Forums
New posts
Search forums
What's new
New posts
New profile posts
Latest activity
Internet Search
Members
Current visitors
New profile posts
Search profile posts
Log in
Register
What's new
Search
Search
Search titles only
By:
New posts
Search forums
Menu
Log in
Register
Install the app
Install
Forums
General Discussions
The Watercooler
Purrbaby advice?
JavaScript is disabled. For a better experience, please enable JavaScript in your browser before proceeding.
You are using an out of date browser. It may not display this or other websites correctly.
You should upgrade or use an
alternative browser
.
Reply to thread
Message
<blockquote data-quote="susiestar" data-source="post: 605778" data-attributes="member: 1233"><p>I would be SUPER leery of using a topical flea treatment on an animal in such bad shape. Frontline and the others are very hard on the skin and with the sores can make things FAR worse. It is also absorbed differently when the skin is in bad shape and they can easily get WAY more than they are supposed to. given that they are pesticides, they are hard on the body and in an elderly or weakened animal this is very risky.</p><p></p><p>So what do you do? You can start with capstar if the vet approves. It is an oral flea medication that works for a day or so (or that is what we have been told). It isn't great to give long term though. I would go online an order neem oil for her. Then mix it with some olive, almond, or even canola/vegetable oil and apply it topically to her. NOT everywhere because it will end up giving her the runs, but over part of her body.</p><p></p><p>Neem is an organic pesticide and is actually approved for use on organic crops. It kills almost any bug out there but is not at all harmful to humans or animals. In Africa it is even used to cook with! It has a strong odor which is why you dilute it. You can also add a few drops of essential oil to help with the scent. Lavendar is not harmful to animals as far as I know and it is helpful, as is citronella. Of course you want only a couple of drops of the essential oil mixed into a few ounces of carrier oil and about a teaspoon of neem oil. problem 2-3 oz of carrier oil and 1 t of neem is plenty for fleas.</p><p></p><p>Neem is in one of those as seen on tv cracked heel repair creams in a stick form. You can actually coat yourself in 100% neem and not get sick from the effects of it other than the smell. It is awesome at killing lice too, not that you have that problem now. A little goes a LONG way and is a repellant as well as killing the insects. It would help heal her skin and soothe it, and deal with any fleas that may be a problem. It is far gentler than frontline or other flea products and very effective.</p><p></p><p>You will also want to spray her bedding and wherever else the fleas are if you have them. I dilute the neem and add a bit more essential oil to what I spray on the house than I use on the pets. </p><p></p><p>I get it from ebay. I search for 100% neem oil and many sellers will let you choose the amount you want, so you are not stuck with ten ounces when you only want a small amount. I have never gone through even half of a four ounce bottle in a year, not even the year we had five lice outbreaks over the winter. A small amount goes a LONG way. </p><p></p><p>Even if you choose to ignore the neem recommendation, go to ebay and order some shea butter. It is amazingly helpful for healing skin problems. I buy 100% shea butter that is refined. Sites will tell you that unrefined is better, purer, etc.. and maybe it is, but it also has a very strong odor that I cannot stand. I have horrible skin problems and cannot use most commercial products on my skin or I get tons of itching (and I do NOT have fleas!! lol) and deep open sores that don't heal well. Using pure shea butter on them has drastically reduced the number and severity of the sores. You can mix neem with shea by melting the shea and stirring them together. I melt shea by using a cup set into a pan of hot water. If the water is too hot to keep a finger in, it is too hot for the shea butter. If you use the microwave to melt it, use 50% power and very short amounts of time (15-30 sec) and stir after each one. </p><p></p><p>If you choose prednisolone (aka prednisone), be aware that it comes in tablet form very very cheaply. My mom took it for health problems and when that $4 list of rx medications came out it more than doubled what she had been paying for 100 tablets. And that was the cash price, not the insurance price. The cream form will cost more, most likely. You can crush it and mix it with water and dab it on her paw. We did this with an older cat for quite a long time. Cats will lick the medicine off if you dab it on their paws. We didn't want to force it down the cat's throat because he was 17 and very frail and we felt it might hurt him to force it down. He never fell for that pill in the meatball thing, so we would crush the pill and mix it with just enough water to make a paste, then we rubbed it on his paws. when he cleaned it off he got either tuna or whipped cream (the spray kind, all our cats have gone batty over it!). Knowing the treat was coming every single time (and that he got to pick - I held the tuna can and his whipped cream can down and he would rub on the one he wanted) Occupational Therapist (OT) him to lick the medications off his fur. We put it on the fur on his paw or ankle area of the front feet so it would be easy to get to. We also made sure the water bowl only had a small bit of water so he couldn't rinse the area off in the water. He tried that the second time we put medications on his paws!.</p><p></p><p>The other tip for giving pills is to use pliers. If it has to be done and the cat is a biter, wrap him up in a towel or have someone hold his scruff, hold the pill in a pair of needle nose pliers and put the pill as far back as you can. Not far enough to hurt, of course, but as far back as you can. It really, really helps with some cats.