cat fleas - or other parasite?

JuliusCaesar

I took my cat to the vet on Saturday as she had black specks in her fur and was scratching like mad. Vet applied fleas stuff on her nape, and I expected her to stop scratching within 24 hours. But.....she's still going mad scratching today, 3 days later. So I got out the ol' furminator and started grooming her. And found various little black crawly insects in her fur. What could they be? I'll take her back to the vet but it'll take a few days before I can get time off.

anniehoo

It sounds like fleas to me, but it can take a day or 2 to work. The fact it's 3 days later is weird though. What product did your vet use do you know? Every decent vet should be able to identify a cat flea so if you can catch a few put them in a jar and bring them to your vet, because whatever they used clearly hasn't worked.

Do not treat again as cats can be prone to flea treatment toxicity if given too many doses close together.Are they jumping? If not it could be lice either.

JuliusCaesar

Checked again this morning - 4th day - definitely fleas. And checked my bed - yes they are there too. So I've ordered diatomaceous earth, and started the first wash. I'll hoover like mad when I get back from work. I'll give the vet a shout. The cat's last flea treatment was at least 5 years ago.

Anyone know if duvets are machine washable? I usually just take them to a serviced laundrette, but it'll be expensive if I have to take all of them. hmm...would a double duvet fit into an ordinary domestic washing machine?

fishy fishy

are you saying that you have not gotten your cat treated for fleas for FIVE YEARS. They should be done ONCE A MONTH if your cat is pretty big, or once every two months if they are smaller. FIVE YEARS????????

The Sweeper

fishy fishy wrote: »

are you saying that you have not gotten your cat treated for fleas for FIVE YEARS. They should be done ONCE A MONTH if your cat is pretty big, or once every two months if they are smaller. FIVE YEARS????????

Why would you treat your pet with a toxic insecticide once a month if they don't have fleas? What are you basing the above advice on?

Pumpkinseeds

If you're using a spot on treatment you should make sure its suitable for the weight of the cat. I know my brother was using the smaller size Advocate for his 3 and they got fleas and mites. They were only a quarter of a kilo over the weight size he was buying. I use the Advocate for cats 4 kilos+ and I don't have any flea/mite problems with my 2 thankfully.

anniehoo

fishy fishy wrote: »

are you saying that you have not gotten your cat treated for fleas for FIVE YEARS. They should be done ONCE A MONTH if your cat is pretty big, or once every two months if they are smaller. FIVE YEARS????????

Janey calm down there will ya. :eek: My cat has been treated once...in 2 and half years and that was only because my flatmate got a few bites and wasnt sure whether it was her dog or my cat, so treated both. Other than that i wouldnt regularly use flea treatment at all.

fishy fishy

The Sweeper wrote: »

Why would you treat your pet with a toxic insecticide once a month if they don't have fleas? What are you basing the above advice on?

on my vets advice - a spot on once / twice a month PREVENTS fleas, especially in the Summer.

I don't understand why somebody would leave a little cat for five years before getting him checked for fleas - if you wouldn't do it to a human, don't do it to your animal.

anniehoo

fishy fishy wrote: »

I don't understand why somebody would leave a little cat for five years before getting him checked for fleas - if you wouldn't do it to a human, don't do it to your animal.

I regularly check my cat for fleas, if he doesnt have any he doesnt get treated...simple as. I dont understand whats so difficult to get about that. You dont regularly treat humans for fleas so why would you do the same for your animal? Deworming is a different story as they're internal parasites and impossible to spot until the parasite burden is well advanced or the animal is showing ill effects from them. And yes i deworm myself once/twice yearly. Tapeworm can be transmitted by rat fleas irregardless of whether you've flea treated your pet also so id much rather regularly deworm than deflea.

fishy fishy

anniehoo wrote: »

I regularly check my cat for fleas, if he doesnt have any he doesnt get treated...simple as. I dont understand whats so difficult to get about that. You dont regularly treat humans for fleas so why would you do the same for your animal? Deworming is a different story as they're internal parasites and impossible to spot until the parasite burden is well advanced or the animal is showing ill effects from them. And yes i deworm myself once/twice yearly. Tapeworm can be transmitted by rat fleas irregardless of whether you've flea treated your pet also so id much rather regularly deworm than deflea.

prevention is better than cure with the flee treatment tho. How long did he have the fleas before you realized it - time for them to get round the house? in your bed? on the furniture? Humans don't regularly get treated for fleas because their bodies are not covered in fur. Children on the other hand regularly gets checked for lice.

Worms/Tapeworms are a completely different thing than fleas and ticks. For best results get your yearly check up and year shots done at your vet - this way you have a record of up to date treatments on your cat. If you need to put him into a cattery if you go away, they will not do this unless you have proof that he has had his shots at the vet.

anniehoo

fishy fishy wrote: »

prevention is better than cure with the flee treatment tho. How long did he have the fleas before you realized it - time for them to get round the house? in your bed? on the furniture? Humans don't regularly get treated for fleas because their bodies are not covered in fur. Children on the other hand regularly gets checked for lice.

