brewer's yeast for flea control?

[LadyFaile]

my cat got fleas. he's an indoor cat :confused: and hasn't had contact with other cats. however, a neighbour's cat sleeps outside our front door and probably has them, so they may be coming in through the front door, plus our downstairs neighbour who we share a basement with, has a cat who goes outside, so they may be coming from him. my cat did wander in the basement the other day for a few minutes though i normally don't let him down there, and the other cat's litter is down there so he roams in and out freely. either way... he's miserable

the poor guy does nothing but whine and moan and lick and scratch. and.. he's gotten our attention by lying on the coffeetable and just being an allaround jerk the last 2 days. i've never seen him so cranky :dizzy:

now, i know brewer's yeast is a safe natural way to control fleas, if i and my cat take it orally the fleas won't like the taste of us and will leave on their own in search of tastier victims. my question is this: what is the correct dosage for a cat? i know i can take one or two caplets a day without harm, but how much do i give the furball for it to work and not have any bad effects?

also what can i put across the doorstep to keep the buggers from coming in?

they just showed up the last couple days, my boyfriend and i both woke up with bites on our ankles yesterday, so hopefully there aren't too many of them yet.

thanks!

[rabid_child]

Brewers yeast is fine to try if your cat doesn't have fleas and you want to prevent them, but if he's already got them, its best just to treat him for them. Next summer before flea season, start using brewer's yeast to try to prevent them, but its too late for that now. My indoor cats have had fleas in the past, and most likely, they got them from us! If you're walking around outside, fleas can/will jump on you, and then just transfer to the cat because he's tastier. If they're already biting you and your boyfriend as well, you most likely do have A LOT of fleas. My suggestion would be to buy Frontline Plus and put it on him. Its topical and does not get absorbed into the skin. It just works with the natural oils on his fur. Also treat your house. Vacuum all surfaces (including hardwood) and throw the vacuum bags out outside of the house. You may want to talk to your vet about getting a deworming pill too as fleas carry tapeworms. Frontline isn't cheap, but DO NOT settle for a cheap alternative. (Advantage is fine too, also not cheap) Biospot, which is a pet store competator of Frontline and Advantage and much cheaper causes really severe seizures in cats. Its absolutely horrible. Frontline is very very very safe.

[LadyFaile]

grr, thanks. i can't afford to get frontline right now, i literally just spent my last $20 on groceries. i did pick up brewer's yeast while i was there, it was $3, so at the very least it's good to have around.
so you don't it will have any effect if i try it now? it won't have bad side effects though right?

i guess he has more than i thought, after i posted him i brushed him and pulled out about 5 fleas in about 5 minutes of brushing, plus a crapload of little black things which i'm guessing are probably eggs and/or larva.

do you suppose just doing a flea bath and a thorough vaccuming might do the trick until i can get my hands on some frontline? i can't get to a vet probably until september at the earliest, but he is overdue for a checkup so we'll be going regardless as soon as possible. is frontline the one that's good for a bunch of different parasites including heartworm (not a factor for cats i guess since i've only ever heard of it in reference to dogs)

[LadyFaile]

oh, um, also do you know of any natural, safe and preferably cheap things i can use to help his itching?

[rabid_child]

Brewers yeast won't hurt, it just most likely won't fix the problem. Flea shampoos are really toxic and cats hate to be bathed, and while it may help temporarily, they'll still jump back onto the cat. You can get a flea comb and comb obsessively. The black specks you're seeing are probably "flea dirt" which is essentially flea poop. If you crush it on white paper and add a drop of water it goes red, cause its digested blood.
The cheapest place to get frontline is drfostersmith.com, where frontline plus is $27.99 (US) for 3 mos. Is there anyone else with a cat or two you could buy a pack with?
His itching is going to continue as long as he's got fleas, I'm sorry to say. Both the little buggers wandering around on him and the bites they leave make him itchy. You should vacuum daily as long as he's got them, and that should help keep the infestation to as small as you can.

[LadyFaile]

alrighty. thanks. i can't find my flea comb :( but i noticed if i wet the brush before i brush him it picks up more fleas and other assorted goodies.
good to know about the flea poop, there's a ton of it, i figured it was dry blood from him scratching the bites open but it seemed there was an awful lot of it. what do the larva look like? i pick up a lot of little squiggly thingamabobs. do fleas shed or are these the babies or eggs or something?

anyway as i said a wet brush works better so i'm going to plop him in the bathtub and wet him down and go at him with a comb. i threw out my flea shampoo a while back but i hate using it anyways so i'll try without. i'm then going to vaccum. unfortunately our vaccum doesn't have a hose or any attachments so i can't do the stairs and furniture :( but i'll figure something out.

a coworker's daughter used to work at the spca, i was talking about this on lunch and she said she'll find out if her daughter has some advantage left that i can use cause she used to get a ton of it from work. so maybe i'll get lucky there.
i'm just worried that i'll finally get rid of them and then get them again because of the neighbour's cat. i suppose they're jumping off him onto us when we come in the house. i doubt the neighbour will do anything if i tell her the cat's got fleas. in fact i'm worried if she finds out she'll get rid of him or stop letting him in the house altogether. he's outside 80% of the time lately and is losing weight because she's not feeding him i don't think. :brood:

anywho i will try all the above and also wash all the bedding and whatever laundry is lying around exposed, and we'll see how it goes. i'll update.

thanks for all the info :)

[rabid_child]

If you use advantage/frontline once a month for three months it should eliminate all infestation. After that point, Frontline kills/prevents fleas for 3 mos with one application (once you're beyond your infestation), so you'd only need four applications a year to keep your cat and home flea free.

