ 40 ( for 2 cats ) the last time and even although I protested she had no other signs of fleas and could he not check for something else. Could I be totally wrong ? Would I not notice eggs, worms etc. The cat does not seem at all bothered by it all, but obviously I am concerned as this has been a few months.

spendaholic

My dog used to get these lumps and scabs and the vet said it was because he was allergic to the cat's fleas (as dogs rarely have them, apparently). If one of your cats is allergic to the saliva in the fleas, s/he will react like this. But there's nothing stopping you getting a second opinion. If your cat already has sensitive skin, s/he will also be allergic to the drops.

Jay-Jay_4

If your cat has fleas you wil be able to see tiny specks of flea poo on their skin. The poo looks like a teeny-tiny comma and will be black. If you get a couple of these specks and put them on a piece of wet kitchen roll they will dissolve leaving a red mark. This is because flea dirt is blood.

You may not see the fleas but the dirt will be evident on the cats skin and probably anywhere that the cat likes to sleep.

It does sound like a flea allergy to me

Curry_Queen

The cat doesn't have to show signs of fleas to suffer bite-allergy as it could just be a passing flea that's hopped on for lunch and hopped off again, and this is enough to trigger itching/biting/fur pulling.

Paul_Varjak

spendaholic wrote:

I've rescued birds from the inside of my cat's mouth! :eek:

Yes, it is quite easy - just pick up the cat by the scruff of the neck and they cannot help but drop it - the bird then often flies away!

Remember, that is is how 'mum' picks up her kittens - and she doesn't want them 'squirming' when she does it!