With two cats who come in and out, I worried about flea treatments.
So I did a lot of reading and saw a recipe in a book and online that recommends that you may add garlic and yeast to your cat's food. They said that it will cause a light scent that repels fleas.
I actually found a powder in my health food store, specifically for pets with garlic and yeast and began adding it to my cat's moist food.
When I brought my cat 'children' to the vet for their regular check up I asked my vet about them and learned something pretty interesting.
Garlic (and onions too, they are the same family) are VERY unhealthy and potentially deadly for cats! Two vets confirmed this for me and yet you can find it in some books and the internet! Take warning!
I had been thinking I was helping them, but was actually potentially hurting them. While I was at it I also asked about flea collars and was told that they are useless on cats as well. So, don't waste your money on flea collars and don't give your pets garlic nor onions. Check with your vet first.
There are "no shortcuts" to preventing flea's (sadly.)
Pictured is my Cat "little Orphan Annie" with her opinion of my garlic/yeast home remedy. Notice the tongue sticking out? :D
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So, what is a healthy alternative! I do not like the "chemicals" the vet suggests! My cats are constantly bathing themselves! Brewer's Yeast is suppose to help. There has to be a way!
I hear you and that is why I was looking as well but I was told this info.
They don't even recommend the brewers yeast.
So bottom line is not to waste your money and chance your pet's health with home remedies that don't work.
The reason the vets say it is poisonous is because they get financial benefit from the pharmaceutical companies and to sell their products. The educators also get financial benefit from teaching this. Most vets will never recommend anything they will not make money off. Many are taken in buy this. MD's do it to us humans too.
I have to put a comment here. Sometimes it is not the fleas that are a problem. I have found that some years fleas are worse than other years.
When you look at a cat food, it helps to look at the ingredients.
If the ingredients are mostly corn, and not any good protein, the cat will eat and eat and not be as healthy as if he were eating a good food with a meat not a meat by product listed in the first four ingredients. If you feed a good diet, and you keep the ears wiped otu form ear mites, etc, and you keep it on a good diet, you can usually stop the flea problem. When the flea problem gets really bad in the house vacuum every day and make sure you put salt down.
If you supplement their diets with krill oil and some people swear by lysene, (www.amazon.com/
Also with rescue cats you can buy a large dog size of flea controller and have it work on several cats....
www.amazon.com/
This kit comes with a vial and a syringe without a needle to apply the topical to the back of them where they can't lick it off. This treats many cats.
The first time you buy it you will need this kit. From then on you can buy there refill for cheaper.
I would also remember that the wonderful supplement that prevents hairballs is great for cats too, the kind with vitamins in it. The cheaper the food is, the more you need to supplement with cooked chicken etc. Also the more you feed cheap nasty food, the more you need to use the hairball remedy with vitamins..I like
www.amazon.com/
Also ferretvite www.amazon.com/
is a great hairball and vitamin remedy for cats that need more nutrition.
Also check out earthclinic.com to check out what othe people have done.
Using a dog flea product on a cat can kill the cat. Dont do it.
Love the picture~ My cat Professor Peanut has his tongue out like that a lot...LOL
In order to get fleas under control, and I know how out of control they can get, I would do the following:
1. Salt on the carpets, it is an old standby I have done forever it seems, and under the sheets, and under the couch cushions etc.
2. Really small kittens can come to you with multiple fleas, lots of them enough to kill them. That is when i get the baby shampoo out or the dawn bath, depending on how good you are at not getting it in their eyes. It take a ton of dawn and then lots of rinsing and picking fleas as they climb on the face. You have to cuddle them in the dawn, and let it sit for about three minutes or two minutes.
Cats and kittens especially are very sensitive to temperature, and you need to reassure them it is ok when they are being bathed. After bathing, then dry and go over with a flea comb.
3. Feed a kind of food that has real meat listed in the first few ingrediets. This would be when you look at the ingredients and look to see if chicken or beef or fish in the the first four ingredients. Corns cause allergies.
4. Buy chicken hearts and cook them and give them to your cat..I know that is awful sounding but they are cheap and heart is a meat food.
5. I give my cats most of the time a drop or two of baby vitamins in their food or as a treat put into a bit of soft food.
6. Their skin needs to be kept clean, and the cheaper the food you go the more fleas you will have.
7. I would have them wormed at the vet which is not that much or if you can get tradewinds from the store, if you can get them to take a pill. It is worth the extra money for me to get the cat pilled at the vet. One of my cats is not user friendly and I would prefer the vet to do the pilling.
8. If you can afford to do it, give the cat a fish oil pill, or cut it open and wipe a little on its paw. Krill oil is supposed to be great but if you have to buy the furball paste at the store. if you are giving the kind of furball paste with vitamins such as ferretvite or other products, don't put a drop of baby vitamins in their treat soft food that day.
9. Get used to covering your vacuum or put a flea collar in the vacuum and vacuum all the time. Cover the end of the vacuum attachment so the fleas cant get out.
10. There is a pill , I forget what it is at the vets, that kills all fleas in a 24 hour period. You might need that to start with.
So many times I have had a cat or puppy holding it begininng to bath is and after the water and soap hit I have thousands of fleas all over me. These fleas can kill the animals and cause anemia and always cause tapeworms. Please have the cats wormed at the vets or do it yourself with tradewinds.
Blessings,
Robyn
Unfortunately like many mainstream vets your vet was wrong about garlic! You will get better advice from a holistic vet. Fresh garlic in the right amount is not deadly to your cat. Please see the attached article from holistic veterinarian Doctor Karen Becker. This is a small piece of her article "Fresh garlic can be given to dogs and cats to prevent internal as well as external parasites. Processed garlic has lost the quantity of allicin needed to repel pests. Work with your holistic vet to determine a safe amount for your pets body weight. You may have to start with considerably less than that amount if your kitty is finicky, then build up gradually to the recommended amount."
Another one of those TINA ( there is no alternative {to commercial flea treatments}) claims. 'When I brought my cat 'children' to the vet for their regular check up I asked my vet about them and learned something pretty interesting.Garlic (and onions too, they are the same family) are VERY unhealthy and potentially deadly for cats! Two vets confirmed this for me and yet you can find it in some books and the internet! Take warning!" This cautionary TALE ( pardon the pun) is intentionally blown out of proportion by vets who sell competing products. TOO MUCH garlic will be harmful to a cat ( as too much coffee/caffiene is to a human) no more than a few garlic bulbs per week>divvied up>( you will have to research the correct dose) will not hurt it. Please don't post disinformation, this is a thrift site, not a commercial one.
Your vets are misinformed. A dog or cat would have to eat vast amounts of garlic to lower their red blood cell count. If you are still unsure I would suggest rubbing garlic puree between the shoulder blades of your cat or dog - this will deter fleas as well as feeding garlic to your pets.
I use Food Grade Diatomaceous Earth. Sprinkle on the pet's bedding ad even rub some into the fur. Safe to eat also. Not very expensive. I get mine from Amazon for under $10. Have bought from Farm and feed store in a huge bag before also. Just don't get the stuff for pools!! Hope this helps someone.
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