Allotment Gardening Advice Help Chat
Poultry and Pets => Pets without Feathers => Topic started by: Goosegirl on August 04, 2013, 11:24
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One of our four cats started scratching badly and eventually lost most of her backside fur. The vet said it was probably a flea allergy so we re-did them all with Frontline spot-on and again after a month as advised, and gave all the carpets and sofas a good hoovering. It seemed to work and new fur grew, but after two months, she is really scratching again. After another dose of Frontline about ten days ago, she is no better. As we live in an isolated farm land area, I wondered if she had ticks, but Frontline should have controlled that as well. Should we go for Frontline Combo as it treats the house,or is there a better product out there, as I have just read that fleas are becoming immune to the treatment. All treatments were supplied by the vet so aren't more dilute cheap versions.
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Hi Goosegirl, yes, fleas are becoming immune to Frontline.
I use Advocate on my kitties. I works really well, doesn't smell horrible and also treats them for most worms (tou will still need to treat them for tapeworm).
It is quite expensive, but I find that if I get a 6 month vets prescription for one of my cats and buy it online, it is about half the price of buying it from the vets and will treat both of them for the year (I don't like using chemicals on them and they seem less prone to fleas during the cooler months). :)
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The Frontline is probably working, but in this weather there are just so many out there to re-infest and they take 24 hrs to die :(
You can use a spray indoors, but that doesn't really help when they're outside do much.
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Thanks Auntiemogs - quick answer! Just looked it up and good that it also treats roundworm. Didn't know that I can get prescriptions from my vet then buy online. So I need a prescription for 6 months worth for one cat, then buy online at half the price i.e. two for the price of one. I will have to double that for my 4 cats then. Where is the best place online (not just price) to go? My little Daphne tortie is "itching" to find out!! :lol: ::)
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Oops, sorry Goosegirl, prescription may have been enough for a year for one cat but I'm not really sure tbh... ::) I think my vet charges about £11-12 for a prescription but once you've sent it with the online company, you don't have to but a whole year's worth at once.
I think I may have used VetUK or PetMeds but I'm not sure which. I usually look for offers first. Worming pills are much cheaper too (not prescription). :)
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Again - thanks AM! Next week, I will go to the vets and ask for a prescription for Advocate, then look up the two websites you mentioned. How do you go about buying it online when it is prescription only? Presume you have to download details, but if I have trouble, can I come back to you?
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You order what you want and pay for it and then you can either post, fax or email a copy of the prescription. Once they receive it, they post your order. If you haven't ordered in full, you can go back later and fill the rest of the order.
Course you can contact me hun. :)
It's a shame more people don't know about it. My parents and I have saved a small fortune over the years by buying online as it is often half the price of buying from the vets. Some good offers on pusskin food too. :)
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You order what you want and pay for it and then you can either post, fax or email a copy of the prescription. Once they receive it, they post your order. If you haven't ordered in full, you can go back later and fill the rest of the order.
Course you can contact me hun. :)
It's a shame more people don't know about it. My parents and I have saved a small fortune over the years by buying online as it is often half the price of buying from the vets. Some good offers on pusskin food too. :)
Thanks yet again. Does the online product contain the same amount of active ingredients; if so, am going for it. As for cat food, have you ever tried Dreamies cat treats? Ours all go bananas after it so only get them as an occasional treat; though 25th December is a big day for them all! :happy: :happy:
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I think it's the same as the one at the vets. :)
Mine aren't keen on Dreamies for some reason but love the 'natures:menu' sweeties (they smell terrible! :wacko:). Their fave foods though are tuna (Sundays) and prawns (if I want to actually get to eat any I have to buy a large bag and share :lol:).
Millie is also a really good mouser and the vet always comments on how lovely and clean her teeth are (apparently their little bones act a a king of toothbrush). Not sure about Izzy though, I think he prefers his food in biscuit form. ::)
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Lucycat doesn't like dreamies but my daughter's cat goes mad for them when you rustle the bag :lol:
Quick as a flash and she's there - she's not yet gone through the wall, though :nowink:
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Lucycat doesn't like dreamies but my daughter's cat goes mad for them when you rustle the bag :lol:
Quick as a flash and she's there - she's not yet gone through the wall, though :nowink:
Ah yes, mine can hear 'the rustle' from miles away Mum (or it seems like it anyway)!
