Need Ideas On How To Apply Flea Control On My Senior Adopted Tortie!

This is Maddie. Ive been told she is 15 yrs old and I adopted her about 2 months ago. First off, her age is only relevant here because she has had 15 years to develop these traits and that is the biggest challenge. She is healthy and active.

Maddie comes when shes called. Sits on my lap all the time. Sleeps in my bed with me every night. So I feel like we are bonding. HOWEVER---- I can not pick her up/she must voluntarily come to me. When Im petting her I cant shift my body without her jumping off. So in regard to this I can see there is still an ocean of trust we are missing.

Maddie's front paws were declawed long before I adopted her but she has killed a mouse and did this to my arm when feeling threathen by me the first time I tried to put flea control on her.

SO........... my question to the group is what can I do to be able to apply flea control to this lil baby without having her freak out? She is NOT swayed by food or treats so thats not an option. We tried once while she was relaxing on my lap/chest but shes no dummy. She knew what was up and jumped down.

I will take ANY suggestions from you for ideas how to over come this. I dont want to fork up cash to pay a vet to do this for me but I need to get her treated. We have an active dog who spends time outdoors, and is treated also, but I fear the dog will inadvertently bring a flea in and Maddie will be subjected.

Would you be able to put her in one of these? Then you can put the flea stuff on her neck.
https://www.chewy.com/cat-in-bag-e-z-zip-cat-carrier-cobalt/dp/168657

maggiedemi said:

Would you be able to put her in one of these? Then you can put the flea stuff on her neck.
https://www.chewy.com/cat-in-bag-e-z-zip-cat-carrier-cobalt/dp/168657

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These are easy to use. The only thing you need to be sure of is that the neck is pulled snug enough so they can't get a paw into the neck. Once that happens, it's all over. Take it off the cat and try again another time. But once you get the neck on her, cinched and velcro'ed snug, you now have a literal handle on her to help restrain her while you zip her in.

daftcat75 said:

These are easy to use. The only thing you need to be sure of is that the neck is pulled snug enough so they can't get a paw into the neck. Once that happens, it's all over. Take it off the cat and try again another time. But once you get the neck on her, cinched and velcro'ed snug, you now have a literal handle on her to help restrain her while you zip her in.

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How on earth am I going to get her in there? I love the idea but its led to another question. Lol!!

ohcheap1 said:

How on earth am I going to get her in there? I love the idea but its led to another question. Lol!!

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Isn't that her in your lap? As I said, the hardest part will be getting it over her neck. It's a pretty big opening so getting it over won't be as hard as cinching it up snug. Act quick and decisively! But once you've got it over her neck, the bag has a handle. Hold onto the handle and she's not going anywhere. It's much simpler to zip her up now that you've got a handle on her.

I've done this to a very angry, hissing, snarling biting Krista when I brought her home from a dental appointment with not enough pain meds in her and poop on her backside and legs.

If I can get this one in one, I have faith you can get Maddie in one too.

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daftcat75 said:

Isn't that her in your lap? As I said, the hardest part will be getting it over her neck. It's a pretty big opening so getting it over won't be as hard as cinching it up snug. Act quick and decisively! But once you've got it over her neck, the bag has a handle. Hold onto the handle and she's not going anywhere. It's much simpler to zip her up now that you've got a handle on her.

I've done this to a very angry, hissing, snarling biting Krista when I brought her home from a dental appointment with not enough pain meds in her and poop on her backside and legs.

If I can get this one in one, I have faith you can get Maddie in one too.

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HOWEVER---- I can not pick her up/she must voluntarily come to me. When Im petting her I cant shift my body without her jumping off.

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I guess Ill have to get body cover made out off that material that you cant cut through even with a slicer!! My wrist still gets looks like I tried to 86 myself. I will definately take this idea into consideration but Im still looking for others if there is anything else out there.

Here's another thing I did with my growling tiger there but I was hoping you wouldn't have to do this yourself because it's very stressful on the both of you. To get her out of that cage, I threw a towel over her and dragged/pushed her into one of those cardboard carriers they have at vets and shelters and closed the box. From there, you know the first thing that will pop out when you open the top of the box again will be her head. Put the bag over her neck and cinch it up.

I've bagged her twice and that was definitely the more stressful of the two times.

The only reason I haven't done it more with her is because 99.999% of the time, she is the sweetest cat ever and I don't need the bag. She trusts me enough that I can lift her into a plastic tub on the counter. Doing medical things with her is always easier at my level than hers and the tub slows down the escape attempt.

You could certainly try a variation on that theme where between you and an extra pair of hands, throw a towel over her, scoop her up, and place her into a plastic bin large enough to contain her. Have a cat head sized hole cut into the lid so that when you place the lid on the bin, the head pops up. Dab her neck with the flea treatment and release her. Make sure there is a plate with food and/or treats in her exit path to distract her and reward her.

