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Post by wendy on Nov 14, 2009 14:59:06 GMT -5
As I write this, there is a flea meandering across the computer screen.  I have three cats, the last of which was an unexpected gift from a friend of DS who found that the no-kill shelters were all full, sigh. I love them all, but it seems that when we acquired that last kitten, our workable cat care system went to hell in a hand basket. Previously, we had no flea problems because we were using Revolution, which is really fantastic. Problem is, it has to be prescribed by a vet, and reduced financial circumstances make it impossible for me to take them to the vet at this time, unless there's an emergency. Sooooo, I decided to try Advantage, and it seems like this product not only does not work, but has made the problem WORSE. The last time I put the Advantage on, I also used an entire can of flea spray on all the areas they generally like to sleep and hang out in. Three weeks later, we have the worst flea infestation I've ever seen! The poor kitties are scratching constantly, and we are finding flea larvae everywhere-- even on end tables!! I'm at my wit's end, and I could use every piece of advice you can give me. Secondly, we're having litterbox issues. For some reason, the poop of the poor little kitty we last adopted smells ten times worse than regular cat poop (sorry to be so graphic ), and as she's still growing, she eats a lot and poops constantly. They are all very good about making it to the litter box (or at least the newspaper around the litter box), but the whole house smells constantly. Within an hour of changing the box, it smells like the box hasn't been changed in weeks! We have a regular litter box because the older two refused to enter a covered one. We use regular litter because I read somewhere that cats don't like the scented variety. We do not scoop, we just change the whole box twice a week--- maybe this is not enough?  I guess it just seems pointless to change it more often when it smells bad just an hour after changing it. At any rate, in all my years of cat ownership, I've never had such difficulities, and I'm tearing my hair out!! Any suggestions on how to cope? Thanks, Wendy |
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Post by StuffNoMore on Nov 14, 2009 15:45:56 GMT -5
I'm so sorry you have to go through these kitty issues Wendy  I've never had any problems with litter boxes so unfortunately I can't be of help. One of my coworkers can't afford flea medication for her pets so what she does is put Skin so Soft mixed with water in a pray bottle and mists then brushes the fur kids. She swears by it and hasn't seen any fleas this year. I can ask her tonight the equations of the mix. It also works for ticks, mosquito's and believe it or not head lice. She also sprays it along the entrance to her apartment and window sills and no insects enter including ants. Hugs SNM |
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Post by harleyquinn on Nov 14, 2009 16:11:49 GMT -5
I'm new to the list and haven't posted an intro yet, but I know the fleas and the fleas know me. I have lots of pets so this is a perennial problem at my house. I switch back and forth between frontline (plus heartgard for heartworm protection) for the dogs and advantage for the cats in the spring, summer, and fall months and then revolution for everybody in the winter months. I get all the stuff online without a prescription from www.petshed.com. They are the least expensive source I've found--much cheaper than the vet. I'm in the U.S. but you can order from anywhere. There's a little wait for the shipping--but it's less than a week. I know your post didn't mention heartworm preventatives--but just in case someone else sees this--if you order heartworm meds online you still need to take your dog to the vet for an annual hw test just to make sure the protection is working. Dealing with the fleas and litterboxes this very weekend. I've been buying the house brand of litter at the grocery store (Kroger) because it has the best odor control for my kitties. I dump it all out and start over every other day and scoop the worst in between litter changes. I have a couple of extra offensive poopers, too. They get scooped. I have a male cat who does territorial peeing--truly horrid. He's fixed but the smell is still awful. I've been using Urine Off on the carpeting and sub floor underneath and then sealing the sub floor with polyurethane. Am going to steam clean the carpeting soon, too. Pretty sure I learned about that sub floor trick from this list. One brilliant idea that I think I saw on this list (but haven't tried myself yet)--is to put a cat flea collar in the vacuum bag. And then vacuum as often as you can. Good luck! Harley Quinn |
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Post by autumn on Nov 14, 2009 16:35:42 GMT -5
I have also read to put a bowl of water with some dishsoap stirred up in it on the floor under an outlet with a night light. Supposedly the fleas will be attracted to the light, jump in the bowl with soap and be done for....
