Holidays are Over!

Thank goodness the holidays are over! Still a little lingering stuff to handle, like putting the Christmas decorations away, and taking down the Christmas cards from my display. But for the most part, stuff is all done. No leftovers in the fridge, no food to tempt me.

The cats are also on a diet. I realized I was feeding them 1/2 can a day plus dry food. I had to cut them back to 1/4 can a day, and sometimes, that means 1/8 of a can in the morning, and the rest at night.

The bad part about this is that Princess doesn't need to be on a diet. I wish I could get her to eat better. She continues to lose weight, and her bones are sticking out. There is nothing to be done, but make her comfortable. She sometimes has a little pain, a creaking in her joints, and she gets irritable with the other cats. Any of the other cats. She just wants what she wants when she wants it, too. She cuddles a bit, on my lap. She can be really insistent about that...

Beasley is the greatest complainer, of course. He wants all the food in the house in his bowl. He will eat his and everyone elses' food, if I let him. At least he's stopped vomiting up his food as soon as he's eaten. He is keeping it down.

I wormed them a few weeks ago, then added some edible diatomaceous earth to their food for a week after that. Any little worms left in their guts were shredded and no longer exist.

The fleas are also much better - more due to the cold weather than any action on my part. I still comb regularly and administer the flea drops. I haven't had to spray, but come spring, if the carpet isn't all out of here, there will be another infestation.

Otherwise, Queenie is a little distant, but she checks in with me at least once a day - right in my face, getting snuggles. Bugs is cuddly and filling out her personality a little more. She was so two-dimensional for so long, it's nice to see her realize that she's more than enough cat for anyone. And Fluffy, who never liked to see a brush or comb, is now coming to me and asking for them! She loves to sit on my lap as long as she can, and get mommy-time.

Beasley has been relegated to the top of the chair, and pouts a lot. But he knows he's my boy. At bedtime, he has dibs on the "next to the pillow" spot and gets to even put his nose on the pillow if he wants to.

The birds are coming by regularly, and I changed the seed mix so we get some really nice little songbirds, now. I have to put up another suet cake today. The cats need a few perches in front of the window. There just doesn't seem to be enough seating for them all.

Well, Happy New Year, friends. I hope your holidays were good, and your cats were healthy through it all. I miss tinsel. I never liked angel hair, so I went to tinsel. But it isn't safe for them. Ah, well... One day, maybe. If I ever get down to only one cat and can keep track of him or her enough to keep it out of the tree.

UGH! Fleas!!!

We are totally covered up in FLEAS! It seems that the flea population went critical, and hid under a rug when I last sprayed. The cats and I are miserable!

So - time to get out the big guns! Siphotrol to the rescue!

I'll take out the rug after I spray it, and roll it up - putting it on the porch while I spray the carpet under it. I have to spray all the upholstered furniture, move it and spray under it, spray the bed (remove the bedding first), and get in every nook and cranny - including behind bookshelves and under desks. It's a big job!

And I have to do it again in 10 days. And again 10 days later. Three treatments in 21 days. Along with putting treatments on the cats themselves.

And no Advantage II - get original Advantage, if I can find it. It seems that Bayer Corp. is pulling Advantage and only shipping Advantage II. It wouldn't be so bad if it worked, but on my long-haired babies, it doesn't work. I've added NEEM spray, too.

Hopefully, within 30 days, the fleas will be gone. I'll have to treat the outside with more Diatomaceous Earth, so they don't get tracked back in, too... Especially the back door! I always forget the back door....

Product Review: Advantage II

I got some Advantage II last time instead of the regular Advantage. For clarification, I always get the purple package, as all the cats are over 9 pounds.

I got a pack of 12, which covered the cats for 2 months with 2 applications left over.

I'm not really happy with it. The regular Advantage kills the fleas. Advantage II also kills the larvae and eggs, which is why I got it. But it doesn't seem to kill the fleas (full sized adults) as well.

I have carpet, and the fleas live in it - they lay eggs and the carpet is full of eggs now. Even after multiple vacuumings, it seems we are inundated with fleas. It's even worse since I applied the Advantage II.

I'm using my premise spray (Siphotrol) and salt. I tried the diatomaceous earth, but it plugged up my vacuum so bad that it stopped working, and I had to fix it. So, I'm back to salt.

That's my report. If things get better, I'll let you know.....

Flea Update...

Well, it turned out that Bugsie was telling me all about the fleas. I rubbed her down with NEEM oil, and they quieted for a while.

I ordered some Siphotrol premise spray...
http://www.for-the-love-of-cats.com/Siphotrol-Plus

which took too long to get here by UPS for my comfort (actually only 5 days) and when it arrived, I ordered some Advantage...
http://www.for-the-love-of-cats.com/ss-advantage

which arrived a few days later by mail. I've treated all the cats and the fleas are dying. I need to treat the premises again, since the fleas were so bad that they were hiding in places I didn't think to spray - like the closet, under the bed, the cat beds, and so on. I've changed sheets twice, and I'll have to do it again, and spray each layer as I add the sheets back.

Yep, we were infested alright!

Now, I have to purchase advantage another month-worth, and get the infestation out of the yard, which is where they are coming from. I'll need a yard fogger and more premise spray. The diatomaceous earth is good, but just not good enough.

Part of this is carpet. I haven't had carpet for several years, so they have a place to hide now. I have to keep the carpet treated all the time. I have DE in the carpet now. However, it's sitting on top of the carpet - even after 2 weeks. It needs to get down to the base of the fibers. I'll have to invest in a rake to get it there, and keep the top of the carpet sprayed with the premise spray. Salt works too.

The other part is where they are coming from - the yard and driveway. We humans walk from the cars to the house, and they jump on us for a free ride inside. I need to treat the yard and entire premises.

So, this might be entitled - "How to De-Flea Your Home" instead of Flea Update!

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It would be really nice if I could take the cats out for a flea-dip and fog the house, but Queenie won't have it. I can't get her near a carrier. At least not and keep my skin intact....

Diatomaceous Earth

I'm trying a new type of Diatomaceous Earth. The new stuff is food-grade and can be taken internally. Fleas have been very bad this year, and I can't keep up with them. I have the DE around the outside of the house, but the wonderful product I have has some added ingredients that make it not quite food-grade. There are no pesticides in it, but if the cats or myself eat it, we may not like it.

So, I've purchased a food-grade version of DE, and I'm going to put some on the cats in their flea-infested hotspots, and then rake a little into the carpet. That should finish with any fleas we have in the house.

What I've been finding is that the fleas are not getting in, but they are breeding on the cats. Fleas have a lifecycle that is purely based on their feeding cycle...

They feed and lay eggs. The eggs hatch into larvae about 10-20 days. They mature into adult, biting fleas in 20-30 days, and the cycle begins again. If you can stunt their growth in the larval stage (Frontline, Ovitrol) then they never mature to lay more eggs and die off. If you have adult fleas, you need to kill them (Advantage, Siphotrol, pyrethrins) and then treat again in 30 days - but they may already be laying eggs, so I recommend a third treatment to fully rid yourself of fleas.

And all the places where fleas can hide must be treated: rugs, furniture, pets, bedding (including yours), and the landscaping around the entrances to your home. That's what makes DE so convenient! It can be left out year-round, and not hurt the beneficials. It also kills other pests (such as beetles, silverfish and earwigs) and parasites (such as the worms caused by fleas - when ingested).

I'm also curious regarding DE's general health effects for humans. It clears out the parasites and muck in the digestive tract, and can be good for overall health. So, I'll report back after I've received it and tried it for about a week or so.