You're kind of contradicting yourself here. You dont prevention treat for lice either, you treat as you see them. You wouldnt give your child monthly lice treatment "just in case" would you? It's the same for fleas with my cat. He's checked on a weekly basis and as i stated before he was treated along with the dog even though we werent sure which one had it, if at all. My flatmate got bitten (could've been job related either) so we nipped it in the bud before it ever became a problem. Trust me i know enough about parasites to judge what anti parasitics i should give my pets and when.

wrote:

Worms/Tapeworms are a completely different thing than fleas and ticks. For best results get your yearly check up and year shots done at your vet - this way you have a record of up to date treatments on your cat. If you need to put him into a cattery if you go away, they will not do this unless you have proof that he has had his shots at the vet.

Yesss...am well aware of this and he is up to date with his vaccinations if that's what you mean.

I have no issue with regularly defleaing if that's what others want to spend their money on, but personally knowing enough about these parasites i choose not to. Like your "lice in children" example i treat when i see and not before..

fishy fishy

anniehoo wrote: »

You're kind of contradicting yourself here. You dont prevention treat for lice either, you treat as you see them. You wouldnt give your child monthly lice treatment "just in case" would you? It's the same for fleas with my cat. He's checked on a weekly basis and as i stated before he was treated along with the dog even though we werent sure which one had it, if at all. My flatmate got bitten (could've been job related either) so we nipped it in the bud before it ever became a problem. Trust me i know enough about parasites to judge what anti parasitics i should give my pets and when.


Yesss...am well aware of this and he is up to date with his vaccinations if that's what you mean.

I have no issue with regularly defleaing if that's what others want to spend their money on, but personally knowing enough about these parasites i choose not to. Like your "lice in children" example i treat when i see and not before..

as I said, children and humans in general are not usually covered in fur - unless I'm mistaken. :o hence the difference.

preventing fleas in a cat before he gets them saves lots of hassle - for the cat, for you and for your house, but hey if you want to just wait till he gets fleas thats up to you.

anniehoo

fishy fishy wrote: »

preventing fleas in a cat before he gets them saves lots of hassle - for the cat, for you and for your house, but hey if you want to just wait till he gets fleas thats up to you.

My dog of 14 years got treated three times in her lifetime...not for fleas, but ticks.. 3 times in 14 years and none of them for fleas! I'm sure you're having a meltdown at the thought of that.:p

If you know enough about these parasites you will understand why i don't routinely deflea, but again, bar administering unnecessary chemicals to your pet it's up to you if you want to do it monthly. Excessive and unnecessary in my opinion but it's your choice.

fishy fishy

anniehoo wrote: »

My dog of 14 years got treated three times in her lifetime...not for fleas, but ticks.. 3 times in 14 years and none of them for fleas! I'm sure you're having a meltdown at the thought of that.:p

If you know enough about these parasites you will understand why i don't routinely deflea, but again, bar administering unnecessary chemicals to your pet it's up to you if you want to do it monthly. Excessive and unnecessary in my opinion but it's your choice.

thanks, I think I will stick to the preventative measures - saves hassle, and disgusting fleas on furniture/beds when only treated after being seen on the animal. Thankfully have never had any problems with tics either. not nice to be having to deal with those I would imagine. I wouldn't like on on myself so I don't think I would like one on my cat either.

The Sweeper

Do a bit of reading on overuse of flea medications. Also, capstar tablets will knock every living flea on your pet dead and starts working within 30 minutes of administration, so curative measures don't have to be delivered as last ditch efforts. You can tell if your cat has fleas by examining the fur behind the ears and over the back of the neck for flea dirt (black specks that, when crushed on a wet tissue, blot red).

fishy fishy

The Sweeper wrote: »

Do a bit of reading on overuse of flea medications. Also, capstar tablets will knock every living flea on your pet dead and starts working within 30 minutes of administration, so curative measures don't have to be delivered as last ditch efforts. You can tell if your cat has fleas by examining the fur behind the ears and over the back of the neck for flea dirt (black specks that, when crushed on a wet tissue, blot red).

sweeper - i would never overuse "medications" on my cat. Capstar tablets sound great but to me, its like bolting the barn door when the horse has bolted. Why wait till your cat and your house has fleas before treating it.

planetX

I used to use frontline every month when I only had 2 cats, and it doesn't work any more, the fleas developed resistance. Now I've got 5 little brats and can't afford spot on treatments any more, I just vacuum a lot and it's fine. Though the cold summer kept the fleas down I think.

