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JayJay posted:Help! I live in Florida and I guess its that time, cause I have ants all around my cats food and litter. I've never had them before. She's 6.5 months so I've been free-feeding her to get her weight up, but now im not sure what to do. Im replacing the litter daily, using vinegar/water to clean around, which really annoys my cat. Cleaned my whole kitchen up and put her food in a bowl in the middle of vinegar/water in a pan to keep off the ants. Does anyone know of any kind of cat-friendly ant killer? I doubt it exists. My cat is just going crazy right now meowing and running around in laps. I just went through this with our house and a case of ants discovering the delicious bounty of cat food I put out. I suggest Terminix, because our local guys are very good about listening to concerns involving household pets. Rather than put any poison inside, our guy used an outside bait that he dabbed along the wall.
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Aug 18, 2013 17:17
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Minarchist posted:I'm not really sure where to post this or what to do so I'm just gonna post it here and hope for the best. The cops won't get involved, you will need to call Animal Control. Or just, you know, go over there with one or two people with you and ask for your cat back. And then keep him inside if you have a psycho cat-stealing neighbor.
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Aug 18, 2013 17:20
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left a message rambling on about backhoes and construction, and some family named the Leonards, but then he concluded the call with "I got your kitty." then hung up. My cat was living with my mom and stepdad since I can't have him at my current place, and he disappeared about 2 months ago. We never put up posters or published a phone number, and my cat would ninja his way out of any collar so he wouldn't have tags with info. He was chipped, though.
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JustJeff88 posted:Does anyone have any experience "taming" ferals? Back on Friday, 9 August I caught 2 feral kittens, somewhere between 8 and 12 weeks each, in a live trap. I kept them in a large cage for a while and the one with longer hair was ill when I got her, but I took her to the vet (where she panicked and made a scene) and she's fine now after some antibiotics. The usual advice for getting kittens to warm up to people is to sit in a room with them, with treats, but not paying attention to the kittens, just so they can get used to you being around. They won't be happier as feral cats. You'll be giving them reliable food and shelter and company (which cats need!) and also vet care. They might never be lap cats (some cats are just dicks), but they'll probably warm up to you soon enough. Just keep being around them.
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Aug 18, 2013 17:24
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JustJeff88 posted:Does anyone have any experience "taming" ferals? Back on Friday, 9 August I caught 2 feral kittens, somewhere between 8 and 12 weeks each, in a live trap. I kept them in a large cage for a while and the one with longer hair was ill when I got her, but I took her to the vet (where she panicked and made a scene) and she's fine now after some antibiotics. Also, you want them to warm up to you faster? Timed feedings, and you have to be the one to put out the food.
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Aug 18, 2013 17:27
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Serella posted:The cops won't get involved, you will need to call Animal Control. Thing is I have no idea if the guy has my cat or not. I'll call animal control today though and see what they say.
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Aug 18, 2013 18:19
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JayJay posted:Help! I live in Florida and I guess its that time, cause I have ants all around my cats food and litter. I've never had them before. She's 6.5 months so I've been free-feeding her to get her weight up, but now im not sure what to do. Im replacing the litter daily, using vinegar/water to clean around, which really annoys my cat. Cleaned my whole kitchen up and put her food in a bowl in the middle of vinegar/water in a pan to keep off the ants. Does anyone know of any kind of cat-friendly ant killer? I doubt it exists. My cat is just going crazy right now meowing and running around in laps. Home Depot sells some pet friendly pest killers as well. The Eco brand (I think it's called). We call it minty ant death as it's made with Wintergreen oils, works super fast, and smells great! Seriously, I've never even seen Raid kill ants this fast. Plus, it's pet and kid safe. We love it.
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Aug 18, 2013 18:43
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Well, I'm not a million miles off then. At first I left dry food out at all times (Wellness No-Grain Kitten), but the last several days I have stopped going that and only hand-fed them. While feeding them at the same times every day like clockwork isn't realistic for me, what I do is sit on the floor (to make myself look smaller) and put their wet food (mostly Wellness CORE Kitten, but I've experimented) right in front of me in two little bowls. They have to come to me to eat, and I stroke them gently while they do so - if they aren't brave girls, they don't eat. I feel a bit of an arse for that, but they have to learn to live among humans. Then I end up feeling guilty and giving them lots of treat later, old softy that I am. Prima especially loves those Purina crunchy treats, but they are made from absolute poo poo - nothing but grain and other cheap ingredients. I'll use up what I have, but I'm not sure if I will buy more of those. I bought a packet of Blue Buffalo soft treats that went over pretty well, but good God are they expensive.