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Post by midlife on Nov 14, 2009 16:35:46 GMT -5
At this point, treating the cats is not going to be good enough -- you're going to need to treat all your floors and upholstered furniture, because the fleas will have laid tons of eggs that can lie dormant for months. When the larvae hatch out, they don't need blood, they can live off of little bits of organic detritus like dead skin cells, and then after they metamorphose to adults, I think they only have to eat once before they can start reproducing and the cycle starts all over again!
We moved into a house that had an existing flea infestation. I never suspected this could be, because the house had been vacant for 18 months, with the owners just visiting every six months or so on their vacations. But those visits were enough to sustain the fleas, and once we moved in, they exploded. You could walk across the carpet with white socks on and see the fleas just leaping onto your feet. "Fleabusters" powder saved us -- I think it's a boric acid powder, but it's specially treated to cling to carpet fibers & other surfaces via static electricity, so one application lasts a year, no matter how often you vacuum. It creates little nicks in the skin of the adults & larvae, and they dry out and die.
The downside is that it can take up to six weeks for it to have its full effect, but that was totally worth it to me, since the other alternative would have been bombing the house with toxic pesticides! And it really did last a whole year. Once the year was up, we did start getting a few fleas here and there (since the pets are always bringing in new ones from outside). We treated the carpets again and the problem was immediately gone.
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Post by Chris on Nov 14, 2009 17:00:04 GMT -5
Dear Wendy,
Oh how I understand what you are going thru.
My cat Meena her poop used to stink really really bad when she was little (under a year) and I even took her to the vet once thinking something was wrong because her stools were always runny too. Thankfully she outgrew that but it was as if a stink bomb had gone off in the house. It passed eventually --- the vet said everything was fine and that she would outgrow it. He was right. I had to keep tons of plastic bags so I could scoop and contain her poop. I had to take the bag right out to the main trash too. What a lot of work. But I'm happy to say we're past that now - long time past.
The flea situation I've been thru many many times in the past. Currently, thank God we have things under control. This is south Texas where we live and everyone has to deal with it even many with no pets. They are everywhere in the grass & stuff. I've used a lot of different things. What works now for my cats is called Vectra ($45 for 3 vials). It works for us better than any other product I've bought. I have a great vet and I can get it even if I'm a little late on their routine shots they always sell me the flea stuff no questions asked. I just got my 2 cats caught up on their shots this week -- I had to because of babysitting in my home.
But ---- I have also had to deal with fleas with no money -- which was extremely hard and involved a lot of vacuuming, washing, and also involved combing each cat (2) individually and having a soapy warm water bowl to drown the fleas. Ok I know that's gross but that's what I had to do. And saying I dealt with it with no money isn't true because I did have to buy that expensive spray in the purple can Raid = Flea Killer Plus Carpet & Room Spray. The can I think runs about $8 but maybe less - I am not sure. That stuff kills the eggs too. So you can use it on all carpets, couches, pet bedding that can't be washed etc. And, the vacuum is your friend. Everything has to be vacuumed repeatedly and tie a bag around the end of the hose thingy if you can't throw out the bag each time (who can afford that). The other product I had to buy was Adams Flea and Tick spray (got that at PetsMart) to spray directly on the cats (with help holding them) when an infestation was really bad.
The main objective with fleas is to break the cycle. It's about the pet, the carpets, the bedding, furniture, your bedding, and even the base boards. The little suckers get everywhere and then even with the stuff labeled for "bombing" or fumigating --- well the eggs are left behind. I had a client with Terminex coming a lot but the caregivers in charge of her mom and the in home cleaning were not vacuuming -- they had fleas so bad (no pets mind you) that they had to evacuate to a hotel. It was awful. I'm not blaming the caregivers. It was a tough situation.
Anyway -- flea infestation is very expensive and very very time consuming and yucky. It costs money even when we have hardly any money because it simply has to be dealt with. In fact the darn sprays and vacuum bags and all that end up costing more than the preventative drops. Oh and when I used Front Line it always had "Plus" on it. It worked but not as good as Vectra does.