[LadyFaile]

does advantage prevent as well?

unfortunately i can't order frontline online, as you said it's US funds, by the time you factor in canadian exchange rates, taxes and shipping rates, i'm looking at probably $60 at least which is likely what i'd pay for it at the vet. either way i don't have $60 :(

but if i can get advantage free off the gal at work you bet your bippy i'll take it :D

[rabid_child]

Yea, advantage works just fine. In fact, its usually better for flea control. I was just thinking for future prevention, it'd be cheaper to apply frontline every three months than advantage once a month.

[LadyFaile]

ok. i will remember that for when i can afford it. meanwhile i'll make do with whatever i can get my hands on (as long as it's safe)


ps: i am sooooooooooooooo itchy! my feet and legs are covered in bites, lucky this started after saturday, i went to a wedding and wore a short dress and sandals. very classy to go bare legged while covered in bites ;)

[rosiesmom]

If you use advantage/frontline once a month for three months it should eliminate all infestation. After that point, Frontline kills/prevents fleas for 3 mos with one application (once you're beyond your infestation), so you'd only need four applications a year to keep your cat and home flea free.

That is nice to know. Four doses is much more affordable than buying for the whole flea season. Does it work the same way for ticks?

[rabid_child]

That is nice to know. Four doses is much more affordable than buying for the whole flea season. Does it work the same way for ticks?

Unfortunately no. Ticks one month, fleas three. Cats don't often get ticks, however, and Lyme disease isn't such an issue with them either. Its usually fleas that pose the problem.

[plath]

Good luck. We currently have a flea problem, and have for about 2 weeks now. I gave Patches (our cat) Frontline the day we first discovered the fleas, but by then we were so infested. We think the couch we bought at a garage sale was infested, and we've had it since the end of June. I was still finding fleas on him a few days later so I gave him a flea bath and think I washed off the frontline, so the vet said to give him another dose.

If you have carpet, buy a big box of salt and sprinkle it in to the carpet. Take a broom and brush it down hard deep into the carpet, and then let it sit for 24 hours. When the eggs hatch they will think it's "flea dirt" (i.e. adult flea poop that they eat) and will eat it, and die. I think I've gotten rid of them in the bedroom at least by doing that.

[LadyFaile]

i've never heard of that, i will try it, thanks :) i was hoping for a natural remedy like that.
our carpet is commercial carpet though, very flat stiff stuff you'd see in an office, not sure how well they can borough into it, but we have a thick area rug also which i think is more likely the infested area.

i can just picture my cat licking salt off the floor all day :lol:

oh yeah and he's had at least 3 hairballs in the last couple days from licking himself so much more than usual because of the itching :( he rarely gets hairballs, like once a year maybe. poor guy. we bathed him the other night just to clean out the flea dirt cause he's been leaving trails of it all over the house and i think it was half of what made him so itchy. i read on the frontline website that the flea dirt can cause itching, i guess like a rash (makes sense. i'd scratch too if i was covered in dried poo 24/7) and he doesn't seem to itch as bad as before. i'll probably bath him again in a day or two cause i noticed it's building up again.

i just used people shampoo but it's an all natural one with no animal ingredients and no artificial fragrance or dye, he seems ok with it, no dry skin or throwing up or anything after (plus he's lemony fresh ;) )

[plath]

Oh I've also heard that Pert Plus will kill the fleas if you wash him with it.

[Wolfie]

Good luck. We currently have a flea problem, and have for about 2 weeks now. I gave Patches (our cat) Frontline the day we first discovered the fleas, but by then we were so infested. We think the couch we bought at a garage sale was infested, and we've had it since the end of June. I was still finding fleas on him a few days later so I gave him a flea bath and think I washed off the frontline, so the vet said to give him another dose.

If you have carpet, buy a big box of salt and sprinkle it in to the carpet. Take a broom and brush it down hard deep into the carpet, and then let it sit for 24 hours. When the eggs hatch they will think it's "flea dirt" (i.e. adult flea poop that they eat) and will eat it, and die. I think I've gotten rid of them in the bedroom at least by doing that.

I thought it was okay to get Frontline wet after 2 days? I let the dogs get back in the river after 2 days and they've also had a bath since then, so I hope I didn't wash it off.

