Sylvester gave us a scare recently...

[Solon]

We have a flea problem in the house, and decided, as a test, to put a flea collar on one of our cats. Never had a flea collar on a cat before, and yes it is designed for cats. So I put the bloody thing on our 8 month old kitty, and at first, she didn't like it, then she got used to it. It was one of those rubber ones, with the flea killer on the surface , I think, it was a light powder of some sort. Anyways, the next day, she started playing, etc. etc. then all of the sudden, I hear her crying, really bad. She never cries, she the quiet one of the house.

This freaked me out, so I enter the room she was in and she was in the basket, with the flea collar stretched up over her chin and into her mouth. I immediately pulled the flea collar out of her mouth, and she started drooling badly. I thought she was poisoned by the collar, and having difficulty taking it off, I cut it off. With collar in hand, I picked her up, and not knowing where the cat carrier is, grab my sis's boyfriend to hold the cat, and drove to the vet as fast as possible.

The vet is normally 15 minutes away, and that is with light traffic, this happened at about 3 pm, we made it in minutes. On the way there she started going into siezures and convolutions. She was scaring the hell out of us. I was weaving around cars on single lane roads, good thing I'm a good driver.

Anyways, she was immediately taken to see the vet, and he put her on valium, BTW, I didn't know valium could be taken buy cats! After about 10 minutes, we got to talk to the vet and he said that she was poisoned by the collar and that it was a good thing we went there so quickly. He said that most likely the chemicals in it put her in shock and the valium was for that. He then put her on an IV and kept her overnight for observation. This entire time, she was freaked out, and was EXTREMELY sensitive to light and sound.

The next morning I called as soon as the vet's office opened, and that was when he said she seemed MUCH better, and that we could come that afternoon to pick her up. So I drove over there, this time with the proper carrier, and picked her up. She was fussing over the carrier, I was actually glad, she seemed to be acting normal.

So $300 dollars and one day later, Sylvester's life was saved. I'm just glad we have such understanding vets to take care of our animals, and from now on, we are SWEARING off ANY collars for our cats. I forgot the brand, but dealing with fleas is the least of our worries now. I'm just glad she is fine, good thing cats have 9 lives (8 for her now). Its been a week, and she is the lovable affectionate kitty that we all love.

[Philostopher]

1. Surface flea repellent/killers usually work pretty well.

The good ones, I mean -- there are several. You put them on the back of the cat's neck and they work their way into the skin, you only apply them once a month. We've had good luck with Advantage on our crew of five, but there are others -- you could ask a vet. They're a little more expensive than a flea collar, but more effective and as far as I know, there's little problem with reactions from the animals. Haven't had any problem here, and the animal shelter where I volunteer uses a different brand, with the same results.

Oh, and sorry to hear Sylvester had such trouble -- it's always scary. One of ours had a reaction to a shot they gave him at his last exam, we had to rush him back to the vet's clinic and have him put on oxygen for half an hour, they shot him up with Valium and cortisone.

[Solon]

4. We already tried that...

and it doesn't work for our kitties, we don't know why.

[ayeshahaqqiqa]

2. Organic solution

Use diatenaceous earth powder on your kitties and your rugs/furniture. Be sure you get food grade. My friend even feeds a bit of it to her kitties to help with internal parasites, and uses it herself! So far, no problem with anyone.

My regards to Sylvestor from my kitties: Rabia, Fluffy, Smoky, Sooty, Jami, Hu, Mu, and Kali.

[Solon]

3. Thanks ayeshahaqqiqa...

we'll try that, I'm just glad she made it ok, and so far has no aftereffects.

ON EDIT: I looked it up, and it seems like a good solution, though one correction, from the smart ass in me: it a Silicate solution, not organic(carbon) one dammit! :)

[ayeshahaqqiqa]

5. I meant by that

that it is ground up fossilized seashells, not some chemicals made up in a factory. You should be able to find it at a health food store, btw. (I work for a pest control company-100% Democratic, btw-and we use some very nasty chemicals. That's why I called this an organic solution).

[Solon]

7. I knew what you meant....

Like I said, I was being a smartass (or dumbass, of course, that's a matter of opinion :)).

[bratcatinok]

6. I had a flea problem one time and didn't

want to use the flea collars since my cats were indoor cats only. A relative had brought her dog over to visit and her dog had fleas.

I took both of the cats to the vet and had the vet bathe and remove all fleas. While the cats were at the vet, I used flea bombs on the house. Our vet was glad to keep the kitties during the time it took for us to treat the house.

We didn't have any flea problem after that.