Cat Treatment

[Emma081983]

Hi, I'm quite new to owning a cat and so I'm wondering how many times a year I should take my cat to the vets for booster injections, flea/worm treatment and dentals. Two of my local vets have given me advice on the above but slightly different advice for example one of the vets said to give my cat flea/worm treatment at the vets once every month but I think she was pushy with the sales. What do you think?

[sara3]

flea treatments should be about once a month, worming about the same.. especially if your cat is a hunter. I rarely worm my cat as I don't think he's ever caught more than a spider.. if it was slow enough!

you can get those "back of the neck" drops that do both.

[sara3]

injections once a year. dental checks at the same time, unless you suspect a problem.

[Emma081983]

I was looking at those 'back of the neck' drops - are they effective enough? Only recently my cat has been scratching a lot and I've been combing out a lot of flea dirt and found some fleas so I'm going to the vets tonight to see what treatment they've got.

[lankeela]

Vaccinations are only necessary every three years but your vet will tell you they are necessary every year. Flea treatment is only necessary when you see fleas, your vet will tell you they need doing every month as they make good money selling the stuff. If they do have fleas ask them for Frontline spray, which is prescription only, it is expensive but actually works.
Avoid drop on neck treatments, they can cause problems for some animals and you are regularly putting unnecessary chemicals into your animal.

As for worming if they hunt then about every three months, if not only worm them if they have had fleas or you see evidence of worms in their poo or on the back of their legs under their tail (looks like grains of rice if it is tapeworm).

[camille79]

Hey there
I've had two cats for about 6 years, both cats are outdoor cats and hunters of just about everything. I worm every 3 months with drontal and de-flea every 6-8 weeks with Frontline spot-on. Not had any probs with either (but both are very robust and healthy moggies), but know there are occasional cases of cats having a bad reaction to spot-on flea drops. I started using frontline when the cats had a heavy flea infestation one summer and within 24 hours I couldn't spot a flea on the cats and within a week my house was flea-free completely!

Although I did get both treatments from my vet at the start to make sure they were suitable for my cats, I now buy them from petmeds.co.uk which is far cheaper than my local vet! Just be careful to weigh your cat accurately so you get the dosage right (my technique is to weigh myself then pick up the cat and note the difference)

[Emma081983]

Thanks for your advice - this is really useful information. Last week I bought Frontline Spot On from the vets (a 6 pack which cost �24) and its done a good job killing those fleas but next time I'll definitely buy from Petmeds instead as they seem a lot cheaper.