Question about giving feral kittens/cats flea medicine

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anne mcdonough - 02 Dec 2004 22:44 GMT

Im the one that has the boyfriend who is feeding 3 teenage feral kittens
& the mother .
We live in northern ca. so im not bothered too much by the cold or the
rain . They also can go into the shop that he works at .

Im very concerned about fleas . When we trapped & neutured the cats, we
had them give them flea medicine but the month is up ( i have a dog &
know that you have to give a dog medicine once a month) & how does
anyone put medicine on a cat that runs from you. I know there is flea
spray but does one just spray basically the whole cat since they run
from you & since they live basically outside there is no one place that
one can spray. .
Is there a flea season because i didnt see the cats itching when we went
to see them last weekend
Thanks anne

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Monique Y. Mudama - 02 Dec 2004 23:44 GMT

> Im very concerned about fleas . When we trapped & neutured the cats, we had
> them give them flea medicine but the month is up ( i have a dog & know that
[quoted text clipped - 4 lines]
> flea season because i didnt see the cats itching when we went to see them
> last weekend Thanks anne

There is definitely a flea season.

My cat is indoors, but when we used to have a dog, we fed him garlic
mixed into his food to help stave off fleas. It did seem to help, but I
don't know if that was wishful thinking or what. Then again, most cats are
pickier about their food than most dogs.

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monique, caretaker of Oscar

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Priscilla Ballou - 03 Dec 2004 01:45 GMT

> > Im very concerned about fleas . When we trapped & neutured the cats, we had
> > them give them flea medicine but the month is up ( i have a dog & know that
[quoted text clipped - 11 lines]
> don't know if that was wishful thinking or what. Then again, most cats are
> pickier about their food than most dogs.

And garlic is bad for cats. It's a member of the onion family and thus
can cause Heinz bodies in their blood. Bad stuff.

Priscilla

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Monique Y. Mudama - 03 Dec 2004 02:05 GMT

>> There is definitely a flea season.
>>
[quoted text clipped - 7 lines]
>
> Priscilla

Doh. Forget what I said.

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monique, caretaker of Oscar

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BarB - 03 Dec 2004 20:07 GMT

>Im the one that has the boyfriend who is feeding 3 teenage feral kittens
>& the mother .
[quoted text clipped - 8 lines]
>from you & since they live basically outside there is no one place that
>one can spray. .

What I do for ferals is give them Program ( lufenuron) once a month. I
buy the large dog tablets, grind them up and add to wet food. It's
pretty much tasteless and fairly cheap. You really can't overdose with
Program ( they give it in large doses to prevent ringworm) which makes
it easier to control than other products.

Program is a hormone, an IGR ( insect growth regulator) that prevents
any female flea that bites the cat from producing viable young. It
prevents the chiton or hard exterior skeleton of the flea from forming
but is completely harmless to the cat (and to an adult flea as well).

>Is there a flea season because i didnt see the cats itching when we went
>to see them last weekend

Wet weather combined with heat will cause more fleas to hatch.

BarB

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