Feral Cats And Capstar

dragonlady2

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I have been feeding a male feral cat for a few months now. Trapping is in its future, however, I would like to use capstar to help him with the fleas for now. Does anyone use capstar regularly to control fleas? How often do you give it to the cat? My indoor cats use Advantage, however, there is no way I would be able to use this with him and I would like to find a way to give him some relief.
 
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dragonlady2

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Thanks for your reply....how often should I give it to him? Weekly?
 

Jcatbird

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Hey! I just returned from my vet with some Capstar. I use it on every rescue as soon as I bring them in if they don’t go straight to the vet for a check. A pill lasts at killing fleas for 24 hours. ( I am taking this straight off the label from the vet.) I am told they are a bitter pill ( I want to know how they know that, did someone taste one? :lol:) I hide them in a little bit of baby food to get them to eat it. The kitties are pretty smart about avoiding them or spitting them out. I don’t give them anything else until they eat the pill even if I have to use the baby food more than once. After the pill they get full meals. It seems to work very well. So glad you are doing that for him! Fleas are terrible! :rock:
 
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dragonlady2

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I will try the baby food if necessary. He gets three wet meals with cooked chicken everyday so I should be able to slip it into one of these meals. Thanks for the replies.
 

marmoset

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I've used it every 2-3 days to combat the flea life-cycle but I think this is highly dependent on where you live and what time of year it is. I don't capstar when they are outside only when I trap and bring them in. It's a short lived medication and kills adult fleas that are on the cat. There's not much point to giving capstar to a cat a days before trapping if you are intending to bring the cat in flea-free days later. As long as they are outside they can pick up new fleas. It is better than nothing and I've found it to be effective but it doesn't compare to a topical treatment when it comes to duration.

I've never had any problems with grinding up the capstar and adding it to food unlike Comfortis which is a monthly oral dose that smells like mothballs (but is effective if they will take it).
 

msaimee

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I've only used Capstar once. It made my cat go bonkers for about 15 minutes, I guess the fleas were jumping around on him.

I used Frontline Plus each month on my outdoor feral who I could not touch. He would, however, allow me to sit close to him. I'd feed him his favorite food--unseasoned chicken breast in broth--and while he was eating, I dribble it between his shoulder blades. Sometimes he'd get irritated and hiss, but it never bothered him enough to move away and stop eating. So that is another option if your feral cat will allow you to sit close by while he is eating.
 

Willowy

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I've only used Capstar once. It made my cat go bonkers for about 15 minutes, I guess the fleas were jumping around on him.
Hah, yes! It makes the fleas kick around while they're dying and some cats are extra sensitive to that. It can be alarming the first time you see it but after you know what's happening it's just funny :D.
 

alphakitty

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Hey! I just returned from my vet with some Capstar. I use it on every rescue as soon as I bring them in if they don’t go straight to the vet for a check. A pill lasts at killing fleas for 24 hours. ( I am taking this straight off the label from the vet.) I am told they are a bitter pill ( I want to know how they know that, did someone taste one? :lol:) I hide them in a little bit of baby food to get them to eat it. The kitties are pretty smart about avoiding them or spitting them out. I don’t give them anything else until they eat the pill even if I have to use the baby food more than once. After the pill they get full meals. It seems to work very well. So glad you are doing that for him! Fleas are terrible! :rock:
Hey! I just returned from my vet with some Capstar. I use it on every rescue as soon as I bring them in if they don’t go straight to the vet for a check. A pill lasts at killing fleas for 24 hours. ( I am taking this straight off the label from the vet.) I am told they are a bitter pill ( I want to know how they know that, did someone taste one? :lol:) I hide them in a little bit of baby food to get them to eat it. The kitties are pretty smart about avoiding them or spitting them out. I don’t give them anything else until they eat the pill even if I have to use the baby food more than once. After the pill they get full meals. It seems to work very well. So glad you are doing that for him! Fleas are terrible! :rock:
Hi there,

I open a can of CostCo chicken-breast, drain the liquid into a kitty dish, mixing with a crunched-up the CapStar (be sure to buy the kitty size pill, as the dog size can actually kill kitties). Dissolve the crunched-up CapStar pill in the chicken-juice. The kitties love that broth. Make sure only one kitty per pill. If you are like me, I have a bunch of kitty hooches, little sleeping arrangements out of the wind and cold. Once a month or so, I washing-machine their sleeping blankets, to break the flea-egg cycle. That really helps to keep the fleas populations in check.

Best Regards, and Merry Christ Mass to you and your little Kitties too!