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Aug 18, 2013 18:55
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For you PI pleasure, please enjoy my cat Cave in a cone of shame:  Poor guy had his anal gland rupture and is in neck-based containment until it heals. Any tips for keeping him comfortable? He has been in the cone for 3 days so far, and it is anticipated that he'll spend a whole week in it. We upgraded to a flexible fabric e-cone rather than a rigid plastic one, which seems to have helped. I wipe the cone clean after meals (usually I hand-feed him to make it easier) and this model lets you pull back a section of it to help them eat and grant some more visibility. Should I be trying to clean him? I've given him a quick swipe with a warm, wet paper towel once. I also got him with the Furminator and he nearly lost his little mind because I think it scratched all his itches so well.  Any tips on keeping a cat-inna-cone happy are welcome.
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Aug 18, 2013 20:55
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Undead Waterfowl posted:Home Depot sells some pet friendly pest killers as well. The Eco brand (I think it's called). We call it minty ant death as it's made with Wintergreen oils, works super fast, and smells great! Seriously, I've never even seen Raid kill ants this fast. Plus, it's pet and kid safe. We love it. Awesome! I was about to go out right near home depot. I'll need to check for it.
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Aug 18, 2013 20:57
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Cat lovers, I hope you can help! I've combed through this thread, but haven't come across anyone else with the same problem. I have two cats, and while they are usually fine throughout the night, one starts getting very vocal between 4-5am. Every morning. Every loving morning... He will yowl and yowl to wake me (and anyone else) up. I typically don't respond or I might yell at him to be quiet if he's really loud for a prolonged period of time. On rare occasions I'll get up and put more food into the bowl and he'll quiet down. The problem is that I don't want him to think that he will get food everytime he yowls... at 4am. Has anyone else experienced this? If so, were you able to overcome it?
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Aug 19, 2013 13:08
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Smart rear end posted:Cat lovers, I hope you can help! I've combed through this thread, but haven't come across anyone else with the same problem. I used to have the same with one of my cats. The only way for me to stop it was to break his daily habit and take him into bed when he started at 5am. Other thing which can work is to find something tfor him to do at this time, like some cat toys.
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Aug 19, 2013 14:06
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Smart rear end posted:Cat lovers, I hope you can help! I've combed through this thread, but haven't come across anyone else with the same problem. General advice is to usually play with them like loving crazy before bed time to tire them out. Other than that, if it's food related, try a timed auto feeder.
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Aug 19, 2013 14:10
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Smart rear end posted:Cat lovers, I hope you can help! I've combed through this thread, but haven't come across anyone else with the same problem. How old is the yowler? I've had an elderly cat who did that as he went deaf, and I've known a number of other people whose old kitties start howling at night.
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Aug 19, 2013 15:11
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four lean hounds posted:I just went through this with our house and a case of ants discovering the delicious bounty of cat food I put out. I suggest Terminix, because our local guys are very good about listening to concerns involving household pets. Rather than put any poison inside, our guy used an outside bait that he dabbed along the wall. Just to add my 2 cents I got a 6 pack of terro liquid bait packs off amazon and put one along the trail of ants that were coming into the front door. I don't know that it would be totally safe to use inside, but they were way more interested in the bait than my cat food crumbs and just the one pack was enough to get them to stop coming inside and I guess eventually murder their whole colony because I haven't seen anymore. If you had a cat that wouldn't be likely to play with a little piece of clear plastic it might be ok to put inside, but if they're likely to knock some bait out and lick it up eh. It is just borax and sugar gel, though, I think, so it wouldn't be horrible if they got into it (probably)
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Aug 19, 2013 15:27
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Dogen posted:Just to add my 2 cents I got a 6 pack of terro liquid bait packs off amazon and put one along the trail of ants that were coming into the front door. I don't know that it would be totally safe to use inside, but they were way more interested in the bait than my cat food crumbs and just the one pack was enough to get them to stop coming inside and I guess eventually murder their whole colony because I haven't seen anymore. That's basically what I ended up doing, I just put the trap in an always-closed closet near the ant trails so she can't get to them. Also I think mine are protein ants (which explains why they love her high protein grain free food), so I bought both kinds of trap just in case.
