Cat Treatment: Fleas – Advantage 2 Vs Frontline Plus and How To Look After A Cat/s

Cat Treatment: Fleas – Advantage 2 Vs Frontline Plus and How To Look After A Cat/s

Several months ago, I took in my brothers cats, four to be precise. Unknown to me, they had fleas and the last time I had had a cat was when I was a child, remembering I am now 35 years of age. So my knowledge of fleas and such was limited. Because of this and his lack of understanding of telling me about them and him de-neighing the fact they had fleas, I had to fumigate my home (Cost approximately £120) for 12 hours and also looked at flea testaments for the cats (IT IS BETTER TO TREAT AS A PREVENTION OF FLEAS THAN IT IS TO TREAT IF THEY HAVE THEM). He now has his cats back, however as I found them to be a delight, minus this flea issue and very relaxing to be around. I now have a loving cat called Angel of my own which she is a rescued cat from a cat sanctuary.

This is Angel

Before buying Angel, my partner bought me a cat book called “The Cat Expert” by ‘Rebecca Watson (Project Consultant: Dr. D.G. Hessayon).

This book is an amazing book if I do say so myself, It has details in it which helps with all aspects of cat life, whether they be indoor or an outdoor cat, to the home you live in (House, Flat etc), the things a cat needs for a healthy and safe environment to live, including infections and illnesses of cats. This is a worthwhile book to buy if you are thinking of buying a cat, had a cat dumped on you, or you already have a cat. The ISBN Number for this book is: ISBN 978-0-903-50568-0 and is priced about £8 in the UK, $15 in the USA and $18 in Canada, you can also check out places like http://www.expert-books.co.uk.

Remember Flea Treatment Is Better As A Prevention, Not a Cure.

WARNING:
I looked into various flea treatments and there is some which I would recommend and some I would stay clear from. One of the ones which my partner and I thought would be good and it seemed quite cheap (Cheaper than most) was one made by “Bob Martin” – YOU MUST AVOID THIS BRAND AT ALL COSTS. We used this and it caused our cat Angel and the kittens harm in the form of burning their skin and hair loss. In some case we found online it can be fatal. Below are two links which will show the extent of peoples experience with Bob Martin Products. There are many links out there but I felt these explained whats happened to other peoples cats.

http://www.netmums.com/coffeehouse/house-garden-194/garden-plants-animals-610/253198-bob-martin-spot-flea-treatment-cats-all.html

http://www.petforums.co.uk/cat-health-and-nutrition/55693-warning-bob-martin-spot-dewormer.html

I’ve also added a couple of photos of the damage which wash caused to both my cat Angel and the kittens. With Angel it burn the skin to the point it was bleeding badly, the photos are after we cleaned her up, the following couple of days she lost a lot of fur. Unfortunately I didn’t get any photos of that, but she is still not fully right after about 2 to 3 months. The skin has almost healed and the fur has almost started to grow back but it will still be another 6 months at least for the fur to grow back fully. On the kittens, the fur loss was on their ears where the white fur is, which I was told by a vet that white fur is finer. Still no exploration as to why the loss on the ears happened.

Remember some cats can have an allergic reaction to some flea and worming treatments, so if your cat does have any form of allergic reaction, take them to a vets immediately as in some cases, cats could die. This also goes for dogs.

After speaking to several vets as we like to make sure we have a second opinion and even third opinion to be on the safe side. All the vets we spoke to said to stay away from Bob Martin products as they do more harm than good. SO, don’t be tempted to buy it because it is cheaper. The two TOP Flea treatments and preventions which were advised to us to use, is “Frontline PLUS” and Advantage II (2)”, it is important to know that if you buy these you want to get the Frontline “PLUS” and the Advantage “II (2)”, the PLUS and II (2) is the important bits. Both the Plus and II (2) has an added bonus of having an “Insect Growth Regulator” also known as an “IGR”. The IGR inhibits the growth of flea eggs, thus interrupting the flea life cycle, stopping fleas before they even start growing. Where as the standard Frontline and Advantage doesn’t have the IGR so in turn will take longer to treat and longer to get rid of the fleas.

