slightly sick cat

[redbird]

julian_tiger has been much less bouncy and energetic for several days. This morning, cattitude called the vet, who said "bring him in."

Our cat has fleas. They are of a kind that do not also bite humans; the diagnostics were not sufficient to determine whether they're dog-and-cat fleas, or mouse-and-cat fleas, but given that we haven't seen any recent evidence of mousing, it seems most likely that one of us brought a flea in from a dog we petted in the park.

Fortunately, we caught this quite early. Julian has to have anti-flea medicine rubbed into his fur once a month (it is now in my PDA as a monthly appointment), and we will need to do some cleaning. A new vacuum cleaner may be called for.

Comments

[pameladean]

I did not know that there were fleas that bite cats but not people. I've alrways relied on the idea that fleas always bite me first, so I'll know before an infestation really gets started. Huh.

Hope Julian is his perky self again soon.

P.

[callunav.livejournal.com]

My experience - which I think I remember getting confirmed by a vet, but maybe I'm making that up - has been that if there is a cat or dog in the house, I get few or no bites (and I'm one of the people you invite to picnics so that all the bugs will go after me and leave everyone else alone), but that if the preferred diet animal is away for a day or more, the fleas all see the virtue in making due with an all-human diet, and dig in.

[callunav.livejournal.com]

I've had good success with flea-combing, especially combined with any other kinds of treatment. If you're ruthless, unsqueamish, and/or blood-thirsty, you can pop the little suckers with your thumbnail against something hard. Otherwise, you can keep a dish of rubbing alcohol handy, and dunk the comb in it any time you comb out one or more fleas. (Don't use water; they can swim.)

Good luck to humans and cat alike. Fleas suck. Er. No pun intended.

[mjlayman.livejournal.com]

Poor Julian. Cats never know that you're doing obnoxious things for their own good.

[annafdd.livejournal.com]

Thanks to the miracle of science, fleas are no longer much of a problem, apart from the fact that cats do not appreciate having Frontline rubbed into their necks. I remember the times of flea shampoo, shudder.

If you can, and if the infestation is really bad, you may want to do what I did once - use a bug-bomb and leave the house for 24 hours.

[redbird]

The advice we have includes, after cleaning, use a bug bomb and get out, with cat, for three hours. The "with cat" will be the tricky part; I suspect it means finding a moderately nice day, putting him in his carrier (which he doesn't mind especially) and then sitting in the park for three hours, hoping he'll nap while we read. It's not as though I'm prepared to ask someone "can we bring the cat to your place for three hours while ours airs out after we use the flea bomb?" and risk either indignation or infecting someone else's cat or dog. I don't think I know anyone nearby who would be comfortable giving the cat space for a few hours and doesn't have pets.

[annafdd.livejournal.com]

Fleas have never bitten me, and I have had fleabag cats galore over the years.

You don't need to pet a dog to bring fleas into the house - the damn things can stick to the sole of your shoes. My cat got fleas that had been laying in wait for months in the house from the previous owner, who had a cat.