Oh my poor kitty :(

[Dagna]

We've been battling a nasty flea infestation for a couple of weeks with not much luck. We get rid of them, and then they just come right back. I ended up having to take one of my kitties to the vet yesterday, her abdomen was distended and looked pretty nasty. Turns out the fleas are causing a protein deficiency which is causing fluid to build up in her abdominal cavity. We think we caught it pretty early, but I'm going nuts waiting for the vet to call me back with the results of the blood work done. My poor cat looks so miserable with her belly flopping all over the place and fur that only covers her head and tail. (Flea allergy dermatitis and the protein deficiency are causing that) The main concern right now is the damage that this could cause her liver and kidneys, but like I said, we hope we caught it in time. Any one else had to deal with a protein deficiency? Or a massive flea infestation, in which case, could I get some tips? We've bombed the house, treated that cats with both Capstar and Frontline (twice on the Frontline and soon to be twice on the Capstar) and now we picked up this spray stuff from the vets. I never realized that fleas could get out of hand so quickly.

 

[greedy_goddess]

aww Im sorry *hugs*

 

[Stringaling]

Use Frontline on your cat. It totally gets rid of all the fleas on your cat and eventually in your house. My cat is much happier with it. Me too.

 

[Dagna]

Thanks. I've been using Frontline. They got Frontline two weeks ago when we bombed the house, still have fleas. So they got more Frontline on Wed. along with a Capstar to kill the adults on them. They get another Capstar today and Frontline in 2 weeks again. And then another Frontline a month after that. On top of that, we're still bombing and spraying the house with pretty heavy duty stuff from the vet. We're finally starting to make a dent as the only fleas we're now seeing are immature adult fleas, not the fully mature adults. So we're making headway, it's just slow going.

 

[jeffs_girl_2004]

Yeah, I have been fighting fleas too. My poor dog had them really bad but I gave her some medicine and she seems be be doing fine. I think that what you are doing is probably the best solution to your problem.

 

[JCMLR]

wash ur kitten often.
so it won't caough fleas and other bad infections

 

[argyleman]

aw

 

[Bluelighted]

Dagna, how old is your cat you took in? Does it go outside, therefore enabling it to get into contact with other cats that might have fleas? Maybe keep it inside for a bit if that is the case. Also, flea season is almost done with, unless you live in a warm area. Most fleas don't cope well living in colder temps.

 

[Dagna]

My cats are indoor only. The only time they get a look at the outside is through a nice pane of glass. Unfortunately, living in TX, we're going to have pretty high temps for a little bit longer down here. We're definately making progress on them though, you can tell that there is a huge reduction in the fleas already. Just a little bit longer I hope...

 

[tigeroz84]

I used to have cats back then, they had many fleas but didn't seem to have any problems with it. Actually, not that many otherwise I wouldn't cuddle them

 

[† Soldier Of Christ †]

what we do to our cats and kittens is we give them a bath whith a flea shampoo; the stuff for dogs tends to work alot better then the stuff for cats(you have to leave it on for 5 min. for it to work efectively) and then we give them the flea medication, it normaly will the fleas eaven the adults. I hope this works

 

[TheOriginalWhitehorse]

Dagna, I'm really sorry to hear about your cat. I hope she's better soon. Has her health improved any?

A long time ago when I had my first dog, he did have a flea problem, and while we did get rid of the fleas on him, the problem was with where he was laying. He would lay on one of the beds and when we removed the sheets to wash them...

well, the scene was beyond description, so I'll just say I'd just recommend giving a good washing to all the sheets, vacuum and treat the sofa, everything. As frquently as you can.

Again, I'm really sorry about what happened with your cat.

 

[Dagna]

Actually she's doing much better. We talked to our regular vet & apparently what's going on with her physicall, besides the fleas, is kind of bizarre. Not unheard of, but certainly not the norm especially for a spayed cat. She has what's most likely a mammary infection which is causing her to leak fluid just below the skin and look like a little cow. She's on antibiotics to clear it up which is making her more active than she was previously. She's back to playing again, but the fluid hasn't gone away yet so we're having to use warm compresses to stimulate blood flow and help drain it.

Fleas are pretty much gone now as well, just see one every now and then.

 

[moonpye]

fleas that bad have to come from not havin such a clean home environment, i have a inside cat+dog, and never had a flea yet!! yet! at all, and i'm a neat freak to boot, do u at least shampoo ur carpets regularly? no one should have that bad, a flea problem, if ur home area is clean, some may not agree with me, but it like i said, iv'e never had that problem, that sounds too crazy, like soemthing u hear on pet police, on animal planet., where pet owners have their pets taken away. sorry, but thats how i see it.

 

[Dagna]

Actually, my home is very clean. My mom is obsessive about cleaning the house and I got it from her. The fleas came from a dog I fostered that came from an animal shelter. He got treated for fleas using Frontline when he got to my house, but I guess I didn't get it fast enough. Did you know that fleas can survive in their pupal stage for over a year? And that foggers are ineffective for getting in the baseboards where fleas tend to lay their eggs? Fairly interesting. And surprisingly enough, my sister had a flea infestation in her home a month or two ago that was worse than mine. Her house gets professionally cleaned once a week and she doesn't even have carpets in her house. All wood floors and tile. And I'm choosing not to take offense at your post because the people that you see on Pet Police don't spend over $500 on a trip to the vet for one cat and I just did that for my kitty.

 

[moonpye]

oh.

 

[kleptobismol]

sry to hear about ur cat...

 

[MadeInOz]

Aww, I'm sorry to hear about your poor kitty.

I live on a farm, and my cat picks up an incredible amount of ticks, so I check him every day... He likes to go and play in the long grass... he'll never learn

 

[TheOriginalWhitehorse]

fleas that bad have to come from not havin such a clean home environment, i have a inside cat+dog, and never had a flea yet!! yet! at all, and i'm a neat freak to boot, do u at least shampoo ur carpets regularly? no one should have that bad, a flea problem, if ur home area is clean, some may not agree with me, but it like i said, iv'e never had that problem, that sounds too crazy, like soemthing u hear on pet police, on animal planet., where pet owners have their pets taken away. sorry, but thats how i see it.

Not so. The problem with fleas is that they come from *outside* the house. They are parasites, and finding their breeding ground isn't always easy. Sounds like you probably don't go outside very often.

 

[Stinker]

Both my cats are indoor-outdoor. For the past 6 years I have kept the breakaway flea collar on them. Just replaced the collars every 3 to 4 months. No fleas.