Alpha Kitty
 

alphakitty

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Hah, yes! It makes the fleas kick around while they're dying and some cats are extra sensitive to that. It can be alarming the first time you see it but after you know what's happening it's just funny :D.
CapStar or Nitenpyram (chemical name) works by turning the blood toxic to fleas. It is an insect neurotoxin.

Besure to buy the right dosage size, as there are two different sizes. One size is for small pets weighing 2 ~ 25Lbs, eg., kitties and small dogs, or 11.4mg, and the large dosage size, 57.0mg is for large pets such as German Shepherds, etc.

Adminstering the wrong dosage size to kitties can be fatal.

From WikiPedia:

Nitenpyram - Wikipedia
<<<<<<<<<<
Veterinary applications
Nitenpyram tablets, brand name CapStar, are used to treat flea infestations in cats and dogs. After oral administration of the tablet the drug is readily and quickly absorbed into the blood. If a flea bites the animal it will ingest with the blood the nitenpyram. The effect of nitenpyram can be observed half an hour after the administration. At this time a high concentration in the plasma can be detected and the first fleas dislodge from the pet host. A study showed that six hours after application the infestation of fleas on decreased by 96.7% for dogs and 95.2% for cats. The adult fleas present on the hosts are severely interrupted, hence, egg production is reduced. Eggs are not directly affected by nitenpyram, only after they come out. Administering nitenpyram might have to be repeated or continued until the pest infestation has subsided. The half time of nitenpyram is around eight hours. Thus, 24 hours after treatment roughly 100% of the adult fleas were killed. Between 24 hours and 48 hours the efficacy is highly decreased and after 72 hours no effect could be shown anymore in studies.

Side effects
One observed side effect is itchiness, suspected to be from the fleas dislodging. In the five hours after the treatment it was observed that cats were grooming themselves more, i.e scratching, biting, licking, and twitching. This will stop when the fleas have either flagged or have died. Other reported side effects are hyperactivity, panting, lethargy, vomiting, fever, decreased appetite, nervousness, diarrhea, difficulty breathing, salivation, incoordination, seizures, pupil dilation, increased heart rate, trembling and nervousness. Other studies no adverse effects were observed.
>>>>>>>>>>>>>

Manufacturer's CapStar Information Sheet:
https://assets.ctfassets.net/fistk1...cf20/WEB-READY_100007A_PA100007AMX_W1a_CP.pdf
 
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dragonlady2

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The side effects are what concern me. I wouldn’t know about them as he doesn’t stick around after he eats. I was thinking once every couple of weeks to keep the flea population down on him. I am still on the fence with this. Thanks for your replies.
 

alphakitty

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The side effects are what concern me. I wouldn’t know about them as he doesn’t stick around after he eats. I was thinking once every couple of weeks to keep the flea population down on him. I am still on the fence with this. Thanks for your replies.
Hi,

I have been using CapStar pills (expensive at typically $10/pill, American corporations are so greedy), for many years for both my kitties and my dogs, although I no longer have any doggies. I've only experienced one problem with nitenpyram, where I bought some pills on eBay and the quality control was not commercial, and it killed one of my baby kitties. :[ Beyond that one experience, and again, it was not manufactured by Elanco (Eli Lily), but was a generic provider. Since then, I ONLY buy CapStar, and have never had a problem with that product. As for a kitty's agitated behavior after injesting the pill, its a insect neurotoxin, which often causes the fleas to literally go nuts. But it only lasts a short while.

I personally am not afraid of CapStar, it is an excellent remedy and it is very safe, in my opinion.

Best Regards to you and your kitties.

Alpha Kitty
 
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dragonlady2

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Wow....$10 a pill? I can get some from the vet at $4 a pill. I may give this a go.
 

Jcatbird

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4 a pill? I pay 8! Times 24 if I bring in a new rescue. Moving to wherever you live!:lol: The cats all scratch and groom like crazy for awhile but then they have a very happy nap as the fleas are dead. I have not had one bad reaction in the 100 + recurs I have done. I would offer the pill in an early treat and wait just a bit for meal time so you can get a chance to see kitty for a minute afte the pill if you are worried. Make sure you give the cat pill and dose according to size. If you are unsure, go with the safer smaller dose. Let us know how it goes and if you get to see the little flea dance the cats do. Don’t be surprised if you see kitty jump up and run or fiercely bite his tail a bit. He is just trying to run from a flea or bite it.
 

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msaimee

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I buy most of my cat meds on Amazon or ebay, it is so much cheaper than at Walmart or PetSmart. It's worth a little research. I buy multi packs of Frontline Plus on Amazon for about a third of the cost anywhere else. I'm sure you could get a good deal on Capstar there as well.
 
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dragonlady2

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I live in Canada and I can’t get the same deals on amazon.ca as you guys can.:dunno:
 
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