BumblebeeGirl

Sorry if this is a silly question but can an indoor cat get fleas?

angeline

No an indoor cat can't get fleas. My cat is indoor a lot and just goes out in the back garden. But my vet who specialises in feline medicine strongly recommends flea treatment every month as a flea bite to my cat could give her a disease her system can't cope with. Also as another poster said prevention is waay better than the cure. By the time you see the fleas on your pet they will have already infested your house so no thanks to that as my cat is allowed the run of the house.

anniehoo

BumblebeeGirl wrote: »

Sorry if this is a silly question but can an indoor cat get fleas?

Theoretically...yes, but it'd be soooo so rare i wouldnt even worry about it. The cat flea is one of the most common types of fleas and can hitch a ride on us humans. While not being their specific host they wont die straightaway so technically if you've been somewhere where there's cat fleas and arrive home to your indoor cat...there is a possibility they will transfer. Very very small chances though so i wouldnt be worrying too much.

JuliusCaesar

The cat is 12 years old. This is the second time in her life that she has had fleas.

No, I don't believe in using unnecessary chemicals.

Kids were treated for lice with an electric comb, which zapped the lice. After they passed the danger age, we didn't check them for lice unless we saw them scratching.

I saw the cat scratching, checked her, and brought her to the vet. She's fine now, and the vaccuuming and laundry is clearing the house. The fleas didn't kill any of us, or make us sick either.

The Sweeper

angeline wrote: »

Also as another poster said prevention is waay better than the cure.

But prevention is the same as cure in this case, which is part of the problem. The chemicals in flea medication are toxic. The building immunity that planetX describes in the fleas on their cats is what I'm talking about in terms of overuse of medication.

As regards vets advising it, I know plenty of vets who are starting to move away from regular flea and worm treatments and annual vaccinations, because it appears we're over-using preventative medicine on our pets to the point where it's becoming detrimental to their health.

If you're giving your cat a monthly spot-on treatment for fleas, you're essentially curing your cat of an ailment it doesn't have every month. If it were prevention in terms of cleaning bedding and environment, restricting interaction with roaming cats, keeping areas in the garden where fleas can exist a certain way to discourage fleas, so on, that would be proper prevention.

Just beware that you're putting a dose of a toxic chemical into your animal every month (if you dose monthly) on the offchance they might get fleas. It's like giving yourself two paracetamol every morning in case you get a headache.

boomerang

The spot-on treatment for fleas will kill any flea that takes a blood meal from your cat. Can't remember exactly how long it takes for them to die once they have bitten the cat. Definitely less than 24 hours, anyhoo. So what you are seeing now are new fleas on her, that are not long for this world... The fleas that were on her when the vet applied the spot-on are dead and gone now. So there must be flea pupae in your home being activated when they detect her, or else adult fleas are transferring her to from another pet.

Remember that the spot-ons aren't preventatives - your cat will still get fleas. It's just that they won't survive very long. A flea comb would be just as effective, is harmless and works faster. I use a tick tweezers to remove ticks as soon as I spot them - they carry blood-borne diseases and no way am I waiting for however long it takes for the Frontline to kick in and kill them! Plus, the Frontlined ticks fall off into the environment - yuk.

I'm totally against monthly flea treatments as a preventative unless the pet suffers from severe flea allergy dermatitis, or is in a high-risk environment for catching fleas. If you find a flea on your pet, you need to remove it either manually or chemically, but you also need to find the source of the fleas in your home and hoover and hot-wash like billy-o and use a flea-spray on furnishings.

My ten year old dog has never had fleas. If I had treated her with a spot-on every month from when I acquired her as a puppy, that would have been 120 treatments so far of very potent drugs. And resistance to these drugs is a huge problem. If a lot of people are over-using these products then the flea population selects for individuals that show the greatest resistance to them. This means even though I use the product selectively and only if strictly necessary, it may well not be effective as it would have been had it not been over-used by others.

Don't forget that no drug is ever completely safe: More often than not there are side-effects, and a risk of adverse reactions.

boomerang

anniehoo wrote: »

Theoretically...yes, but it'd be soooo so rare i wouldnt even worry about it. The cat flea is one of the most common types of fleas and can hitch a ride on us humans. While not being their specific host they wont die straightaway so technically if you've been somewhere where there's cat fleas and arrive home to your indoor cat...there is a possibility they will transfer. Very very small chances though so i wouldnt be worrying too much.

Don't forget if you have dogs, they can bring home fleas to your cat, too! (Most fleas on dogs are actually cat fleas, and survive very well on the pooch!)