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Aug 19, 2013 19:58
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Does anyone have any advice for dealing with a geriatric cat reverting to violent kitten behaviour? My brat's 19, and she's been with me for 18 years. She's physically healthy, had her last checkup three months ago and she gets fresh meat every day. As she's aged she's mellowed out a lot, as they do, and the vet has said that some demented behaviour is fine and to be expected. It is fine, really; mostly she just meows in confusion sometimes when she can't see me, so I gently call back at her or go to where she is and give her a coo and a pat. She can still jump onto my bed and climb modest box castles. When she gets confused while she's sitting and laying with me, though, sometimes she'll freak out for no reason and try to rip me to shreds. When she latches onto my arm I push it towards her and yelp, but this only works sometimes, and she'll also go for my face sometimes while I sleep. She uses the exact same postures she does during play, and the looks on her face are the same. I can't pick up any differences between her play body language and her ATTACK THE BITCH body language. Ive always used toys for her to work her aggression out on, so I dont know where Body As Massive Plaything came from, except feline dementia. I don't want to change her entire paradigm and kick her off my bed, but if there's any way to avoid her randomly going apeshit on my soft, beautiful skin I'd love to know how to stop her. I asked my vet and he was basically like 'dwi she's old they do that'.
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Aug 19, 2013 20:28
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JayJay posted:That's basically what I ended up doing, I just put the trap in an always-closed closet near the ant trails so she can't get to them. Also I think mine are protein ants (which explains why they love her high protein grain free food), so I bought both kinds of trap just in case. Yeah the stuff I got specifically mentions if there is 'grease-based' food around some kinds of ants will go for that over the bait, but I was dealing with some small black ants (which we refer to as "sugar ants") and it worked like magic. Seems to have killed several pill bugs which like sugar as well, I guess?
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Aug 19, 2013 20:51
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I have two lovely 2 year old siblings. We just moved into a new house, and have noticed that there is a stray or feral cat living in our yard. I'm leaning more towards feral, but he could be a stray. No collar and he is not neutered. My wife and I often see him sleeping in our yard in various spots, and believe he spends the night in our yard as well. There are restaurants near by with dumpsters, and we are one of the few houses in the area with a fairly quiet back yard. I'd like to know what action I should take with this cat? Would it be best to call a no kill shelter in the area? Should I keep it as an outdoor cat and build it a shelter and provide food/water? Will my indoor cats be bothered by him being in the yard and being sometimes visible? My wife and I love cats and we want to do what is best for the well being of our cats, as well as our current guest outside.  Bonus picture of them being cute.
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Aug 19, 2013 23:54
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Long story about my cat's nasty feet ahead. Last Sunday, I noticed his toe was bleeding - I believe the 2nd digit on the RH leg? It looked like his nail had split, which I thought was from when I accidentally spooked him earlier and he ran off on our uneven tile floor. His other toenails were strange though - they were peeling, almost frayed, and one was in the process of splitting like this one. We clip his nails pretty religiously and I've never seen them like that before. He does have one toenail that is all deformed, but we figured it was from a prior trauma. We soaked it in a warm wash cloth and put an e-collar on him, but Monday morning it was still bleeding and was very painful so I took him to work with me. Doctor looks over his toe, says it looks infected, and that the other nails look like they're developing minor infections. She has no clue what's going on with his toes. She's pretty knowledgeable about cats, having worked in a cat-only practice for 20-something years. She took a bunch of pictures to post on VIN and asked another vet to come and look and neither of them knew what was up. His front feet look normal except for a few "horny toes" that never grow too long and don't bother him. He got a shot of Convenia and I soaked his foot in Nolvasan scrub for about 3 days along with wearing an e-collar and using special litter for about 4 days. Last Wednesday it was looking crappy again, so I brought him back in and saw another doctor who said it looked like it was healing well, but almost like the nail was split away from the quick? Like, the nail is in no way attached to the quick. The two doctors I saw spoke and said that basically the nail just has to fall off now, but it's still pretty firmly rooted in place. It looks "dead" compared to his other toes, which are a nice white color. Around the nail is some brown residue that I see often with skin infections, but it's very minor. The skin also looks irritated and swollen but I can't tell if he just has some hair loss? His hind nails themselves are pretty frail - I can easily peel the nails with my fingers. A week later and his quick is dried up but it still doesn't look right to me. Does anyone have any experience with this? I've seen plenty of torn dog nails but no torn cat nails. I guess I'm looking at suggestions or other people's experiences with something similar. Should we just go and hack the toenail off already? I took some pictures tonight. Not pictured are the other frayed toes. Gallery of toebeans
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Aug 20, 2013 02:40
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four lean hounds posted:
Clean him or clean his butt? You don't really have to do either unless he's really dirty. Honestly I'd leave his butt alone and he'll get over the fact he can't clean himself sooner or later.
