Flea Medication Alternatives for Pesticide Sensitive Cats
Flea medications use pesticides to kill the fleas. Some cats have pesticide sensitivity and become ill when flea medication is applied. How do you manage to keep your beloved pets flea free when the cure is worse than the affliction? Here are some alternatives and better understanding of pesticide sensitivity.
What is Pesticide Sensitivity?
Some cats have a bad reaction to the pesticides in flea medication. The first sign is usually when the cat begins to drool excessively. Other symptoms include lethargy, diarrhea, and vomiting. These symptoms can occur within an hour of application of the flea medication. The symptoms will occur even if your cat doesn’t lick the medication. Age isn’t a factor either. No matter how young or old cats with pesticide sensitivity are they will still have these problems after every application.
Flea Medication Alternative: Pills
Oral flea medication is a good choice for pesticide sensitive cats because it is not topically applied. The greasy topical gel that you dab on a cat’s neck is easily rubbed around. Your cat, or a grooming buddy, can easily lick the medication. Pesticide sensitive cats will have much more dangerous reactions if this happens. Oral flea medication does contain pesticides, but tends to not cause such dangerous reactions in pesticide sensitive cats beyond excessive itching as the fleas die.
The problem with oral pills is if your cat does have a bad reaction you can’t just wash up the medicine. Talk to your vet at your local cat clinic before giving your cat oral flea medication.
Flea Medication Alternative: Collar
Flea collars contain pesticides that release into the cat’s system slowly over time. A flea collar can last up to 8 months. That means you don’t have to apply medication or give your cat a pill every month. The collar doesn’t give off that greasy oil that is so easy to lick, either. Just like with the pill, the chance of extreme adverse reaction to the pesticides is lower than with the liquid flea medication. If your cat does begin to have a bad reaction to the pesticides, you can simply remove the collar.
Talk to the vet at your local cat clinic to determine which flea collar is best for your cat. Some flea collar work better than others and some require a certain age or weight.
You can still keep your pesticide sensitive cat flea free and happy with these flea medication alternatives. For more information, contact Ad Park Pet Clinic.
