Cat Walking - Short-term Flea and Tick Protection?

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Jennifer - 12 May 2005 22:39 GMT

My husband and I would like to take our indoor-only cats out for the
occasional wander. I know about harnesses and walking jackets, but I
would rather not use something like Advantage if we only take them out
a few times a week during good weather.

I've read some unpleasant things about the toxicity of flea collars,
and I don't know if flea mousses and powders are any better.

Can anyone recommend safe, effective short term flea and tick
protection?

--
Jennifer

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Steve G - 12 May 2005 23:22 GMT

> occasional wander. I know about harnesses and walking jackets,

(...)

> Can anyone recommend safe, effective short term flea and tick
> protection?

AFAIK, Frontline / Revolution and the like are the safest flea (and
some ticks, in the case of Frontline) treatments.

Humans could use Permenone as needed, but I don't think there's any
practically safe dosage of this in cats.

I have no idea whether you could use DEET insect repellent on a cat's
walking jacket, but I'd be sure to find out before doing it!

Steve.

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MaryL - 13 May 2005 02:05 GMT

> My husband and I would like to take our indoor-only cats out for the
> occasional wander. I know about harnesses and walking jackets, but I
[quoted text clipped - 9 lines]
> --
> Jennifer

This is question to ask your vet. However, as far as I know, Advantage or
Frontline would be the safest and most effective products. Anything
"temporary" still must have the ability to kill fleas, and then you would
still have the problem of eggs that could hatch in your house. My vet once
called flea eggs "timed-release eggs" because some may hatch as long as two
years later (and possibly even later than that).

MaryL

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jmc - 13 May 2005 17:10 GMT

Suddenly, without warning, MaryL exclaimed (5/13/2005 2:05 AM):

>>My husband and I would like to take our indoor-only cats out for the
>>occasional wander. I know about harnesses and walking jackets, but I
[quoted text clipped - 18 lines]
>
> MaryL

FWIW, I think you'd be better off dosing your cats all summer, for the
reasons stated above - depending on the age of your house, and any pets
that may have lived there before you moved in, could already be fleas
there anyway.

Meep can't use Frontline, has some weird reaction to it (basically,
freaks completely out for an hour or more, it must itch like mad), so we
use Stronghold here in the UK (it has a different name in the US) and
this works very well.

jmc

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