[OT] Ouch! Pain pain pain!

[Willtell]

--

Our cat hunt's birds and catches about 4 per year. He seems most offended that we do not want to keep the birds, especally when they are still alive. We usually shut them both out of the house for an hour or two.

When we let the cat back in he wants to rub his face all over us.

 

[Djeta Thernadier]

I have never had to bathe a housecat , but at one point of my life had to bathe 7 ferrets.

I would set aside an hour or so for this chore, and let me tell you, while one of the little furballs enjoyed the bath and acted like she was being pampered in a jacuzzi, the other 6 went at me like savage beasts scratching and fighting and splashing until I was more wet than they and covered in red slashes.

In the end , I always won, and they ended up all fluffy and shiny clean until 5 minutes went by and they'd run about the house rolling in dust and mess until they were filthy again.

Sadly, none of the 7 are still with us, 3 died of old age and the other 4 I had to give to new homes due to circumstances beyond my control. I miss them like crazy, despite the nightmare bath days.

 

[Buttercup]

When we got our dog, she had fleas. We got her in early July, and took her to the vet immediately. They put her on a pill called Sentinal. One a month repels fleas, ticks and mosquitoes. She hasn't had a problem again. Well, except for the tapeworm she got from killing that squirrel....

 

[Duncan Haldane]

Lavender.

Fleas hate lavender.

Grow some around your house, if you can. Get some lavender carpet de-odoriser, and spread it around, then vacuum it up - no more fleas.

It's cheap, it's organic, and no scratches from the cat

Also, someone mentioned worming pills for cats - again, there is a better way. Get worming paste. Put it on the cats. They will lick it off themselves (this is not good for de-worming a litter of kittens, as the mother is most likely to lick it off the kittens).

Duncan

 

[Ashy]

Or, you can get yourself a deepfryer and ALOT of butter. Then find some breadcrumbs and some beaten eggs, take each cat and....

Why's everybody looking at me that way???





Seriously, the Advantage route is the best - we use it for our Border Collie...

 

[Morbidity]

Also recommend Advantage, but as someone who has frequently bathed cats I will give you the following tips.

1. Wash them in a bucket not in a sink ... they feel more secure in a bucket

2. Don't let them hear the sound of running water. Best idea is to have 2 buckets and a jug or something to pour water from. Stand the cat in one bucket on it’s hind legs, pour water over the cat with the jug (filled with water from the second bucket), soap the cat up, then pour more water over the cat to wash the suds off. Alternatively if you’ve got one of those detachable shower heads they work very well at wetting the cat down and rinsing it off without overly disturbing the cat.

3. Don’t use household soap or shampoo (baby shampoo probably okay), but best to use special pet/cat soap/shampoo. I imagine each of your cats spent the next 3 hours licking their fur … the stuff in our soap/shampoo isn’t good for the kitties to eat. Also the pet shampoo usually has stuff in it which kills fleas … you can actually see the dead fleas in the water after you’ve finished bathing the cat.

4. Don’t bathe the cats on your own. Get someone who you trust to hold with a hand under each front shoulder. Basically you want to put your fingers under the shoulder and your thumb on top, so the cat can’t use it’s front paws to lash out at anyone. The trust element is important because cats are amazingly strong and you’ve got to be sure that the person holding the cat is not going to let go the moment the cat puts some energy into trying to move their paws … you can get really badly scratched if they do let the cat’s paw go.

5. If the cat is long-haired, you’ll probably need to blow-dry them as well or they could catch cold. The key to blow drying them is to put a towel over their head …. Cats are usually okay with the process as long as hot air is never blasted onto their head.

 

[nyrfherdr]

Make sure you have more than 1 commoner level before bathing your cat. In all cases don your armor first.
Consider taking the Endurance feat
Nyrf

 

[Perun]

I remember one time I was sleeping over at a friend's house, and his dog curled up in my bed to sleep. The next morning, I noticed that I had fleas. The conversation went something like this...

"Dude, your dog has fleas."
"No, he doesn't."
"Dude! he does! He gave them to me! Your dog has fleas!"
"Shut up dude my dog's clean!"

A few days later...
"Dude! You'll never guess!"
"What?"
"My dog has fleas!"
-_-;;;;;;

Dog fleas don't bother humans. They also don't jump. They simply crawl in dog hair. I know, I've had my puli for eleven years now. Unless, of course, there are american sorts of fleas that actually do bite humans.

I Dalmatia, we have a plant the English name of shich I really don't know, but it's latin name is Tanacetum cinerariifolium. It's flower contains two poisonous esthers (?), etheric oils, and other stuff that make it an excellent, completely natural and organic insecticide. Indeed, it's Croatian name is 'buhach', from 'buha' = flea. The natural insecticide is made from flowers, dried and ground (Latin: Flores Pyrethri). The plant was originaly found only in the karst regions of Dalmatia, Herzegovina (in Bosnia and Herzegovina), Montenegro, and Albania, but has since been taken to a huge number of other countries. Perhaps ask at your local drugstore?

Anyways, you powder your dog, or cat, with it, leave it for some time, and comb it off. Simple, yet effective. And 100% natural.

Hope this helps.

 

[Agback]

G'day

Treat your cats with Advantage. It's not too expensive, it's quick and easy to apply, it works wonders keeping my dog free from ticks and fleas, and it is advertised to destroy fleas in the pet's environment as well as on the pet.

Our dogs used to have shocking trouble with fleas, despite flea collars and fumigations. Some got allergic eczema, which is horrid. But now tht we have Advantge, our current dog doesn't even know what it's like to have a flea.

Better living through Chemistry, dude!

Regards,


Agback

 

[shilsen]

Dog fleas don't bother humans. They also don't jump. They simply crawl in dog hair. I know, I've had my puli for eleven years now. Unless, of course, there are american sorts of fleas that actually do bite humans.

Be glad when your dog has only fleas. I came back to India on holiday after being in the US for the last 9 months, and discovered our dogs (3 of them - were 4, but one died shortly after I got back) have ticks. The little buggers swarm all over the place and bite. Yeowch!

As for getting rid of fleas on cats, get a dog I think mine just murdered their thirtieth cat last week.