[LadyFaile]

the website says it's fine to bathe them and you don't have to give another dose, i think it works under the skin.

i would never use pert plus on my cat, when i used to use it on my own hair it left such residue my hairdresser was able to visibly scrape it off a strand of hair with the edge of her scissors. i wasn't going to use any kind of human shampoo because of this but the one i did decide to use is all natural and like i said fragrance and dye free, it uses real lemongrass, and i know from using it that it rinses out easily and doesn't leave the guck behind. so yeah, careful what you use on pets cause a lot of it can make them sick or give them a skin reaction.


ok so the gal from work got some of the fleastuff from her daughter, but it's not Advantage like she thought, it's called Revolution, which i've never heard of. i'm going to see if they have a website but does anyone know of it, have you heard anything good and/or bad? it's the same type thing, i'm wondering if it's just a canadian version of frontline/advantage, for all i know they may not be available here. it's a once a month.

thanks!

[Wolfie]

Thanks for the info. The dogs found something wonderful to roll in again, so they had to have 2 baths last week.



Oh I've also heard that Pert Plus will kill the fleas if you wash him with it.

Most shampoos will kill the fleas I've found. The problem is the ones that keeping hopping back on from the environment.

Frontline is expensive as heck, but from the little bit of research I've done, it's safer than many of the cheaper topical products. And it sure beats fleas baths, and spraying the animals, and spraying the house, etc., etc., etc.

I've been very lucky and haven't had fleas in the 3 years I've had the big dogs, but then my next-door neighbors had a flea problem this summer that crossed over to my yard. Of course, the place I take the dogs to run every day is a tick haven, so they needed Frontline anyway.

ETA: Cats are much more sensitive to chemicals than dogs. So don't use any flea product on a cat unless it's specifically marked for cats.

[LadyFaile]

i'm not sure but i think this revolution stuff is for both cats and dogs, just different dosages. it doesn't specify on the package anyway and the girl i got it from uses it on her cats. (she says a drop for a cat and the whole tube for a 40lb+ dog)
anyway i'm going away tomorrow until sunday evening, i won't use it on him til i get back just in case he has a reaction or whatever, plus i'd still like to get opinions on it before i try it

[rabid_child]

Revolution is fine. It kills fleas/some ticks/heartworms/ear mites/intestinal parasites (but not tapeworms, so you might still need to treat for that)

They are all the same meds for cats and dogs, but you should find out how many mLs are in the tube you have, and how many mL's are in a tube for cats your cats' size, and dose accordingly.

[LadyFaile]

flea update

wowowow! i gave him the first dose last night (say around 10pm) and today after work at around 6pm i noticed a couple of dead fleas on the couch where he was lying. so i brushed him for about 5 minutes and picked out probably a dozen or more dead fleas and 2 live ones (they weren't very lively though so i think they were dying).

this stuff works fast!

however, at the site of application the skin is really dry and i think the fur on the spot fell out, is this a normal reaction or should i be concerned? it's a dry spot about the size of a pea i guess. also his skin is really flaky all over but i think it's just the scabs from the bites maybe. he's not scratching as much anyway and isn't so whiney and mopey. i think the scabbed over bites are still bothering him a bit when i brush him, now and then he'll take a swipe at the brush i guess cause i'm going over a scab with it (ouch) but otherwise he seems to be doing much better.

really i was thinking how can one drop a month work very well, so i'm pretty amazed. the fleas are flat too as if they shriveled up, it's sorta wierd, so they fall out of his fur pretty easily, i was worried i'd have to dig for them or bath him with a comb again to get them out. i'll likely bath him in a couple days anyway to get rid of the last of the flea dirt and the dandruff.

now as for my neighbour's cat, this stuff says not to use on sick or weak cats, and the neighbour's cat is awfully skinny. i don't know if it's that he's sick or just malnurished so i'm going to have to talk to the neighbour and find out what's going on with him before i try it on him. i suppose i'll offer to share it with my downstairs neighbour as well, they also have a cat who's likely caught them from the other one by now too. the things will just keep getting into the house otherwise, even if Moo can't get them they'll still bite my ankles :brood:

[rabid_child]

I'm glad its worked so well!! It must be so nice to get that relief!!

Insofar as your apartment goes, just try and vacuum (all floor surfaces!!) as often as you can and discard the vacuum bag outside of your house. You can also get "flea traps" which are like big ol treated pieces of fly paper that attract fleas and they get stuck on them. It may help reduce the population!!

[LadyFaile]

cool i'll remember that.
so the reaction from the med is normal i take it? it doesn't seem to bother him but then again he can't reach that spot to scratch it or anything so maybe it does and i just don't know it ;)
he had another hairball sometime last night or this morning, i can't wait til this is all done and over with.

[Brandon]

I had a "fun" flea infestation problem this summer too. No fun at all. I finally got it under wraps- which is a giant relief. I hope yours gets resolved soon, LadyFaile.

[rabid_child]

Yes, a little topical irritation is normal. Sorry I didn't answer that before.