My cats...

[ozemba]

Hey, so you know how cats should have flea and tick prevention to keep them healthy and blah blah blah?

Well, we'd always used Frontline monthly, but we discovered Seresto flea collars, which are pretty expensive, but do a pretty darn good job of keeping our cats pest free, and they last 8 months! They seem to actually repel the fleas and ticks, rather than just killing them when they jump on. The only problem now is that we can't manage to keep the collars on the cats. Or should I say one cat... :cat:

My cat Merlin has allergic reactions to the fleas and breaks out in a rash and gets scabs all over him if he even gets fleas ON him. Last year was really bad because we didn't realize this, so he actually lost all his fur from is collarbones/shoulderblades up from scratching. Guess who lost his collar again. He managed to lose his last year too, but the second one we put on him he wore until it expired.

So, I take Hazel's off of her and put it on Merlin and I got a walmart flea collar for her since she doesn't have major problems with the fleas. The flea collar she has is doing is not repelling them off of her, but it's killing them as soon as they do get on. Hazel is a sweet angel who never loses her collar.

Merlin then lost Hazel's collar. So guess who is grounded and staying inside for the rest of the summer/fall!

When he's outside he hangs around across the street and I'm going to go looking for the collars, but I don't have high hopes since it's kind of abandoned and no one is taking care of the yard, so grass is knee high. Every so often he really reallly wants outside so he'll wait for any opportunity to run out the door, which ends up in him either getting a boot to the head or us running after him and dragging him back inside.

The good news is that he is best friends with Percy and they sleep together under my bed sometimes.

 

[akane]

Problem with the flea collars is that the chemicals are very harsh. They are not as safe as putting on the newer topicals. The poison also spreads everywhere the cat goes instead of being absorbed within a day or 2 and staying in the animal. I definitely wouldn't touch collars from walmart unless I didn't care how long the cat lived. There's a reason flea collars are no longer popular. I might consider it with a cat who has allergies like that and a higher quality collar that uses newer chemicals and more controlled doses than the cheap stuff at walmart.

Are these quick release collars and that's how they are getting them off? I had a cat that absolutely would not keep on the ones with a release clip. We went to beastie bands which stretch to come off instead. The cats can't remove them with their own paws. I don't know if there's a way to stick the flea collar to the inside of the beastie band and have it work like it should. You might just end up out a beastie band (which aren't the cheapest) and the flea collar.

 

[ozemba]

They are not quick release collars, they have a tabbed design built into the collar and then a fastener that is frankly very hard to put on and take off. I don't see how the cats (read Merlin) are slipping out of it or unfastening it. After the first collar we actually fastened it with a pony tail holder instead of the manufactured fastener and that kept it on the longest, but for some reason he's slipped out of them now. Until I get paid, Hazel is wearing the walmart collar, it's just a quick fix since the seresto collars are more expensive, and I'm not worried about her losing hers. We've been using the seresto collars with no adverse side affects for over a year now, they are really good quality and animal friendly. Our dogs also wear them.

 

[Random Rabbit]

The Serresto is a different type of repellant that the old flea collars have.

Our vet uses it on his Brittany Spaniel . They do a lot of up-in-the-mountains type hiking and activities. He has been very pleased with it.

With his good comments about it... we got one for our dog. So far it has worked Great. Does not harm the cat when he licks the pup's face. Has no negative effect on people. And there was a $20 rebate, that brought the cost down to almost what a two month supply of Frontline would have been.

And i can offer No advice on keeping it on a cat !! LOL.

 

[MamaSheepdog]

You can apply food grade diatomaceous earth to Merlin just like you would a flea powder. It wont kill the fleas immediately, but they will die within a day or two. I am also a big fan of flea combs- if you comb your pets once or twice a day you will see a huge reduction in the flea population very quickly.

Have a container with water and dish soap handy and just scrape the fleas off of the comb and into the solution. The dish soap breaks the surface tension of the water so the fleas will sink and drown.

 

[ozemba]

I think keeping him inside and giving him a good comb through twice a week should keep him happy. At least happy about the flea situation, not the staying inside situation. If it comes down to it I'm not afraid of bathing him.

Anyone with experience with harnesses on cats? Maybe if he was wearing a harness and a collar it would be harder to get the collar off... Merlin would also think he was being crushed, but he'll get over it.

Here's the handsome devil we've been talking about...

 

[Jinxy52]

I currently have five cats and they all were flea collars with no problem. If they do get fleas I just bathe them with a bar of Lava soap, kills fleas and eggs, then an oatmeal shampoo so that their skin doesn't dry out and become irritated. My friend uses Chamomile tea to bathe her cats, she swears by it.

Of the five girls that I have, only one would be in absolute heaven if I were to let her out. She has gotten hurt in the past and has had to have minor surgery, so no more outside time. Don't get me wrong, she does try. :lol:

I have thought about building her a special window box that would allow her to get her "outdoor" fix, something similar to this picture. But larger just in case my other girls would like to join her.

 

[MaggieJ]

Our moggie, Marilla, was harness trained. Naturally she did not "heel" like a dog, but we would take her out when we were gardening or sitting out and attach her leash to a long rope. So she could explore and even hunt and be perfectly safe. She did get fleas some years, when they were bad, but then we did not use a flea collar. She was very sensitive to chemicals, got very ill once from Advantage and after that we just used DE for the fleas.

 

[ozemba]

Yeah, we've had a bad reaction with Frontline on our youngest dog, a golden retriever, she broke out in a rash and had a huge wound on her back/neck where it looked like it just soaked in and melted her skin. That's why we looked at flea collars and found seresto.

I still want Merlin to be able to run around outside at his leisure, just also without breaking out in a rash and being miserable. Since he can't keep his flea collars on though, I guess if I let him out I'll have to either bathe him or dust him twice a week or so..
Once I get some bunny runs up I can put him in there. He'll get the feeling of being outside without being able to lose his collar somewhere where I can't find it.

 

[Jinxy52]

I had the same problem with Frontline, two of my cats are allergic to it. We found out the hard way when we went to apply it for the first time. Both of them looked like they had chemical burns on their back. Took them to my vet and she said that is not that uncommon with the liquid flea preventative. Although she is not a big fan of flea collars, she had no problem with me using them on my indoor kitties.

Good luck with your Merlin!