(no subject)

[icarus]

Help.

Kitty has fleas. Bad. We got him this stuff called Frontline. Followed the directions and put it on his shoulders today like you're supposed to.

For a bit he seemed to relax, and for about two hours his scratching went way down.

Now he's acting like the biting is worse than ever. He's scratching the top of his head and his chin and mouth, and he's been panicky, racing around.

Now he's panting and very unhappy, licking and scratching his extremities: face, legs, tail. It's really driving him nuts.

Is there anything we can do?


ETA: wildernessguru is going to give him a bath with a mild soap, in hopes that will get the immediate fleas off. I've told him to protect his eyes, mouth, ears, nose with petroleum jelly first.

Comments

[artsykitten.livejournal.com]

The best way to manually kill fleas when you see them is to squish them between your thumbnails. They make a satisfying little "pop". I'm sorry if that sound gruesome. I say satisfying only because I know I help my cat when she has fleas. And flea combs are you best friend while you wait for meds. Too many baths are bad because they remove natural oils. (Which they need- a lot. They can get dry skin really bad.)

PS Dont worry, they dont actually bleed like that when you squish them. I was just being weird while drawing- sorry.

PPS Read this (http://cat-box.net/cats/fleas.html). There's a holistic approach section. :)

[icarusancalion.livejournal.com]

Um. Yeah. I think the karma's a hell of a lot worse if you go out and kill them yourself, just because of the mental attitude it generates.

I've been quietly cringing at the helpful suggestions such as "drown them" "have them drawn and quartered" "evisceration is the best method" -- I don't like killing them at all. I'm interested in this Program thing because it seems to sterilize them, which means you end up killing fewer fleas, which is the goal.

Icarus

[boniblithe.livejournal.com]

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