More information can be found at: http://www.petcarerx.com/article/product-comparison-advantage-for-cats-vs-frontline-for-cats/1297

Knowing the weight of your cat is important too. The best way to do this is as follows:

1. Weight yourself in LBS on a set of bathroom weighing scales (make a note of this).
2. Reweigh yourself while holding your cat (if you have more than one cat, take it in turns to weigh each one with you making a note of what the weights are).
3. Once you have the weights, take the combined weight of your cat with yourself (Do this one cat at a time, so not all at once) and take away your own weight, this will leave you with the weight of the cat.
4. Repeat step 3 until all your cats are done.

Once you know the weight of your cat/s you can then look at which Flea Treatment to buy as this will depend on the weight of your cat (Small, Medium or Large) PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE, DO NOT guess the weight of your cat, in doing so, you could overdose the animal and kill it.

PROS AND CONS:

It is also worth knowing that Advantage II (2) kills Adult fleas, Flea Larva and eggs within 12 hours of application and lasts up to 1 month. It is also waterproof, so if you are bathing your cat/s you wont wash it off. The Frountline PLUS is also waterproof but it takes up to 24 hours to start killing the Adult fleas, Flea larva and eggs, which is double the time it takes for Advantage to do it, however, Frontline Plus also kills and prevents ‘Chewing Lice and Ticks’, where the Advantage II (2) doesn’t. This doesn’t mean that Advantage II (2) is not as good, because it comes down to the home and lifestyle of the cat in question to be treated. For example, my cat Angel is a house cat, not likely to get fleas unless I come in contact with them and they transfer from me (Outside) onto my cat (Inside my home), so I may not need to treat for chewing lice and ticks, and can be treated as a prevention of fleas. However if you have an outdoors cat that catches mice and small rodents, then there is a higher risk of your cat catching fleas, chewing lice and ticks, in that instance you would look at a prevention or treatment to match, which would be Frontline PLUS. So always look at the environment of the cat and see what is best suited for them. Please also remember that there is a minimum age in which a kitten can be treated and if you have any doubt or uncertainty, ask a vet or too. You can get help over the phone with vets and their staff will always do what is best for the animal.

One of the treatments we also tried and worked well in killing most fleas were, “Johnson’s Veterinary 4Fleas Tablets” I was able to by a x6 boxes (each box containing x6 tablets, so a total of 36 tablets) on amazon quite cheap. Now these work within 15 mins which is great, however what we found was after a couple of hours to a day the fleas would be back. I believe this may have been because of one or two things, the 1st being that flea cocoons (See Life Cycle Of Fleas), had hatched and new fleas appeared, or the second which I thought was more likely, the fleas tasted the blood, didn’t like it, jumped off the cats, and after jumping back on and off and on again, when they could eat the blood, that is when we noticed them on the cats again. I don’t believe these tablets are as good as Frontline PLUS or Advantage II (2), so in deciding what to use, my advice would be to stick to these main two.

PAWS FOR THOUGHT!!!

I would like to also state, don’t buy a cat or a dog because they look cute. They do grow up and they do require a basic level of care. For example, if you are disabled and cant walk very well, don’t have a dog, they need walking several times a day and if you are house bound, and not able to walk a dog, that is unfair on the animal… think of it this way, you wouldn’t like to be left in your bathroom all day and night with nothing to do, pooping in a corner and having to sleep in another corner only a few feet away. You would get bored and ill very quickly. Likewise a cat is a great pet and companion, doesn’t need as much attention as in walking etc, however you have to provide it with a basic level of care. Most people don’t realize how much a dog or cat can cost for it to have a healthy life. I’m not only taking about food, Cat litter (if a cat) and time to walk (If a dog) or spend time with your pet, but the annual check ups and injections, the maintenance of an animal can cost into the hundreds of pounds per year, so before you buy or get a dog or cat, please please please speak to some reportable Vets and Catteries and ask them for advice. You can contact the PDSA a national veterinary service at: http://www.pdsa.org.uk or google them for the closest PDSA Veterinary Clinic.

A reputable cattery I use is A1 Cattery and the owner is called Bob. His knowledge of cats is amazing and he has looked after my cat for a while now and he has helped with sound advice. His website and contact details can be found at: http://www.a1-cattery.co.uk