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Aug 20, 2013 02:43
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Engineer Lenk posted:How old is the yowler? I've had an elderly cat who did that as he went deaf, and I've known a number of other people whose old kitties start howling at night. He's about to turn three... but he also grew up around dogs instead of other cats. So maybe that could explain the behavior?
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Aug 20, 2013 03:05
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Help! My cat, Linus, is scabby as gently caress! I bathed him tonite and I'm wondering if I need to do anything else? His scabs seem primarily on his neck below his chin, at the base of his tail, and a few on his back. He's gross, and I don't want to touch him anymore.
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Aug 20, 2013 04:08
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Oxford Comma posted:Help! My cat, Linus, is scabby as gently caress! I don't think I'd be using that shampoo you are because Pyrethrins on cats make me nervous. Is that the first time you've used that shampoo on him? Did the scabs show up after you started using that on him? I'd use a more soothing shampoo. Does he have fleas? I'd take him to a vet to see is you can determine what might be causing the issue and go from there.
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Aug 20, 2013 04:39
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hhgtrillian posted:I don't think I'd be using that shampoo you are because Pyrethrins on cats make me nervous. Is that the first time you've used that shampoo on him? Did the scabs show up after you started using that on him? I'd use a more soothing shampoo. Does he have fleas? I'd take him to a vet to see is you can determine what might be causing the issue and go from there. He's been scabby for several weeks, at least. The shampoo was an attempt to get any fleas off him that might be causing his gross scabs.
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Aug 20, 2013 05:38
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I've been away for a couple of weeks recently (health issues), and my boy Ringo's been looked after by my brother and then my mum, who both bought different wet foods for him over that time (I normally buy Applaws tuna tins, over the time I've been gone the poor fella's had Whiskas, Dine, Fancy Feast and god knows what else). Net result, he has the runs and was vomiting a little bit. We took him to the vet today who gave him some antibiotics in case it was gastroenteritis, and recommended that we feed him a bland diet of chicken and rice for a few days to let his stomach settle a bit. The problem is Ringo seems to be completely turning up his nose at the stuff. What else could I offer him that's easily digestible? Should I keep offering the chicken for a bit to see if he's just too dumb to figure out that it is indeed food, switch and try to find something he will eat, or just offer him his usual food/kibble?
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Aug 20, 2013 11:46
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Baby food is bland: plain chicken baby food was all I could get Ozma to eat gor a while after her illness. Maybe mix some gerbers into the food? Did you not leave food for the cat? I'd be pretty pissed if someone changed my cat's diet without asking me.
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Aug 20, 2013 13:24
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I left food for the planned part of my absence, which was about a week before that. The two weeks where ringo was getting his food changed on him I didn't have the chance to plan out or even go and buy extra food for him  I'll look into some baby food tomorrow morning, for now I've left him a little bit of his usual kibble to stop him meowing the house down during the night
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Aug 20, 2013 13:50
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Oxford Comma posted:Help! My cat, Linus, is scabby as gently caress! His pissed meow/squeek at 0:57 made me feel all
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Aug 20, 2013 13:54
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As the title says, get two, we may be getting a new cat. A friend of my missus works in a vet surgery as a receptionist. She posted a picture on facebook of a kitten and instantly I knew we may be getting a new cat. My missus showed interest before she knew the sob story but once she read about what had happened to him, it was a lock. Apparently he was brought into the practice after being attacked by 3 jack russell's. He's about 4-5 months old and I think that he will be ok as a playmate for our 4 year old cat. Both cats are timid things and have (will) come to us as strays, Arthur will have a pal to play with on the cold winter days while we are at work, as long as they mix well I think it's going to be a great thing. Arthur is very chilled, new guy apparently purrs like a tractor and loves being handled. Fingers crossed. I guess I don't have any questions, as introduction instructions are in the OP but I just wanted to share. 
