This is a short post to drive a point home about the toxicity of cat flea treatments, the most common of which are the spot-on treatments in which a drop of an insecticide is placed on the cat’s skin between the shoulder blades where the cat can’t get at it.
This preventative treatment is used by millions which is why the insecticides on which they are formulated get into rivers. Yes, it’s true. Millions of cat owners are poisoning marine wildlife by treating their cats with flea treatments. Click on the link below to read about this in some detail.
RELATED: Cat flea treatment insecticides are poisoning aquatic life in rivers
The flea treatment solution gets on the caregiver’s hands when administering it. The owner washes their hands as advised by the manufacturer and when this is done millions of times some of the insecticides get into the watercourses where they kill or jeopardise the survival of marine wildlife.
Washing bedding and other items which have come into contact with the cat can also end up polluting the rivers. But apparently the most common way spot-on flea treatment inecticides get into rivers is by hand washing.
Surgical gloves
This leads nicely to the conclusion that cat owners should wear surgical gloves when applying these toxic flea treatments. Importantly the gloves should be stored safely for reuse and thrown away in the general waste when they are changed for a fresh pair.
This would avoid washing insecticides into the rivers. You need to be concerned about wildlife to be bothered to use surgical gloves but then all of us should be concerned about protecting nature especially at this time when global warming looms over humankind like a massive black cloud of doom.
And if a cat owner can think of a way of washing cat and dog bedding which prevents the insecticides being washed into the general waste water so much the better. Leave a comment and tell me what you plan to do or are doing! Go on, let’s hear from you on this.
Why are we using these treatments?
P.S. Wearing surgical gloves will also protect the owner as these are nasty chemicals which leads to the much asked question: “Why the F are we putting them on our precious cats?!”
RELATED: Insecticide for dogs is a top poison for cats
There are many more articles on insecticides poisoning cats on this website. Please search for them using the search tool.