I've had decent luck with really firm swaddling. Cookie is an angry old lady and doesn't always like to cooperate. If you can get her to lay down on a towel or blanket it's not too hard to wrap a cat like a burrito. You just have to make sure the neck portion is wrapped very snuggly or keep it held closed so she can't get a paw out. If you pet her beforehand and make a part in the fur while doing so it'll be easier to get the flea treatment on her neck really quickly. I find if I massage the fur in the parted position for a few minutes it stays at least somewhat separated and the whole event is over more quickly.

A couple of question for you. Have you seen fleas on your girl or does she go outside?

You can try:

• Do it while she's eating smelly food and don' try to separate her hair with your fingers. The spot-on treatment's are already designed so that you can sneak them between hair without touching the cat.
• You can also try a syringe. Put the treatment in the syringe.
• If YOU feel more comfortable with her face facing more up than down like eating from a bowl, get treat pastes (GimCat has them for example) and as she's licking put the spot on.
• Keep the treatment open so she won't hear the opening sounds but keep its opening closed well with your fingers until the last second. Otherwise she might hear the smell. (This is one of the reasons why food is suggested. Not necessarily to distract her with the eating but also to suppress the smell of the treatment.)

You don't need to do it slow. You just need to find what will distract her.

I put spot-on on my cat every month. She still doesn't know it's me who is doing it. As far as she knows sometimes her neck mysteriously gets wet and smells icky. (I always do it when she's eating wet food or freshly boiled chicken or licking treats.)

You can also get gardening gloves if you feel she might try to bite you bad. Just make sure she gets use to the gloves first. Like have her smell the glove for a week, pet her with the glove on, etc so she will feel comfortable with it and won't suspect anything

Personally I wouldn't treat her if it isn't a problem. If the dog is treated and your cat is indoor it shouldn't be a problem.

She's a beauty!

Have you tried putting it on her while she is sleeping?

I usually sneak up on my girl while she is fast asleep.

First get a partner if you can. Hide flea medicine by where you will be in the room she is most comfortable in (do not let her see/hear the flea medicine or see the bag coming!) I would wear jeans and a sweatshirt for protection. Then speaking normally I would have my partner scruff her with one hand and push down on her hind legs so she can not move with the other. Be calm & firm. (Or stuff her in the bag.) I would then put a flea collar on her, release her with a calm ‘All done’ then offer her treats. It is how I deal with all cats.

Last time I gave my tame teen kitty his Cheristin I was on my knees on the ground, with me squeezing his back 2/3’s of his body between my legs so he couldn’t escape (gently and just closing my ankles so he didn’t have an escape route and couldn’t squirm so much) and scruffing him. Next time he is getting kitty burrito’d in a towel!!!!

daftcat75 said:

I've done this to a very angry, hissing, snarling biting Krista when I brought her home from a dental appointment with not enough pain meds in her and poop on her backside and legs.

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WOW!! I always feel so bad when any of my crew has to be at the vet, then I see the kennel area with "CAUTION" tags on their cages.

I wouldn't treat either if you don't see fleas on her. My indoor/outside cats have never had fleas, but I did have to treat for ticks one horrible spring. Use a topical that you apply high up on the neck, almost between the ears. If they can get a lick it is really bad, they run around like crazy and foam at the mouth. I even have put it on my ferals. You go up when they are relaxed, scratch them on the head and neck and then quickly apply it by pushing it to the skin and through thge fur. It is over in a second. they may run off for a while, but it is done. The secret is having the vial ready, and moving very quickly!

sabrinah said:

I've had decent luck with really firm swaddling.

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It's amazing what a big, thick bath towel can do! One of my crew is borderline feral - for vet appointments I literally have to corner her in a bathroom, and grab her with a towel. Grab her by the shoulders, cover her face, control her head, pin her body down, slip the towel under her, wrap her up tight. Just have to be quick, confident, and careful! Though even my most socialized only respects swift, confident action to pick him up and put him in his carrier.

ohcheap1 said:

HOWEVER---- I can not pick her up/she must voluntarily come to me.

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I've had some luck in the last year with teaching 1 of my crew to tolerate some handling. Blue is crazy, and needs a lot of playtime, so for now is only when she is craving attention. But she now knows, if she takes a certain position, she's gonna be held in place and/or picked up.

The idea, roughly, is while petting her, and she is very, very relaxed, start to use both hands. Not like you will pick her up, just, one after the other at first. Then both hands at the same time.....then hold her in place for just one second. Then 2 seconds.....etc. From this, see if you can move her angle, without picking her up. Finally, you should be able to pick her up and put her down a second or so later.