Unfortunately, they also associate the sound of a tin being opened with 'tuna time' and more than once I've given in after sad faces when it turns out to be a tin of tomatoes. :lol:
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You big softie :lol:
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You big softie :lol:
I really miss eating tuna... :( :lol:
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It has been a terrible year here in Spain for ticks, the refuge dogs have been badly infected. Even our dogs at home have had ticks, we have treated them. This has to be one of the worst years ever >:(
Pamela
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I found that Frontline had stopped working, so switched to Advantage.
Advantage does not treat ticks though.
A relative had a cat treated by the Harmsworth, the fleas he inherited from there, were mega-resistant. The Advantage, wiped them out, hence the switch.
Dreamies are an OK, 2nd place, in my household, But Felix "Goody Bags", are the No. 1 here. :D
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Dreamies are an OK, 2nd place, in my household, But Felix "Goody Bags", are the No. 1 here. :D
Added to the shopping list to see if miss fussyboots (aka Lucy) will like them :D
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Dreamies are an OK, 2nd place, in my household, But Felix "Goody Bags", are the No. 1 here. :D
Added to the shopping list to see if miss fussyboots (aka Lucy) will like them :D
Our Molly is not a treat cat, but even she eats the "Goody Bag" treats.
Molly's life is, eat, sleep, eat more, sleep more & on the odd occasion play, followed by topping up the old tummy ! :ohmy:
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That sounds a very familiar lifeplan - for Lucy, not me :lol:
Interspersed with her meowing at the top of her voice "where are you mum?"
"mmmmmuuuuuummmm - where are you?"
"oh! there you are"
Jumping on my lap and putting her claws in, having a cuddle or a good stroking session (her decision which is allowed ::) ) then jumping off and heading back to her cat bed :lol:
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Advantage is good in that you do not need a vets prescription anymore. It comes in 2 sizes I believe so you need to roughly know the weight of your cat, if they are 4kg or less there is a smaller dose. Not tried it yet but my neighbour has just used it and I have not found fleas on her cats since. It does not help with ticks or worms as far as I know but ticks aren't much of a problem for me and I use drontal for worms anyway.
My friend has several cats and has used advantage and advocate and says they both work well.
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Has anyone used Stronghold for flea infection ?
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My girl Mathilda got out the other evening (we suddenly noticed her outside the kitchen window having closed it!!) and she came in with fleas (dirty dirty girl!! :lol: :lol: :lol:).
Dunno where she got them from but she hasn't had them for over 10 years!!
Frontlined her and Ollie (her brother) but left the baby kittens as fleas would be well obvious on their short fur and we've seen nothing yet (on Moo -Mathilda - it was obvious and over her eye and jumped away!! :ohmy: )
So Frontline still works for me but I haven't routinely done the cats for years as they are indoor mogs 98% of the time.
This 'Advocate' stuff sounds good - my 2 older mogs hate Frontline - they object like it burns!!
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So it's Advocate versus Advantage then. I will doodle them and compare what they do. My little tortie Daphne (a.k.a. MY FRIEND) is noticeably losing hair again and scratching, so I need to get this sorted for her. She's obviously got a flea or whatever allergy, as the 3 other cats are ok apart from having the occasional surviving flea.
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Scratching with fur loss sounds like a flea allergy.
Dry, rough, scabby skin is common too in more advanced stages of the allergy.
I too have seen cat's, react funnily to Frontline, like it burns/irritates. Vet thought it was a reaction of feeling cold on the skin.
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Scratching with fur loss sounds like a flea allergy.
Dry, rough, scabby skin is common too in more advanced stages of the allergy.
I too have seen cat's, react funnily to Frontline, like it burns/irritates. Vet thought it was a reaction of feeling cold on the skin.
This is what it does to mine.