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Aug 20, 2013 14:58
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Help! My moms cat, Mr. Winter, is noticeably sick. He is traditionally a house cat, but about a week ago, he managed to escape for about a whole day. Starting 3 days ago, he's been sneezing like crazy, which is cute at first but its becoming worrysome now. These sneezes also can lead him to making some intense gaging noises. He has dropped a few pounds, and is much less active than usual. To top it off, my mom calls me and says he sneezed out some blood, and you can hear his wheezyness more clearly, so now I'm pretty concerned. He didn't have any visible injuries from his escapade outside and his mobility seems more or less normal. Is there anything this might obviously be? Could he have caught something in that day he was outside?  Edit: looks like some sort of worm is most likely? I want to say its lungworm. I'd like to save a trip to the vet but its probably the best thing to do. Edit 2: After googling "cats sneezing blood" it looks like it could be anything meanolmrcloud fucked around with this message at 17:31 on Aug 20, 2013 |
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Aug 20, 2013 17:13
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Bloody sneezes? Might be time to see a vet. That doesn't sound like something you can cure at home.Oxford Comma posted:Help! My cat, Linus, is scabby as gently caress! My cat just got over "cat acne" on his chin, and I had to get rid of all his plastic bowls and treat his chin scabs with disinfectant. He was leaving little furry scab bits around my house and they'd come off when I petted him.  But he's better now.In the meantime, give Linus lots of pets even though he is scabby. Pets with a hydrogen peroxide soaked cloth, maybe.
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Aug 20, 2013 18:52
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Oxford Comma posted:He's been scabby for several weeks, at least. The shampoo was an attempt to get any fleas off him that might be causing his gross scabs. Baths are the worst way to get rid of fleas, actually. Stop bathing him and use a topical treatment like Advantage instead. You have to wait like 2 days after his last bath so the skin oils have a chance to replenish, but it'll do a much better job.
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Aug 20, 2013 19:06
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Linus is considerably less scabby today than yesterday. He's not an outdoor cat so they're not wounds. Ill keep an eye on him and see how his skin is in a week or so.
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Aug 20, 2013 19:57
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Serella posted:Baths are the worst way to get rid of fleas, actually. Stop bathing him and use a topical treatment like Advantage instead. You have to wait like 2 days after his last bath so the skin oils have a chance to replenish, but it'll do a much better job. What if Advantage isn't working? My cat has had fleas for a month now, and even with vacuuming daily, throwing out the bags, spraying the carpet with flea killer, and using a Raid fogger I still see fleas. I just used the Advantage on Sunday, so is there anything else I can do for the next month?
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Aug 20, 2013 20:28
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I would ask a vet, but I have seen them allow more frequent topical flea killing med applications. Also consider switching to revolution, I have heard sometimes bugs in an area become immune to one particular formula.
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Aug 20, 2013 20:45
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in_cahoots posted:What if Advantage isn't working? My cat has had fleas for a month now, and even with vacuuming daily, throwing out the bags, spraying the carpet with flea killer, and using a Raid fogger I still see fleas. I just used the Advantage on Sunday, so is there anything else I can do for the next month? Dogen posted:I would ask a vet, but I have seen them allow more frequent topical flea killing med applications. Also consider switching to revolution, I have heard sometimes bugs in an area become immune to one particular formula. This. You can always ask your vet what product they recommend for your area, but you'll want to wait a few more days before thinking about trying another topical treatment. Also, ask the vet to sell you a Capstar tablet to kill all the fleas on your pet for like 24-36 hours, which could give you a jump start.
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Aug 20, 2013 22:13
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Shnooks posted:Long story about my cat's nasty feet ahead. That is the weirdest thing.  Maybe your vet would know of an internal medicine specialist to consult with? I would think if it's not obviously from a bacterial or fungal infection, something internal might be a good next step.Since you said you clip his claws religiously, I do know you can encourage some infections by trimming claws too far. I have no idea if such an infection would cause that, though.
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Aug 20, 2013 22:41
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Serella posted:This. The vet recommended Advantage, so I assume it's generally effective in my locale. I guess I'll ask for some Capstar then.
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Aug 20, 2013 23:17
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Oxford Comma posted:Help! My cat, Linus, is scabby as gently caress! Linus looks awfully like my orange and white cat, who is very allergic to flea bites and gets scabby to the extent that he overgrooms and gets very sore on his back and at the base of his tail. Even if he's dosed up on Frontline the fleas will bite him and die, but he'll still have a significant reaction - my vet has given him quite heavy steroid injections in the past to calm the bites down while they heal or he'll just scratch himself to hell. The solution seems to be to dose him with Frontline religiously every three weeks rather than four and to spray the house with (vet prescribed) flea spray every so often. The non-prescription stuff doesn't cut it at all. He also gets chin scabs / acne, but making sure to wash his (metal) bowls daily seems to have helped with that.
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Aug 21, 2013 00:28
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mdf posted:He also gets chin scabs / acne, but making sure to wash his (metal) bowls daily seems to have helped with that. Since the bulk of his ickiness is around his neck, what is the connection between metal bowls (which we also use) and his scabs?
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Aug 21, 2013 02:47
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