I wish you all the best with breaking the flea cycle in your home and on your cats. I know it's very discouraging and it takes tons of work when they start up. Like I said -- it's good to realize that even people without any pets get flea infestations. Actually the cat is just an ideal environment for them but if the cats all ran away today you'd still have the fleas until the cycle is broken. If you go on Foster and Smith website they have a lot of real educational info about fleas. I got a lot of help reading their articles. They sell pet stuff.
I will keep you in my prayers and I hope you can get the problem solved real soon.
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Post by houseworkhater on Nov 14, 2009 17:21:45 GMT -5
I wish I could help, but I don't know anything to do for the fleas except get the cats treated and bomb the house at the same time until they are gone from the cats and the house. I know I tried many other ways to get rid of them when I couldn't afford a vet but nothing else ever worked for me. I borrowed the money to do it.
As for the new cat having smelly stools...when we took in our cat as a stray, he was very good about going in his box but the smell was truly unbearable to the point that we were going to give him away. When we took him to the vet for shots, etc., we found out that he had some kind of stomach problems/issues...not sure what they were now (10 years ago), but the vet gave him some medicine and told me to feed him dry food only and it was fine in about 10 days.
Good luck to you!
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Post by CourageouslyLion SeeksSerenity on Nov 14, 2009 17:54:09 GMT -5
- "Advantage" brand is supposed to work for a month. That was never true for me. Always had apply it every three weeks.
I would bring all pets and humans elsewhere for the day. Then "flea bomb" your house. There are brands of "flea bomb" that say they seep into your carpet and upholstery fibers ... and keep killing eggs for up to six months. Get that kind. Depending on the size or layout of your home, you might need to set off more than one bomb at same time. Read the directions as to the surface area it covers, and the dynamics of walls as obstructions. If it says to use more than one, do it. If the recommendation is to use more than one, do it. Don't just do a skimpy job, because that won't help. Flea bombs really are an "all or nothing" thing (sort of). It's really best to do it all at once and thoroughly. Doing only one room ... is pointless. Once you've set off the bombs, Shut all doors and windows. Leave. Wait 5 hours. Then return home. Air out the place. Vacuum up the dead bugs.
After returning home, AFTER the flea bombing:Wash specifically: - all kitchen counters and tables.
- any hard surfaces that children might touch and then put hands in mouth.
- any plates/pots/pans that might have been hit by flea bomb.
Take all bedding -- sheets, blankets, quilts, towels, -- AND PILLOWS to laundromat. Wash everything but the pillows -- HOT water if possible. Dry thoroughly on as high heat as safely possible.
Put the pillows in the dryer for an hour while the bedding is washing. (You may wash washable pillows but ... be sure to dry in dryer thoroughly).
(You can be at the laundromat WHILE the flea bombs are doing their work, .... or go immediately afterward.)
 treat ALL pets with EFFECTIVE anti-flea treatment -- on the SAME day.
This is a lot of work. I know you have disabilities. You'll have to get a team to help you. But it needs to be done.
I was a houseguest at someone's home ... she had an intense outbreak of fleas (and only ONE pet -- one cat). The air was THICK with fleas. If you sat down to watch TV, you'd be bitten all over in just a few minutes! It was horrible. I begged my friend ... asked her if I could help. She okayed it. She didn't want to deal with it. She left for the day. I followed the above plan. After that, she simply treated the cat regularly, and she never had fleas again.
ALSO: She had somebody with safety lung mask sprinkle "diatomeous earth" all over her yard outside. This prevented fleas from propagating there.
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Post by momofgirls on Nov 14, 2009 18:13:05 GMT -5
I would also try combing the cats with a flea comb. It really gets a lot of fleas off them while you are treating them and the house, plus they really like a good combing. Just have a bowl of soapy water nearby by to flick the fleas into so they don't jump back onto the cat. The little fleas hang out around the neck, the big ones like the rump.
