cat problems

[thik_3rd]

my cat has problems. i'm taking him to the vet next week, but in the meantime is there anything i can do for...

fleas? i bought that stuff you put on the back of their neck, it didn't work. a flea collar...still scratching. flea spray...i can barely get it on him cuz he runs when i come after him with it. a flea comb (i didn't get a single one off). i also tried giving him a bath, and i have the cuts on my arm to prove it.

ticks? actually, i'm not sure if he has these or not, i hope not. he has a few sores on him, but i can't tell if they're from him scratching himself, or the ticks (if they exist).

[Winslow]

When my cat had fleas the Vet gave us some nasty medicine (I forget what it was called) but one drop was all that was needed to get rid of them.

You also might want to get a "bomb" and and debug your house.

Lastly, make sure you check your cat for worms, because they get them form flea bites.

[thik_3rd]

how do i check for worms?
i had this cat 8 years and he never had fleas...move out to the country and he gets them in no time flat.
is that one drop stuff the stuff you put on their neck? i tried the non-prescrip version, didn't work. i used the prescrip version as a precautionary measure a few years ago once.

also, i stopped letting him outside since i noticed he got them...and he's going nuts meowing at the door. he's bugging the heck outta me.

[Puma]

the non-prescription stuff (Advantage I think) has never worked for my cats, we use Frontline.

to check for worms you need to check your cats poo and around it's anus - not fun but necessary.

flea collars and sprays are bad for your cat. since it sounds like bathing is out how about brushing? and then combing out the brush?

[Gingold]

Yeah, Frontline works way better than advantage.

[thik_3rd]

the non-prescrip stuff i used was hartz or seargent i think. man my cat barely lets me rub his tummy, let alone poke around his butt. i'll leave that to the doc next week


there must be a girl cat outside in heat he's going nouts right now. i hope it's not a side effect from some disease he got from a flea

[Puma]

you don't have to poke around his butt, just lift his tail and look for moving little white things the size of a grain of rice.

[thik_3rd]

there aren't any but he keeps licking/gnawing his butt.

[Callie]

Advantage doesn't work and neither does the Hartz stuff. I only use Frontline and my cats haven't had any fleas this summer at all. It's not incredibly expensive if you know where to get it. You can usually get 3 tubes (3 months) from Jeffers Pet or Drugstore.com (during one of their sales) for about $30.

[TheTen-EyedMan]

Sounds like your cat's got jungle fever.

I have to say it.

The power of the pussy strikes again.

[Puma]

there aren't any but he keeps licking/gnawing his butt.

sounds like he has them but the vet will probably need a stool sample to be sure - does he use a litter box?

[thik_3rd]

yeah...since you mentioned it, i checked the poop in his litter (he took one right after i got home from work), but he buried it too well and it was covered in litter too much to tell.

i just got fed up with meowing all the time and let him out. i figure he can't get any more fleas (well, he probably can, but whatever), but now he's sitting on my window sill outside meowing to come back in. he always does that. when i go to let him in, he comes up to the door, sniffs my feet then runs under the neighbor's fence.

[erickonasis]

Get him fixed ...if he isnt doin a no 1 he might have a urinary tract infection

[thik_3rd]

he pees all the time.

[Golon9977]

Problem easily resolved: get rid of your cat.

Cats arent a mans pet.

[Gary_B]

My cat goes from loud, whiny summer-cat to quiet, affectionate winter-cat every year. His summer whiney mode is kind of overwhelming. It turns out that he is allergic to flea bites. In the warm-weather flea season we give him Program and Advantage. One is a topical medicine that we rub on the back of his head and the other gets mixed in to his food.

The topical stuff that you apply to your cat’s neck kills fleas that are living on your cat. The stuff that you mix in to his/her food interrupts the flea’s reproductive cycle. My cat needs both medications because he has allergy problems but you could probably get away with one solution or the other. You just need to give it a month for either solution to kick in.

[pennywisdom]

Whatever you try, good luck. I hope everything works out. I have a cat myself, but we're lucky not to have any fleas.

[fly on the wall]

If you let your cat outside he will have fleas.

We have eight cats (unfortunately, long story) and they all are indoors cats. All we put on them is Advantage because we get it for free and it works for us. But the other people in this thread are correct, Frontline is better.

Get the cat neutered so he doesn't bug you so much to let him out and it cuts down on spraying.

It's okay for men to have cats as pets. How does this board manage to attract so many wackos?

Granted I'm a wacko and I got the psychiatrist's bills to prove it.

Take a stool sample to your vet to have it checked for worms.

[thik_3rd]

i've been letting my cat outside whenever he wanted to go out for the entire time i've owned him and he never had a single flea til a week or so ago. and he's 8 years old.

and he's been neutered since he was 1 or so but he still loves going out to eat some grass, get in fights and all that good stuff.

[Puma]

if you're now in an area with deer and other wildlife then there is a higher opportunity for fleas than if you lived in a more suburban area.

[Cephus]

If you're not seeing fleas or ticks, chances are excellent the cat doesn't have them. They're very, very obvious if they are present. I think you're going to find a food allergy, that's usually indicated by a lot of scratching, etc. All the brushing and bathing in the world isn't going to change that. Have you changed the cat's food lately? I bet you'll find out that's the cause.

[Dan Apodaca]

Our little siamese, Edie, just got diagnosed with worms.

I've taken to calling her "Wormy". She can't seem to tell the difference. Have I mentioned that I think she might be retarded?

[thik_3rd]

i live in a small town/city now, as opposed to big city before. i see fleas but no ticks, and he's eating the same meow mix i've been giving him for years.