Parasite Control

Parasite Control

We can advise on the best products and routines to keep your cat healthy, happy and free from pests.

The Facts on Fleas

• Only the adult flea lives on your pet.

• A single flea can lay 30-50 eggs each day, eggs which will fall off into the pet’s bedding, your carpets, your bed or anywhere else that your pet goes.

• The eggs take one to 10 days to hatch into larvae. The larvae will then become a pupa within a cocoon. The flea can remain as a cocoon for several months, depending upon the season.

• Adult fleas on your pet represent only 5% of the flea population in your house – that means that the other 95% are hiding in your rooms!

• The commonest flea affecting both cats and dogs in the UK is the cat flea.

• Fleas are carriers of tapeworms so your pets easily become infected by swallowing a flea when grooming themselves.

The Fiction

• Pets catch fleas from the grass. Fleas are only caught from another animal or from a contaminated environment.

• Fleas are only a problem in summer. Fleas are around all year, they just breed much faster in the summer.

• Fleas don’t bother the pet. Some animals get severe skin problems due to allergic reactions to fleas.

• Pet shop spot-on products work as well as the vet’s. Older products often contain Permethrin which is no longer efficient against fleas and is toxic. You could spend a lot of money and still have problems! Fipronil is now widely available but there are concerns that resistance to the molecule is growing.

• Insecticides alone will control a flea infestation. Unless insecticides kill each and every flea before it can lay eggs, eggs will continue to spill into the environment thereby maintaining an infestation. No spot-on insecticide, even the best, can kill each and every flea within 24 hours for a full month.

Worms

Cats suffer two forms of intestinal worm: roundworm, which are passed directly from cat to cat, and tapeworm, which pass through an intermediate host, such as a flea or mouse.

Ideally kittens should be wormed from as early as possible, but usually we get to give kittens their first routine worming at the first vaccination.

The most efficient wormer for kittens is Panacur which we normally give in liquid form daily for three days. Kittens should be wormed again at their second vaccination.

All adult cats should be routinely wormed every six months using a safe product which will reliably remove both round and tapeworms – many pet shop wormers will fail to provide full coverage.

For those cats that simply will not take tablets, efficient spot-ons are now available to perform an equivalent job.

If your cat is a good hunter then they may pick up tapeworms regularly. The tapeworm has to pass through another animal before it can re-infect cats.

You will recognise tapeworms from the small rice-like segments stuck to the hair around your cat’s tail or bottom. If a cat vomits one up it will be white, flat and segmented – a roundworm will look more like a rubber band or a piece of spaghetti!

Ask our staff for advice on a suitable tablet which will remove both round and tapeworms. Avid hunters may need more regular tapeworm-specific treatment which is available in tablet, injection or spot-on formulations.

Ear Mites

Ear mites are commonly found in kittens, being passed by direct contact with an infected adult.

Mites will produce marked irritation in the ear canal, causing the kitten to shake its head and to scratch its ears. In cases of infestation you may be able to see copious black wax rising to the top of the ear canal.

If your kitten has ear mites we will either dispense ear drops to kill the mites or we will use a systemic spot-on, a product which is absorbed through the skin and spreads through the bloodstream to kill fleas, roundworms and ear mites.

However even when using a systemic treatment we will need to disperse the wax within the ear canal by means of some wax dispersant.

Ear mites can be shared between dogs and cats and therefore all pets within a household will need to be treated at the same time to eliminate the infestation completely.