It's summer, so it's time for my warning again!

[conuly]

FLEAS. KILL.

They spread disease. More importantly, they make animals, especially small, weak, or young animals anemic. And they kill.

They aren't evil, they're just living the way they can, but if you value your mammalian pets, get rid of the fleas. I always used advantage. If you've got a flea problem, get that on EVERY animal, not just the ones who have it bad, and bomb the house. Then repeat the defleaing on the animals in a week or two. I used to find kittens (abandoned, the mama cats in this neighborhood are Bad Mothers) who had fleas all over them almost before they'd opened their eyes. Fleas. Kill.

Comments

[moggymania.livejournal.com]

Borax (either put down yourself or applied professionally) works much better than bombs do, and it's not toxic. Even better, it also deters/kills ants, spiders, silverfish, and pretty much anything else tiny and porous. :)

The best stuff for fleas these days is Revolution -- it kills fleas at all stages, flea eggs, ear mites, skin (mange) mites, heartworm, and is being reviewed by the FDA for ticks. Gooooood stuff!

[moggymania.livejournal.com]

Oh, wait. It doesn't kill the mange mites in cats, because they don't get them in the first place...but instead, it kills hookworms and roundworms. (I *wish* it killed tapeworms...)

[conuly]

*stares* It's like the miracle drug! Wow.

[conuly]

Danke. Is it safe for newborns? That was always my biggest problem, getting the vet to give me anything she thought was safe for newborns.

Hm. I should've seen kittens by now. I wonder where they are?

[moggymania.livejournal.com]

It says that it can be used at six weeks of age, so I'm not sure what one uses before that point... I think before that age, treating the environment around the kitten (washing bedding in hot water, salting surrounding floor in Borax) plus a bath with Ivory Clear dish soap makes a big difference... I also learned firsthand that having an older cat/kitten treated with Revolution/Advantage/Frontline will effectively de-flea kittens as well.

[mortaine.livejournal.com]

NO! Borax is boric acid-- it causes renal failure in cats. Just because it is natural does not mean it's non-toxic.

If you don't have cats, or won't have cats in the house for about 2 weeks after sprinkling, it's fine, though I wouldn't use it with a sensitive dog, either.

[moggymania.livejournal.com]

We don't leave it down... It gets ground deeply into the fibers, left there (with the room closed off from the cats) for three days, then vacuumed so everything except that low-layer is removed. I'm not using it because it's natural, but because that technique what the regional animal rescue/emergency center (http://www.accsonoma.com/) vets and the more experienced feline rescue folks I know recommend, it's the major ingredient in the non-pyrethrin natural flea-control floor powders, and also is what is used on carpeting by commercial services like FleaBusters (http://www.fleabuster.com/). :)

Though since you mentioned renal failure and I *did* lose one cat to that several years after having FleaBusters at my house, I'm going to head over to the Cats Forum to see what's been said about it since I last asked... Thank you for pointing it out!

[mortaine.livejournal.com]

The only reason I know about this hazard is because I own a greyhound-- they're highly susceptible to all poisons, and the boric acid/renal failure link in cats is well known in the GH rescue community, though not so well outside it.

I had a friend try to tell me last weekend that I should use a something that you just wipe across the doorframe or whatever and ants and pests wouldn't cross it. When I asked her what it was, she said "I don't know-- I got it from the Chinese herbalist, and the ingredients list is all in Chinese, but the herbalist says it's perfectly safe for pets." *guh*

With two aging pets the last thing I need is to have *preventable* medical bills.

[catsluvdmb.livejournal.com]

You can use dinacious (sp?) earth to do the same thing, it might be what she got. It's a white powder and you put it on windows and doorframes, and the ants and various other creatures physically can't cross it.

[mortaine.livejournal.com]

We use Program/Sentinel. Program shot for the cat every 6 months, and Sentinel for the dog every month (Sentinel also has heartworm prevention). We get about 1 flea every 3 months or so. We have Advantage for the dog in case we find ticks, but we rarely use it (Program doesn't do ticks).

As an addition to your warning: Cats are also susceptible to heartworms, and heartworm preventions are available for cats now as well.

[catsluvdmb.livejournal.com]

Advantage is illegal in California.

[conuly]

Why, do you know?

[joeymew.livejournal.com]

Seriously? We just got some from the vet the other day.

[catsluvdmb.livejournal.com]

They must of changed the law then. A couple years ago when I visited my grandparents in Cali it was illegal because of all the nasty chemicals in it and no good way to dispose of the dispenser.