They're fine after but grumpy! ::)
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Scratching with fur loss sounds like a flea allergy.
Dry, rough, scabby skin is common too in more advanced stages of the allergy.
I too have seen cat's, react funnily to Frontline, like it burns/irritates. Vet thought it was a reaction of feeling cold on the skin.
Am now going to get my precious Daphne to the vets asap because I instinctively felt she was experiencing this burning/irritation effect from Frontline as well as from her flea infection, and feel she definitely has an allergy, not just to fleas but Frontline Combo as well. My tortie Daphne is the most loving, trustful, and fur-snuggleable rescue cat you could ever wish to know, but tablets of any sort are definitely not an option unless you want to lose most of your epidermis.
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Just had Daphne to the vets and asked in-depth questions re- the different flea treatments and their efficacy. It seems to be "you pays your money and you takes your choice" as every cat and situation is different. She had an injection to make her more comfortable and, because Frontline Combo treats the house as well, went for it for now. We do have a chocolate-coloured tom that visits from goodness-knows-where and have only seen him twice -once in our utility room where he soon fled through the cat-flap and recently in our flower garden when I saw him in all his glory. As to our other three cats, Amber has a nest in a field near us so we hardly see her and can't catch her to give her flea treatment; the other two have had theirs, one of whom is starting to scratch again, so flea stuff tomorrow is on the cards for them. I will investigate Advantage as it is prescription-free, though money doesn't matter as long as I can get this sorted.
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Just an update on my Daphne. She is soooo much more comfortable today Strange thing is, when I took her to the vets, she was "Whoo-whoo-ing" there and back but, on getting home and letting her out of her carry basket, she never left me alone for the rest of the day despite her experience. She is sitting by me as I type and "bearing a grudge" isn't in her vocabulary. God - I love her!! :tongue2:
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At last our dogs seem to be free of ticks at home and the refuge. We had visitors last week, the dogs were bringing ticks it the house :ohmy: Having light floor tiles is handy at times! The dogs were banned from the house- luckily they have a big covered area outside where they sleep!!
We have pulled up all the statice flowers, the dogs likes laying amongst them, so hopefully that has deterred the ticks too.
Our cat came home one day with fleas jumoing everywhere off him- our neighbour had seen him playing with a rabbit that had Myxi (?) the neighbour chased off our cat and killed the baby rabbit. Our cats were kept to the garage for 48 hours, to give the tick/flea treatment time to work :lol:
Pamela
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I think I may have to grasp the nettle and give everywhere, including corners and skirting boards, a jolly good hoover as they are still scratting. :ohmy: I think I will take advice on here and get some Advantage from a good website and give it in a month's time when they will all be ready for another dose. It will be interesting to note how it works and will post the results on here. If there is no improvement, I'll try Advocate. They have a separate spot-on wormer called Profender. Just the ticks to deal with - are they just a summer thing?
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I routinely spray my house twice a year as a precautionary measure. I use indorex spray and buy it online as it is cheaper than my local stores. The frontline combo is not going to stop the fleas that were developing in your house before treatment so I would spray anyway.
My neighbour used advantage on her flea ridden cats a few weeks ago and I have not seen any more fleas yet. We use the spot on profender too. It's more expensive than pills but so much easier. I don't seem to have much of a tick problem with my cats but bought myself a tick tool to safely remove them with which works well. I run a flea comb over my cats when I have time too, to check for the little critters and squish them. They are fast movers though so I try and do it outside! It does feel like a constant battle sometimes.
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I must have been really lucky with my cat as she never had a flea in the 17 years we had her. We never used flea treatment and never had to worm her. She only ever had one tick as well. She was a very unsociable cat and would not let any on her territory so that might have been why. ::) :lol:
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Thanks Maxiboo - have Indorex noted down. Where do you use it - edges, corners, upholstery - and do you have to remove the cats when doing it?
