Canberra Cat Vet Blog

All cats are exposed to roundworm sometime in their lives. Queens pass the larvae to their kittens in the milk and cats who hunt - and let's face it all cats are hunters - ingest them in that delicious worm, snail or mouse.
Tapeworm is also found in hunters and also in cats who are fed raw meat.
The flea tapeworm is the most common worm in Australian cats. Cats ingest tapeworm infected fleas during grooming.
At Canberra Cat Vet we recommend deworming of all cats, even if confined indoors, every 3 months and effective flea control if fleas have been found on your cat or in its environment.
Profender is an easy to apply spot-on worm control. If your cat also has fleas then Revolution or Advocate treat both fleas and worms.
Milbemax is a very small worm tablet that many people find easy to administer.
Canberra Cat Vet carries Activyl and Advantage, both excellent flea control spot-ons. We also have Seresto, a new flea control collar that keeps flea numbers down for 8 months.

Fleas are still active in the Canberra region and giving some cats an irritating time.

Some cats are allergic to the saliva of fleas. They scratch and lick out of all proportion to the number of fleas on them.

They also lose and get discoloured hair and/ or little scabs and pimples on the head, back, neck, rump and legs. Normal cats are only mildly irritated by fleas. Just one flea bite in the flea allergic cat causes intense and long lasting itchiness.

What is the proper treatment?

We must eliminate all fleas on the cat and in the environment.

Capstar or Comfortis kill the fleas and paralyse flea mouthparts preventing deposition of saliva.

Every month treat your cat with Activyl, Revolution, or Comfortis  to keep flea numbers as low as possible.

Fleas spend most of their life cycle off the cat as larvae and pupae in bedding, carpet, dirt and leaves. Wash bedding in hot water and dry in the sun.  Vacuum carpets and furniture often. Call a professional to fumigate your house.

Cortisone products like prednisolone or Niralone block the allergic reaction and give relief from the intense itching.

 

Fleas are out and about again with the warmer weather. Be sure to only use a cat flea product on your cat.

Dog flea products containing permethrin can be fatal if applied to cats even in small amounts. It is vital that dog flea products are not applied to cats.

In fact it is better that flea products with permethrin in them are not used on dogs who live with cats. A treated dog only has to brush against a cat to poison her. 

Last summer we saw Smokey cat who sleeps nestled against the family dog, Jessie. Last year Jessie was treated with a permethrin flea and tick product before going down the coast for holidays.

Some hours later Smokey started frothing at the mouth, vomiting and twitching. She was whisked off to us and spent several days in intensive care.

Next time the family will use a tick prevention product like Frontline or Frontera on Jessie that is safe for cats as well. They only use products intended for cats, like Activyl, Advantage, Comfortis or Revolution, on Smokey.