Ashton: I’m really glad we don’t have a dog. You know what I just learned? It’s a song that goes like this, “My dog has fleas.”
Ashton: I don’t want fleas!
Pierre: You don’t just get fleas from dogs, Ashton. Cats who go outside get fleas all on their own, especially in warmer weather.
Ashton: No way!
Pierre: What’s worse is the things that used to work to get rid of them aren’t working very well any more. When you arrived as a kitten and gave us all fleas, we all were dosed with Frontline. But now it isn’t working very well because fleas are becoming resistant to its active ingredient.
Ashton: Sorry. I didn’t mean to bring you fleas.
Pierre: The scary thing is that people who are looking for something effective against fleas sometimes want to try the spot-on treatments for dogs on their cats, too. That can be dangerous, because a lot of them contain pyrethrin.
Ashton: What do you know about this pyrethrin stuff?
Pierre: I know that even though she doesn’t like to talk about it, the head peep’s childhood cat died of pyrethrin toxicity from repeated flea dips.
Ashton: Is that dip like with chips? I like chips and dip.
Pierre: No, it’s a bath. In water.
Ashton: In WATER?!
Pierre: I was in the vet waiting room a few years ago when a cat was rushed in who was treated with a full dog’s dose of a pyrethrin-filled spot-on treatment. It was bad. I don’t ever want that stuff on me. And people should know to keep it off of their cats, too.
Ashton: It sounds really bad. What does it do?
Pierre: It interferes with normal nerve conduction, and it causes full-body tremors, like seizures, elevated body temperature, and muscle damage. Cats suffering from pyrethrin toxicity can suffer permanent nervous system damage and even die.
Ashton: That’s awful. If we don’t have pyrethrin on us, how do we get rid of the fleas?
Pierre: We are indoor cats and don’t have to worry about fleas. We haven’t since you arrived with your fleas.
Ashton: I said I was sorry. Don’t rub it in.
Pierre: If humans need to find something to get rid of fleas, they should look for the feline versions of flea treatments to be sure that none of the ingredients are things that cats can’t handle. And remember that only a small fraction of fleas are on a cat at any time, so consider using food-grade diatomaceous earth to control fleas around your home instead of pyrethrin-laden sprays or foggers. The main thing to know is that you can’t just split a large dog dose of flea killer among several cats and know it’s safe. It could very well not be.
Ashton: I would rather not have fleas at all.
Pierre: We all would! Let’s hope that this is another flea-free year.
Ashton: Hey, TAKE THAT BACK!
Reference
Miami Herald, PetVet: Fleas become resistnt to typical Treatments
PetMD, Flea and Tick Medicine Poisoning in Cats
MOL, Ashton – I don’t think you are EVER going to live that one down. Great advice on the flea stuff, though! It’s really important to know. Binga and I just had our wellness exams and we are flea free!
Fleas suck ! Mum give us every month Frontline flea treatment and it still works (paws crossed !). Thanks for these impawtant informations ! Purrs
Gweat posty. Yous boff lookin gawjus der. 😀
Luv and Hugs and Kitty Kisses ♥♥♥
Dezi
Fleas suck´s ! My mom-persons dad´s cat Gustav got that and I couldn´t visit him for a long long while 🙁
I was beside myself when our cats (indoor cats) got fleas. Catdad befriended a stray cat at the golf course and brought home a flea(s). It took us awhile to realize what had happened and those little suckers multiply fast! We were also delayed because we wanted something safe and natural and a lot of ads are very misleading. I finally found food-grade diatomaceous earth to control fleas online. When we looked up where to get it in our area, Home Depot popped up, so we rushed over there to get the product. Fortunately for us, the guy in the insecticide section practically screamed at us, saying it would kill the cats.
We finally got the product after more research and it is very very important that it is FOOD grade diatomaceous earth. Some people even mix the FOOD grade powder with juice for its natural healing effects for different ailments. That’s how safe it is.
By the time we had everything in order, we had a small country worth of fleas. It was worth the delay to do it right, and safely, though. (And, the cats have forgiven us.)
We purr that we don’t get fleas either. Fleas are yucky. Thanks for this important information.
We are given flea and worming treatments every other month and we don’t like it one bit and struggle like crazy to get away from her so now her friend comes and while Mum grabs us and wraps us in an old towel her “friend” does the dastardly deed of dabbing our necks.
Luv Hannah and Lucy xx xx
Wake the town and tell the peeps love that first picture.
Thank goodness I don’t go outside either. Mom worries sometimes Dad will bring a flea in on him after he has been out in the yard….
maybe he needs a flea collar
MOL
Hugs madi your bfff
I just love your funny yet informative conversations! Fleas are just horrible and more proof that keeping your cats indoors is the only way to go.
We have been lucky here, but I hear those little flea boogers are evil!
Diatomaceous earth is good stuff. A lot of beans have started to use it in our building. It’s environmentally safe. There are lots of indoor outdoor woofies here, ya know.
I don’t remember ever having fleas. Maybe when I was found by Feline Rescue? But if I ever had treatments for it they were safe ones!
Very important post! My crew got fleas last summer (not exactly sure how), and it was terrible. I didn’t use any of the spot-on treatments though. I used diatomaceous earth, a homemade spray (vinegar, lemon juice, witch hazel, and some other ingredients I can’t remember off the top of my head), flea traps, and Capstar.
I was lucky when we had Abby, Grace, Boo, Ping and Jinx. I think we had a problem maybe 2 or 3 times where I applied a topical flea treatment. But Annabelle is different. She has flea dermatitis and if she has a single bite the itching and scratching are horrible for her. So even though I don’t like it I have to give her flea treatments each month. It’s not worth the risk. I tried once I got her itching under control to forego the treatment and boom she started itching. The thing to know about DE is you have to reapply it after each rain, here in FL that would be nearly daily and depending on the size yard you have well….it may not be feasible. But it is a good product.
For SAFE flea treatment, please check out Tiny Timmy’s Healing Journey and his Flea Soap. It is about what happened to this sweet kitty and the permanent damage he suffered and how his owner is spreading the word on the toxicity of some flea products. She has developed a SAFE Flea soap. Please spread the word!!!
TW worries that we’ll get fleas cos there are a lot of dogs on this floor and they never vacuum the carpet in the hall. We have some of that earth stuff cos of our moth problem a few year’s ago but TW never used it cos of our asthma. It’s very very fine so you have to wear masks to apply it and I don’t have a mask. Ashton, I can’t believe Pierre is so MEAN!
We don’t get flea treated. Mom treats the dogs and keeps the yard cut and keeps a hawks eye on everyone. Mom loves the picture of you guys. Here’s to a flea free summer!
Yeah, those insecticides are horrible. Good post.