Hesitant to use topical flea chemicals for cats, becoming conservative on this

[martha anne]

Hello, right now I have one of my sweet long time semi-ferals (he lives in my yard with another cat and has a heated shelter and is very healthy) at the veterinary hospital. He might be about 8 years old.  He was trapped last night and will see the vet, today, under sedation,  after a 5 year hiatus, for an exam, any dental work he may need, a rabies shot and urinalysis, and I think that's it.  I had him neutered 5 years ago and he got the FVRCP shot, rabies, was tested for fiv and leukemia (negative),  microchip and Revolution at the ASPCA (I am a certified TNR rescuer) at that time.  I do not believe in lots of shots and will only have him get the rabies shot this time around. But that is another topic for discussion <ss>!  (Vaccinations)

I have become much more conservative about the use of topical flea chemicals.  We used to use Advantage but now I am even reluctant to use that or Revolution for him.  The hospital wanted to use a topical chemical on him at admission but I declined.  They were understandably not happy but relented since the doctor had gone home and tomorrow I will speak with her about it. She is wonderful by the way.  But I feel this way: He lives outdoors all the time, feet from our back door (we have 12 inside ) and I cannot take more for a number of reasons and he has several heated, waterproof shelters and we feed him a 100% raw home made diet, nutritionally balanced and he looks fabulous - his partner was just trapped for the same dental care and the vet said he had zero dental problems other than tartar and he is 10! and he is in perfect health, great blood work, etc. so I am hoping the best for this cat, too.  But anyway, I am now very reluctant to use even Revolution unless it is a feral who clearly has lots of parasites.

I would like to know if anyone knows of a website that agrees with me that it's not so good to use these strong chemicals just to get rid of fleas.  After all, he will be returning to his life out in our yard.  What might be the disadvantages to a healthy cat to getting Advantage or Revolution?  I bet a holistic vet would say I am right - don't do it.

I do totally get it that the hospital has to consider protecting the other cats and that is why they wanted to give him the topical chemical for fleas.  I don't mean to be inconsiderate to the other cats but it bothered me so much and so I refused.  They know me for years and were great to comply.

Thanks.

 

[molly92]

I've researched Revolution a lot (Advantage not quite so much), and it seems to me to be a very worthwhile medication. Some cats will have an adverse reaction to the chemicals, but this is true of any chemical, synthetic or natural, that there's a chance of it producing an allergic reaction, but that might be mostly due to the alcohol in the solution which can be irritating. The reaction is usually just the form of a rash or hair loss. Revolution is very safe for cats, and there are multiple studies that show even much higher than recommended doses produced no ill effects. Revolution kills invertebrates by attacking their nerves, but it cannot do so in most mammals because it cannot cross the blood-brain barrier (apparently some collie dogs are more likely to have a genetic defect in this area). The flea and tick medications that do contain more hazardous chemicals are the kind you can buy in pet stores, so I would definitely avoid those. And because a cat can get heartworm from a single mosquito bite and heartworm is not usually treatable in cats, just preventable, I think it's well worth it.

This site references pretty much every study you could ever imagine about Revolution: http://www.pet-informed-veterinary-advice-online.com/revolution-flea-control.html

Advantage works differently, but it is also very targeted to affect insects and not mammals, which you can read about here: http://www.pet-informed-veterinary-advice-online.com/advantage-flea-control.html#advantage-safety

Both of these medicines work best if given monthly, so fleas and ticks will come back if they're only applied once and the cat is exposed to the outdoors.

This is an article from a well-known holistic vet: http://www.onlynaturalpet.com/holis...eartworms/154/the-truth-about-heartworms.aspx

I'm not convinced by that article. I agree that if you don't live near mosquitoes, your pet is safe, and drug companies are definitely overcharging us, but if you live anywhere that's ever warm, heartworm is a very real worry. It's not as likely as other less fatal parasites, but it does happen regularly. On the chance that your animals immune system isn't at its very best, Revolution and Advantage will be much more effective than anything else.

A big worry about flea and tick medication, I think, comes from the fact that very harsh drugs were the only ones available until about 20 years ago. Nowadays the options are very different. This article explains that transformation well: http://davesgarden.com/guides/articles/view/3131

Sorry to cite so many science-dense websites. There's a lot of stuff out there written for and against certain flea and tick treatments, but I just have a difficult time trusting a source that does not back up its claims with at least some scientific reasoning, and hopefully many well-designed studies. Not that holistic medicine does not have a lot of very good components to it. Actually a lot of traditional veterinary practices do not hold up well under scientific scrutiny. But in this case, the science does support Revolution and Advantage as being safe and effective, although how necessary they are depends on the climate.

While your cat sounds healthy and has a strong immune system able to fight off disease and parasites, it can still carry many pathogens and transmit them to other animals (especially via jumping fleas!). And animals at the vet are often there because they are in a weakened state, so minimizing the chance that they could catch something by having everyone treated for fleas with one of these very safe medications seems very reasonable to me. Even typically non-fatal parasites that fleas tend to carry can do a lot of damage if the cat is already ill or immunocompromised.