SAFE FLEA remedy??

[SophieGR Cub Find all posts View Profile Close SophieGR]

My 14 year old persian (whom I keep indoors) seems to have fleas again. I don't know how she got it being indoors. The only way would be cause of a couple of cats outside that frequent my yard. We sometimes feed them

Anyway.......I want to give her a bath with "Four Paws..Magic coat" Flea and Tick shampoo for cats but I don't want to cause more harm than good My cat is 14 and it contains .045% pyrethrins. Is that bad??? Has anyone tried this brand of shampoo or heard anything bad about it??? If this is not safe.....what is??

Sophie

[SalemWitchChild Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close SalemWitchChild]

Is your cat abnormally sensitive to pesticides? If she is you can water down the shampoo. Otherwise you shouldn't have a problem. You could always call the manufactorer and ask if they have had problems with senior cats using their product. My guess is that it's ok though.

[SophieGR Cub Find all posts View Profile Close SophieGR]

I'm not sure if she's sensitive to it but I don't want to take any chances.

:( I might just water it down.

Calling the manufacturer would be a good idea but then again they might not tell me the truth because they want to sell. I will anyway....you never know :)

Thanks

[SalemWitchChild Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close SalemWitchChild]

I'm not sure if she's sensitive to it but I don't want to take any chances.

:( I might just water it down.

Calling the manufacturer would be a good idea but then again they might not tell me the truth because they want to sell. I will anyway....you never know :)

Thanks

It's not in their best interest to tell you anything false. They could get sued. :roll:

[SophieGR Cub Find all posts View Profile Close SophieGR]

Thats true.....I'm calling them anyway...tomorrow when they're open.

[Ragdoll Mom Cub Find all posts View Profile Close Ragdoll Mom]

Hi, be extra careful as I nearly lost a dog years ago that was allergic to the pesticide used in flea dip. I have known people that use brewers use in their dog and cat food to help with fleas. Here's something I wrote on another forum a while back and some part of it might be of use to you.

I think most cat owners have had the experience of at least one of their cats getting fleas and/or worms. If cats have fleas, cats chew and lick and swallow and it can cause tapeworms, and the fleas can also pass to dogs so that’s why it’s important to get aggressive in treating any flea problem right away so that it doesn’t develop into a major incident. If you don’t get aggressive over fleas at the beginning, you will regret it later as your whole home can become infested and you then call in the professionals several times to do the flea bomb in the whole home first to get the active fleas then afterwards to get the eggs that are hatching. So get aggressive at the very beginning and save yourself a ton of trouble.

If your cat or kitten has fleas, I would take your cat to the vet right away for professional flea medication and ask to have the cat dewormed for tapeworms as a precaution. Some of the over-the-counter flea medications may not be the right ones for your cat, so I strongly recommend going with what your vet recommends and ask the vet for any potential side effects AND get a number from the vet to call in case there are any rare complications, such as the cat go into seizures, etc. Again, by getting aggressive with fleas at the beginning you could save yourself time, money, and the problem I’m going to describe below when the cat develops tapeworms from the fleas.

Fleas can be nasty, but when the cat bites and licks them and swallows they can develop tapeworms. Many years ago my cat had worms and they were short light beige color (almost looked like rice that wiggled) and would fall off her behind and onto the floor or wherever she was. I got the cat into the vet and the cat received the special medication for those types of worms (tapeworms), but later had a terrible episode of diarrhea and pooping out tape worms. Once the medication hits, you may have an explosion of poop filled with dead worms in the litter box and just dump it all right away. I'm not trying to creep you out, but just to get you prepared. As a suggestion, have plenty of litter to be able to change your litterbox right away after that explosion of dead worms (and you may have several diarrhea of worms) so have enough litter for several litter box changes just in case.

