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A family member of mine is generous and takes care of about 15 cats, acquired from a variety of sources. One of them recently acquired tapeworm, which came from fleas. I've seen some debate here about cheaper flea remedies, compared to Advantage/Frontline/Revolution/etc.

She cannot afford to give the cats Advantage on a monthly basis (about $250/month), but her vet says they need to be treated somehow to prevent recurrence. I was wondering if anyone here might have ideas for solutions, whether for individual cat treatments as well as reducing fleas overall (e.g., preferred sprays for around the house and carpets/furniture/blankets). While her cats are inside cats, she lives in the Southeast, I don't know if that makes a difference regarding seasonal treatment (e.g. possibly treat them for a few spring/summer months). Any suggestions are appreciated.

Posted: Fri Jun 24, 2011 10:47 am Post subject:

So do they have fleas or she just wants to prevent fleas. Tapeworms are common and not that big of a deal for most healthy cats. They DO NOT pass the tape worms to each other. They can only get it from fleas. I wouldn't spend hundreds of dollars treating for fleas if i didn't have them to begin with just because they *may* get tapeworm from one stray flea.

But, if she has a flea problem then of course they need to be treated. Most rescues I know [myself included] buy Advantage for large dogs. One tube can do about 6 cats. I use a 3cc syringe and give 1 cc to 1 and half cc per cat. I know another rescue that gives 1cc no matter how much the cat weighs but I don't think 1cc is enough for a really big cat.

I've also heard about a new product that came out at Walmart that is very cheap and equal to frontline plus.

Posted: Fri Jun 24, 2011 12:01 pm Post subject:

Steve, with that many cats its possible a local rescue might be willing to help her out with meds, food and spay/neuter. Do you think she would be open to getting a little help? If so, try to contact a few of the local rescues to see if they can assist.

Posted: Sat Jun 25, 2011 10:10 am Post subject:

Thanks for the great ideas! For the advantage for large dogs, that's a really good suggestion ... how did you determine how much to give? It makes sense, it just makes me a little nervous, was it something like dose of active ingredient per animal weight? Good idea on the rescue organizations for help also, I got some help once to discount spay/neuter about 2 dozen feral cats that were living near their house, maybe they can help her with this too.

Posted: Sat Jun 25, 2011 12:18 pm Post subject:

Posted: Sat Jun 25, 2011 2:49 pm Post subject:

Just to be clear Advantage for dogs is the ONLY product that you can use in smaller amounts for cats. Make sure you only use that one.

How I came to the amount was I opened up a cat one to see how much was in it and just started using the same amount in the dog form. That's why I used 1 and half for larger cats because that was how much was in a tube for a large cat. I don't know how other groups came up with theirs but most i know of just use 1cc for everything.

Check into the new brand I told you about. It might be cheap enough to get each cat one. And, that way you don't have to worry about dosage. It's a pain to poor the advantage in a syringe sometimes. lol

Posted: Tue Jun 28, 2011 2:52 pm Post subject:

Using a flea collar made for cats (never use a dog's flea collar on a cat!) is better than not having ANY flea protection at all. They are probably the cheapest form of flea control around.

The active ingredient in Frontline (Fipronil) is now in a few generic once-a-month flea control products. Brands to look for are Pronyl For Cats, FiproGuard for cats, and Pet Armor for cats.

Your family member also needs to spray her cat's bedding along with treating the cats. One affordable item to use would be De Flea Pet and Bedding Spray For Cats. Ideally, she'd also vacuum floors and furniture a few fines a week and throw out the vacuum bag after each time. Fleas only spend part of their life cycle on an animal, the rest of the time they're in the "environment", or her home.

Another option would be to use food grade Diatomaceous Earth (NOT the kind sold for swimming pools!) That could be scattered onto the carpet and floors, (brushed into carpets) allowed to sit for about 4 days, then vacuumed up. Food Grade Diatomaceous Earth can also be used directly on cats to kill fleas. Read more here:

http://www.care2.com/greenliving/all-around-non-toxic-flea-control.html

Posted: Wed Jun 29, 2011 4:58 pm Post subject:

Thanks for the great suggestions, the5thbeatle, I'll be sure to look into these, really good ideas for how to address this, and I'm very appreciative. I also continue to welcome everyone's future input (always collecting ideas and trying them out), thanks again!

Posted: Mon Aug 29, 2011 11:36 pm Post subject: Natural flea remedies

I also live in the Southeast (Atlanta) and my indoor cats got a few fleas a couple of years ago. In addition to the daily vacuuming, emptying the canister outside, washing their bedding etc., as someone already suggested, I found that letting borax sit overnight on the carpets before vacuuming really seemed to help. I also put some supposedly flea-repelling sachets around that included things like cinnamon, cloves and citrus peel...don't know if it worked but it didn't hurt anyone and made the house smell wonderful!

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