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Spray it everywhere :) The directions say spray on pets bedding, directly on and if possible, under rugs and carpets, blankets, tiles, skirting boards, pay particular attention to cracks and crevices. You can't use it in a room with fish in and remove all pets. I wear a mask and work my way through the house, top to bottom, making sure the windows are open for ventilation. Then I usually go outside and do a bit of gardening to give it a chance to air.
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Know of anything to stop kittens peeing where they shouldn't??????????????
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Ooooh! :ohmy: Not a nice thing at all. One thing I know not to do is give their botties a tap or rub their noses in it. Pick the culprit up and put it in the litter tray and scrabble its paws in the litter stuff. Do they use the tray? Perhaps they don't like the litter you're using? Years ago, we acquired an abandoned kitten who would sometimes go under our sideboard despite what we did including putting citrus peel there. :(
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Ooooh! :ohmy: Not a nice thing at all. One thing I know not to do is give their botties a tap or rub their noses in it. Pick the culprit up and put it in the litter tray and scrabble its paws in the litter stuff. Do they use the tray? Perhaps they don't like the litter you're using? Years ago, we acquired an abandoned kitten who would sometimes go under our sideboard despite what we did including putting citrus peel there. :(
They have been using the litter tray with no problems but one day just peed on the leather sofa cushion - despite bleaching clean they have done it again twice.
Also peed on a pile of shoes in the hallway - that might have had an outdoor smell though :unsure:
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We have a female cat called Amber who, in the past, has twice peed where she shouldn't - one on the duvet >:( and once on my OH's suitcase lying on the floor :(. She is quite a nervous cat and I believe it was a sign of sudden stress. The clue to me is that both your sofa and shoes are the two main places where your own scent is strongest. Assuming they are healthy, it could be a sign of some sudden competition for your attention, or a sudden change in the household, especially involving smell, has made them nervous and / or insecure in some way. How many kittens do you have and are they all doing it? Sorry - shouldn't chuckle at them peeing on your shoes - not nice if you had to put them on in the dark! :nowink:
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I would have chuckled later - had I had to put them on!
Would have been cross at the time mind you! :lol:
Have just ordered a leather cleaning solution called Em Clean so will try that ;)
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Your kittens are trying to tell you something isn't right for them. Cats are normally very fastidious about their toilet, so just observe and think what happened just before they started doing it. Cleaner is good but pro-active. You need to prevent it happening again.
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Having had Daphne on monthly Frontline and an anti-inflammatory monthly injection and hoovered everyrthing all over, it has not solved it, so just ordered some Advantage spot-on. She is losing even more fur after her last vet treatment, has lots of little scabs all over her litle body and is still continually scratching herself despite all this. I will let you know how she goes on after I receive the order and treat her, but will take her to the vets next week for another anti-inflammatory injection for her itches.
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Poor lass :(
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Poor lass :(
I know - she used to have such lovely "trousers" but now has a rather bare bottie. :ohmy:
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It must be so difficult to see her like that, I hope you find a solution for her soon. I had a thought about using t tree oil but having done a quick search it would not be suitable (well not neat from what I have read). I did come across THIS (http://www.wikihow.com/Get-Rid-of-Fleas-Naturally) on making a Rosemary flea dip and some other natural remedies.
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Crumbs - I am now such in a dilemma as to what is best without creating more probs! ANHBUC - looked at that website but have reservations without any sure guarantee. I remember buying a house in 1984 and got bitten all over my legs - about 30 of them every day. The Pest Control Officer asked if the previous owners had a cat - I said yes - he said they were cat fleas. :ohmy: :ohmy: I can't possibly get rid of them by cleaning and hoovering alone, and a smoke bomb is out of the question. The anti-inflammation injections don't seem to help to any visible degree, so just want to put something on her skin that will soothe her (apart from my kisses). I have ordered some Advantage on-line from Petsupermarket.co.uk with the hope it will do more than the Frontline stuff. I will let you all know how she does in the near future.
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Fingers crossed you find a solution soon. :)
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Update from Daphne - she says she believes her bottie fur is growing after the Advantage bought on-line I used on her. Now for the other three cats!!
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Ah, that's brilliant news. Can't have her wandering around with a bald bottie now the weather is getting colder. I would definitely spray the house a couple of times a year to try and prevent further problems as well.