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Post by CourageouslyLion SeeksSerenity on Nov 14, 2009 18:17:40 GMT -5
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Have you checked the new cat for worms? That can affect digestive issues.
Buy some large boxes of baking soda
("bicarbanate of soda" for our international members).
Mix some with the cat litter as a deodorant.
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masmom
New Member
Joined: May 2008
Posts: 32
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Post by masmom on Nov 14, 2009 18:22:29 GMT -5
We had a flea problem a couple of years ago and it was solved with Frontline Plus for cats (bought from some shop on amazon.com ) along with intensive vacuuming.
The more vacuuming the better because each time you vacuum it "wakes" the eggs so encourages more fleas to hatch at which time you have to vacuum more. Otherwise, it can take months for all of the eggs to hatch. I was regularly vacuuming mattresses, couches, chairs and furniture numerous times per day.
I also started buying diatamaceous earth (gardening center version not pool grade) which although a little messy did help a good bit. Pretty cheap, too.
Another trick I recently heard about, mostly for dogs though, is that bathing the animal using Dawn dishwasher liquid as the soap was very successful.
Around the same time we had the flea problem I also had some carpeting issues and ended up ripping out the carpet which I'm sure helped in reducing the flea infestations.
REgarding the cat poop problem -- have you tried a different cat food? maybe he's reacting to whatever he is eating. I would try this after a vet check.
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Post by grammea on Nov 14, 2009 20:14:49 GMT -5
Oh I know how badly fleas can be.
As far as the cat poop goes,try changing food,eliminating wet food if you feed it to them.
I recommend a flea comb and daily combing with it.
Sprinkle table salt under sofa and chair cushions and on carpets.Leave for 24 hours and then vacum up.
If possible bathe animals with dawn dish liquid.
Good luck!
God bless,
Helen(grammea)
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Post by creativechaos on Nov 14, 2009 21:32:44 GMT -5
wendy, thanks so much for starting this thread, and thanks to all contributors.
for fleas, i was reading the net because i have very little money. you can take one lemon, cut it thin, peel and all. then put in 2 cups of water and bring to just a boil. let sit overnight. then you can use this on the cat and surfaces by applying with a spray bottle. a lot of cats won't tolerate sprays so what i did was spray it onto my hands and then rub down the cat. not sure if it helps but many people on that site said it does. you can spray down your carpets with the lemon water and the bedding until you wash. anywhere that fleas can be.
i can't yet imagine how you can BATHE a cat! immersion into water? cats will tolerate this and not scratch or bite you to death?
i know the cat i have with me right now has fleas. he scratches a lot, even after an application of advantage. atm i am vacuuming regularly and spraying the lemon water on his bedding and salt on some carpet areas he frequents. will have to do better than this, i know. those suckers are probably multiplying!
this is a concern to me, as my apt. is not by any means de-hoarded and all my non-hanging clothes in the closet are on the floor in baskets. i am not the cleanest person either. does bombing for fleas affect houseplants or kill them? i would think so. i have a lot of those.
regarding foul smelling poop: a lot of cats have grain allergies, same as humans. it can make their poop smell really bad.
i have heard sprinkling salt on your carpets and then vaccing up with a piece of flea collar inside the bag will kill fleas and their eggs. still reading, trying to find a lot of natural solutions too.
cc
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Post by fluffychild on Nov 14, 2009 22:32:32 GMT -5
I take my cat's poop, scoop it, and flush it down the toilet. The cat pees clumps, I scoop as soon as she does it and it gets put in a plastic bag.
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Post by Magpie on Nov 14, 2009 22:40:15 GMT -5
Stinky poo is the worst! It may be the cat could use a little support for the intestinal tract. They now have supplements with good bacteria for cats from vets and some online stores (ex. www.LambertVetSupply.com) - and I suspect a small amount of yogurt with active cultures might be worth trying, quicker to obtain, and perhaps less expensive. The supplement was helpful for some kittens I fostered, as their digestive tracts hadn't quite gotten to the adult level when they were trapped and brought in at 4 weeks. |
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