</p><p></p><p>Talking to your cat is NOT strange. They do understand, often way more than we think they do. if you tell thme what you are doing and why, they are far more likely to let you do whatever it is.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="susiestar, post: 605778, member: 1233"] I would be SUPER leery of using a topical flea treatment on an animal in such bad shape. Frontline and the others are very hard on the skin and with the sores can make things FAR worse. It is also absorbed differently when the skin is in bad shape and they can easily get WAY more than they are supposed to. given that they are pesticides, they are hard on the body and in an elderly or weakened animal this is very risky. So what do you do? You can start with capstar if the vet approves. It is an oral flea medication that works for a day or so (or that is what we have been told). It isn't great to give long term though. I would go online an order neem oil for her. Then mix it with some olive, almond, or even canola/vegetable oil and apply it topically to her. NOT everywhere because it will end up giving her the runs, but over part of her body. Neem is an organic pesticide and is actually approved for use on organic crops. It kills almost any bug out there but is not at all harmful to humans or animals. In Africa it is even used to cook with! It has a strong odor which is why you dilute it. You can also add a few drops of essential oil to help with the scent. Lavendar is not harmful to animals as far as I know and it is helpful, as is citronella. Of course you want only a couple of drops of the essential oil mixed into a few ounces of carrier oil and about a teaspoon of neem oil. problem 2-3 oz of carrier oil and 1 t of neem is plenty for fleas. Neem is in one of those as seen on tv cracked heel repair creams in a stick form. You can actually coat yourself in 100% neem and not get sick from the effects of it other than the smell. It is awesome at killing lice too, not that you have that problem now. A little goes a LONG way and is a repellant as well as killing the insects. It would help heal her skin and soothe it, and deal with any fleas that may be a problem. It is far gentler than frontline or other flea products and very effective. You will also want to spray her bedding and wherever else the fleas are if you have them. I dilute the neem and add a bit more essential oil to what I spray on the house than I use on the pets. I get it from ebay. I search for 100% neem oil and many sellers will let you choose the amount you want, so you are not stuck with ten ounces when you only want a small amount. I have never gone through even half of a four ounce bottle in a year, not even the year we had five lice outbreaks over the winter. A small amount goes a LONG way. Even if you choose to ignore the neem recommendation, go to ebay and order some shea butter. It is amazingly helpful for healing skin problems. I buy 100% shea butter that is refined. Sites will tell you that unrefined is better, purer, etc.. and maybe it is, but it also has a very strong odor that I cannot stand. I have horrible skin problems and cannot use most commercial products on my skin or I get tons of itching (and I do NOT have fleas!! lol) and deep open sores that don't heal well. Using pure shea butter on them has drastically reduced the number and severity of the sores. You can mix neem with shea by melting the shea and stirring them together. I melt shea by using a cup set into a pan of hot water. If the water is too hot to keep a finger in, it is too hot for the shea butter. If you use the microwave to melt it, use 50% power and very short amounts of time (15-30 sec) and stir after each one. If you choose prednisolone (aka prednisone), be aware that it comes in tablet form very very cheaply. My mom took it for health problems and when that $4 list of rx medications came out it more than doubled what she had been paying for 100 tablets. And that was the cash price, not the insurance price. The cream form will cost more, most likely. You can crush it and mix it with water and dab it on her paw. We did this with an older cat for quite a long time. Cats will lick the medicine off if you dab it on their paws. We didn't want to force it down the cat's throat because he was 17 and very frail and we felt it might hurt him to force it down. He never fell for that pill in the meatball thing, so we would crush the pill and mix it with just enough water to make a paste, then we rubbed it on his paws. when he cleaned it off he got either tuna or whipped cream (the spray kind, all our cats have gone batty over it!). Knowing the treat was coming every single time (and that he got to pick - I held the tuna can and his whipped cream can down and he would rub on the one he wanted) Occupational Therapist (OT) him to lick the medications off his fur. We put it on the fur on his paw or ankle area of the front feet so it would be easy to get to. We also made sure the water bowl only had a small bit of water so he couldn't rinse the area off in the water. He tried that the second time we put medications on his paws!. The other tip for giving pills is to use pliers. If it has to be done and the cat is a biter, wrap him up in a towel or have someone hold his scruff, hold the pill in a pair of needle nose pliers and put the pill as far back as you can. Not far enough to hurt, of course, but as far back as you can. It really, really helps with some cats. Talking to your cat is NOT strange. They do understand, often way more than we think they do. if you tell thme what you are doing and why, they are far more likely to let you do whatever it is. [/QUOTE]
Insert quotes…
Verification
Post reply
Forums
General Discussions
The Watercooler
Purrbaby advice?
Top