I also suggest you put some newspaper or preferably plastic drop cloth under the litter box with the drop cloth sticking out from the sides of the litter box for about two feet around the whole litter box. That way if a cat bottom hangs out you don't have pooped worms all over, or if the cat’s diarrhea is so bad it doesn’t quite reach the litterbox, it is so easy to roll up and throw out that plastic drop cloth (this is only if your cat is not a plastic eater). I get plastic drop cloths for $1.00 from the dollar store and I keep one in my bathroom corner that my male uses when he has his cystitis bouts--that way when he thinks the pain is the litterbox, he uses the drop cloth instead of my carpet and I toss the drop cloth and place a new one there and it is so easy to do. Also, be sure you have disinfectant or those Lysol disinfectant wipes (I use them) to do the disinfectant wiping around the kitchen and bathroom counters and other places where the cats might have been, including the bathroom, and throw some disinfectant into your mop water for the kitchen and bathroom. Be sure to wash cat beds, and you may even have to wash some cat rear ends depending on whether the medication gives them loose bowels—so have something mild on hand that is suitable to wash cat rear ends if necessary. If your cats have been on beds, do the washing technique on your bed linen per the Oprah show where you use red hot water with some bleach as it kills everything including dust mites. Also, take one of those gel flea collars and chop it up into many pieces and put it inside your vacuum cleaner bag and vacuum your whole house--that way if any fleas or tape worms or even dust mites or little tiny spiders are there, they are sucked up and the chopped flea collar kills them. If you don't have children and the cats don't go down inside your sofa, I would chop up the gel flea collars and put some pieces way deep inside the sofa for a few days and that will kill any fleas (or dust mites, etc.) in your sofa. Also don't forget to turn over your sofa and vacuum on the underneath as that can be where dust mites, little spiders and fleas may hide. Be sure to carefully vacuum under beds were cats tend to hide and you may find some fleas or worms there.

Good luck and I hope something in here will help.

[celtechfarms Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close celtechfarms]

Theres tons of diffrent flea treatments out there, but if your worried about chemicals there is a natural remedy and its pretty easy, boil orange or other citrus fruit skins in water, then bath your cat with that, if your cat will allow you to bath it. Its safe and fully natural.

[SophieGR Cub Find all posts View Profile Close SophieGR]

Thank you all for all your advise....I just noticed all the replies.

I gave her a bath with the Four paws flea and tick shampoo today. This was before I read all the replies :? Anyway.....she seems ok so far. I, however, have this medicine taste in my mouth. I didn't injest anything....its from inhaling it I guess.

Now I'm worried because she's licking herself like a cat normally does :? If I have a medicine taste in my mouth just by inhaling I wonder what it will do to her :( I thought I rinsed it well enough.

[shadow010 Cub Find all posts View Profile Close shadow010]

With cleaning a cat with flea/tick shampoo its really important to rinse them very well. Obviously a manufacturer of any such product considers that cats clean themselves constantly and they make an effort to insure that cats can ingest the product in its extremly diluted amounts (whatever remains on your cat's coat after being rinsed very well). However its true that some can really be dangerous for cats, even cause siezures, thats why going all natural with the citrus method was a good idea. Not only do the fleas hate it, but your cat can lick away at it much more safely than a store bought remedy. I read a lot about this because I have four cats and they all get fleas from time to time, and believe it or not, a lot of times it isnt the shampoo you use in a flea bath which kills the fleas, but the water itself, which drowns them. I'm pretty sure your cat will be fine, but next time if they come back (which fleas tend to do!) then you might try the citrus method. About the medicine taste in your mouth, I had that once and it went away, I wouldnt be too worried. As for getting rid of your fleas entirely, it can be tough because even with an indoor cat you can still bring in microscopic flea eggs on your shoes and clothing! Good luck!

[SophieGR Cub Find all posts View Profile Close SophieGR]

Thanks.....the medicine taste in my mouth did go away :) and the cat seems back to normal again....but next time....... I will give the citrus method a try :wink:

Thanks again!