[georgiapeachy.livejournal.com]

I remeber when I found my cat in a rural area when he was just a kitten and took him to a vet because he was so sick and the vet told me the fleas were making him sick and they would have killed him if I had not rescued him. I was really suprised to hear this, I always thought fleas were annoying, but I didn't know they were deadly.

[conuly]

A LOT of people think that. Which is why I post this message often.

[moggymania.livejournal.com]

Borax (either put down yourself or applied professionally) works much better than bombs do, and it's not toxic. Even better, it also deters/kills ants, spiders, silverfish, and pretty much anything else tiny and porous. :)

The best stuff for fleas these days is Revolution -- it kills fleas at all stages, flea eggs, ear mites, skin (mange) mites, heartworm, and is being reviewed by the FDA for ticks. Gooooood stuff!

[moggymania.livejournal.com]

Oh, wait. It doesn't kill the mange mites in cats, because they don't get them in the first place...but instead, it kills hookworms and roundworms. (I *wish* it killed tapeworms...)

[conuly]

*stares* It's like the miracle drug! Wow.

[conuly]

Danke. Is it safe for newborns? That was always my biggest problem, getting the vet to give me anything she thought was safe for newborns.

Hm. I should've seen kittens by now. I wonder where they are?

[moggymania.livejournal.com]

It says that it can be used at six weeks of age, so I'm not sure what one uses before that point... I think before that age, treating the environment around the kitten (washing bedding in hot water, salting surrounding floor in Borax) plus a bath with Ivory Clear dish soap makes a big difference... I also learned firsthand that having an older cat/kitten treated with Revolution/Advantage/Frontline will effectively de-flea kittens as well.

[mortaine.livejournal.com]

NO! Borax is boric acid-- it causes renal failure in cats. Just because it is natural does not mean it's non-toxic.

If you don't have cats, or won't have cats in the house for about 2 weeks after sprinkling, it's fine, though I wouldn't use it with a sensitive dog, either.

[moggymania.livejournal.com]

We don't leave it down... It gets ground deeply into the fibers, left there (with the room closed off from the cats) for three days, then vacuumed so everything except that low-layer is removed. I'm not using it because it's natural, but because that technique what the regional animal rescue/emergency center (http://www.accsonoma.com/) vets and the more experienced feline rescue folks I know recommend, it's the major ingredient in the non-pyrethrin natural flea-control floor powders, and also is what is used on carpeting by commercial services like FleaBusters (http://www.fleabuster.com/). :)

Though since you mentioned renal failure and I *did* lose one cat to that several years after having FleaBusters at my house, I'm going to head over to the Cats Forum to see what's been said about it since I last asked... Thank you for pointing it out!

[mortaine.livejournal.com]

The only reason I know about this hazard is because I own a greyhound-- they're highly susceptible to all poisons, and the boric acid/renal failure link in cats is well known in the GH rescue community, though not so well outside it.

I had a friend try to tell me last weekend that I should use a something that you just wipe across the doorframe or whatever and ants and pests wouldn't cross it. When I asked her what it was, she said "I don't know-- I got it from the Chinese herbalist, and the ingredients list is all in Chinese, but the herbalist says it's perfectly safe for pets." *guh*

With two aging pets the last thing I need is to have *preventable* medical bills.

[catsluvdmb.livejournal.com]

You can use dinacious (sp?) earth to do the same thing, it might be what she got. It's a white powder and you put it on windows and doorframes, and the ants and various other creatures physically can't cross it.

[mortaine.livejournal.com]

We use Program/Sentinel. Program shot for the cat every 6 months, and Sentinel for the dog every month (Sentinel also has heartworm prevention). We get about 1 flea every 3 months or so. We have Advantage for the dog in case we find ticks, but we rarely use it (Program doesn't do ticks).

As an addition to your warning: Cats are also susceptible to heartworms, and heartworm preventions are available for cats now as well.

[catsluvdmb.livejournal.com]

Advantage is illegal in California.

[conuly]

Why, do you know?

[joeymew.livejournal.com]

Seriously? We just got some from the vet the other day.

[catsluvdmb.livejournal.com]

They must of changed the law then. A couple years ago when I visited my grandparents in Cali it was illegal because of all the nasty chemicals in it and no good way to dispose of the dispenser.

[georgiapeachy.livejournal.com]

I remeber when I found my cat in a rural area when he was just a kitten and took him to a vet because he was so sick and the vet told me the fleas were making him sick and they would have killed him if I had not rescued him. I was really suprised to hear this, I always thought fleas were annoying, but I didn't know they were deadly.

[conuly]

A LOT of people think that. Which is why I post this message often.