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Thanks Maxiboo - will tell her. Perhaps she would appreciate a pair of knitted "trousers" for the winter festival day?? ::) The vets told me that we do have a flea problem in this area and, as we live amongst farmland and also have a smallholding of our own, it is difficult to prevent her bringing them in as and when, plus the other three are just as guilty! I have found the occasional grooming with a flea comb has helped, not just for fleas, but the flea dirt that she is allergic to, so careful care and attention is the current regime for her as well as the others.
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Got some Advantage and it seems to work better - thanks. Also, buying the same product on-line is definitely much cheaper! Just one thing, despite regular flea treatment when Daphne seemed to be improving, she has started chiggling the fur at the base of her tail and made it sore. Any other ideas as to what it could be apart from a flea allergy?
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Not sure. It's a common place for cats to bite each other in fights. The puncture marks can heal quickly but obviously there can be bacteria present under the skin. I assume you've checked for obvious signs of wounds, scaly skin or flea dirt? The trouble is she might have had a problem which resolved but her licking the area has made it sore so she keeps licking it. I assume the tail itself looks ok and hasn't been injured?
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Daphne is a mediator kind of cat and I have never seen her fight any of the others. Her tail itself is fine and there is no sign of a wound on the bare bit just above it. I can't see any sign of scaly skin or flea dirt but, as she is fit as a flea (no pun intended) and a real wriggler, it's hard to keep her even relatively still to check with a comb - tried that, it was obviously sore, and off she went like a rocket, but still came back for a stroke later on!!
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I am not sure what is going on with her. There is such a thing as hyperthesia syndrome. I have seen excessive licking to that area described as one of the symptoms. http://www.vet.cornell.edu/FHC/health_resources/HyperesthesiaSyndrome.cfm
Perhaps she just likes to give you something to worry about!
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Just had a look and don't think it is that - thank God - so I will see how she goes on. As I said, she is a very happy, active and loving cat and healthy apart from this hair loss and chiggling her back fur just before her tail. Thanks for your help. ;)
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She is a mystery girl. :D I did wonder about mites but think the flea treatment should sort mites too. I looked at advantage and it claims to kill ear mites but not specifically skin mites. I don't know if they are the same thing. Worth looking at though http://www.petmd.com/cat/conditions/skin/c_ct_cheyletiellosis
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So wish I still worked in the lab as I could have taken skin scrapings (probably less than she would have removed from me) and done a general histologcal stain, plus one specifically for parasites, and had a look under the microscope. Never mind, she is well enough and looking forward to her Crimbo "Dreamies" present!! ;)
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They love their dreamies don't they. Mine are partial to Felix Goody Bags too. :)
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It's Whiskas Dentabits over here!
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Are they both dry crunchy treats? If so, I'll try them both.
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The felix goody bags are. They come in different flavours. Mine are on the cheesy ones. We have the seaside mix to try next :)
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Daphne says thanks for all your help. Her Christmas wish is as follows....
"I'm dreaming of a warm bottie
Just like the one I used to know.
When the fur was lovely, and oh so snuggly
When I was jumping in the snow.
I'm dreaming of a warm bottie
And all my paws are crossed so tight
That someone will sort out my plight
So I'll have a peaceful Christmas Night!
;)
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Dentabits are really hard - great for cats teeth. When my 2 had their last jabs aged about 7 or 8, the vet said they had great looking teeth ;)
The cheesy inside treats Moo will eat sometimes, Olly won't touch. So I just buy Dentabits.
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Got these written down to find and try. In the meantime and back to post, Daphne's bottie fur is growing back so she now has "trousers" for the first time in ages. The bit on her back just in front of her tail that she chiggled off just before Christmas is also coming back. Seems that Advantage is working better than the Frontline.
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That's brilliant news. She will soon be back in her prime.
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Sure hope so. It was so distressing to see her stratching so much. She has now been having a very silly time this last couple of days jumping up and down the stairs accompanied by lots of tortie-speak. :lol: