A Michael Broad Blog
News media reports that a vet and technical services manager at a pharmaceutical company, Jamie Walker, has reminded people that the cat flea can survive winter, which I think is a useful reminder. People associate the cat flea with warmer weather but it is not quite as straightforward as that. Proactive steps throughout the …
I’ve always said that if you have a cat companion, or especially in a multi-cat home, it is better to have a hard floor. No carpets is best. But if you do have a carpet you might like to know how effective vacuum cleaning the carpet is in order to control the flea population …
Well, sigh. Someone asked the question in the title and it is slightly strange because common sense applies. I think the answer is that you don’t want to cuddle your cat if they have a lot of visible fleas. The best thing to do is to remove the fleas first or asap. It isn’t …
by Elisa Black-Taylor (USA) Lilo day before death Froggie died at shelter Sugar died after Lilo I’d never heard of Mycoplasma in cats until a reader wrote in about this article and suggested mycoplasma as a cause of death (see: Help Sudden Kitten Death). So I decided to do a little research on the …
The Times reports today, March 21, 2023, that a popular cat, dog, rabbit flea treatment containing imidacloprid could kill millions of bees when the toxin is washed into waterways according to researchers at Imperial College London, UK. The pesticide is used in 138 pet treatment sold in the UK alone. God only knows how …
It is disturbing for me, almost shocking, to read about cats suffering from itchy skin. There is so much of it. Books on cats have whole sections on itchy skin. It is clearly a major health issue – the most common reason why cats are taken to vets – and my mind was drawn …
Flea treatments can kill. This sounds a bit dramatic but it is true. The spot-on flea treatments can kill your cat. And if they don’t kill your cat, they can make your cat ill. That is not to say that they are inherently dangerous – they are not. In fact, they are very effective …
In my long experience of dealing with fleas (!) I know that they normally live on the shoulders and neck of a domestic cat. And yet, their flea dirt is always situated at the base of the tail, a considerable distance away from where they live. It’s a great conundrum. I am scratching my …