SillyMangoX

In the 15 years we had our dog not once did she get a flea, despite never getting spot ons. We did my cats when we first got them 2 years ago as they were riddled with every kind of a creepy crawly, and again about 2 months ago when funny scabs started appearing. They are quite toxic chemicals, just in a small enough dose that it shouldnt do harm. Each to their own and Ive no problem advising people on routine preventive care but its just a choice I made not to go too excessive with it. Its like if you keep taking antibiotics to prevent an infection, low levels of bacteria are exposed to the antibiotic and become resistant so when an infection does set in, it wont be cured easily,things such as mrsa and other superbugs. Now replace antibiotic with spot on and bacteria with flea, its the same principle and personally I dont like the thought of a super flea! Theres already substantial resistance problems developing especially with large animal preventative medicine.. Damn bugs are getting too clever!

fishy fishy

my cat get her flea prevention treatment once every two months, and her worming injections yearly and I am delighted to say that not once have I seen a flea, found her scratching, or found a tick, despite her being an outdoor cat who roams around and interacts with other cats.

This "overmedication" nonsense is just that - nonsense. She's not being overmedicated. It's funny that the "overmedicated" believers are posting about finding fleas and ticks on their cat, (and maybe blaming other animals for giving them fleas ).

Thankfully I have never found a flea or a tick and I intend to keep it that way.

Carry on all ye other folks with your tweezers tho. :D

Alun

Our current cats are now 10, we treated them a couple of times when we first got them as kittens as they came from a farm, but they've never had a flea treatment since and we've never found a flea or tick on them either.

The Sweeper

fishy fishy wrote: »

my cat get her flea prevention treatment once every two months, and her worming injections yearly and I am delighted to say that not once have I seen a flea, found her scratching, or found a tick, despite her being an outdoor cat who roams around and interacts with other cats.

This "overmedication" nonsense is just that - nonsense. She's not being overmedicated. It's funny that the "overmedicated" believers are posting about finding fleas and ticks on their cat, (and maybe blaming other animals for giving them fleas ).

Thankfully I have never found a flea or a tick and I intend to keep it that way.

Carry on all ye other folks with your tweezers tho. :D

My cats were last flea treated when they were kittens. I've never seen a flea on them since. The dog came out of an abuse situation infested with fleas. I washed him with flea shampoo, combed him out and vacuumed everything and kept a close eye on him for three or four days. Not only did he not suffer reinfestation, but he didn't spread his fleas to the cats either.

Spot-on flea treatment is an insecticide that works by toxifying your pet's system, so any flea that does land on them and bite them dies within about 12 hours. It can still lay eggs before it dies however, and those eggs can hatch out, though the young fleas will also die within a short time of biting your pet.

However, your pet will still have had fleas.

fishy fishy

The Sweeper wrote: »

My cats were last flea treated when they were kittens. I've never seen a flea on them since. The dog came out of an abuse situation infested with fleas. I washed him with flea shampoo, combed him out and vacuumed everything and kept a close eye on him for three or four days. Not only did he not suffer reinfestation, but he didn't spread his fleas to the cats either.

Spot-on flea treatment is an insecticide that works by toxifying your pet's system, so any flea that does land on them and bite them dies within about 12 hours. It can still lay eggs before it dies however, and those eggs can hatch out, though the young fleas will also die within a short time of biting your pet.

However, your pet will still have had fleas.

so you have never seen a flea/ tick on your since they were kittens.
Yet you say that my cat will still have fleas. thats a bit weird isn't it

Is it hard to believe that my cat has never had fleas/ticks?

anyway, this is going in circles, as re-enforced by your post.

anniehoo

fishy fishy wrote: »

my cat get her flea prevention treatment once every two months, and her worming injections yearly

My last post on this as i really dont think you're understanding the point at all.

Why do you bimonthtly treat for fleas that you can visibly see if present, yet only yearly treat for worms which do the most harm and cannot be seen??

Do you realise the damage internal parasites can do and in a short space of time? You've heard of Lungworm in dogs havent you? Well the equivalent in cats is Aleurostronglyus abstrusus whos prepatent period (time it takes from first infection to parasite detection) is less than 9 weeks? Toxocara cati (common cat roundworm) is 3- 6 weeks and Uncinaria (Hookworm) is 3-4 weeks. Why would you only treat yearly for parasites that have the potential to do so much more damage than a flea, which is easily gotten of rid of once visibly detected.

You are in my opinion, overmedicating, even though you think you're not and you have your priorities back to front with which parasites you deem important enough to prevent.

fishy fishy

so am I overmedication or under medicating :D:D
as I say, in your efforts to jump all over my methods of keeping my cat free from fleas /ticks, you are contradicting yourselves.

as I say, this is going in circles, and I really don't think its about treating the cat anymore - mores about impressing your contradictory opinions.

I'll be sticking to what my vet advises - it has worked for years without fail - my cat is as healthy as can be, and thankfully has not suffered from tweezing the ticks out of him or scratching the fleas from himself, and I don't need to dose my furniture either.

so, to each his own and good luck with your methods - but remember

prevention is better than cure.