Vets comments about my cat, is she correct?

[MidnightVelvetthe4th]

I've had my rescue cat for a year & have just taken her for her annual boosters & cat MOT for the first time & the vet said a couple of things I'm unsure about so I thought I'd ask you all...no offence to the vet intended...

My girl is an indoor cat & doesn't go out at all but the vet said I still have to deflea & worm her every month as we could carry flea eggs into the house with us. Currently I deflea & worm when she goes to the cattery which is about twice a year. Do I really need to do it every month?

She's eating Royal Canin dry cat food & there's a bowl down all the time then she has half a pouch of wet food twice a day, usually Felix or Whiskas. The vet scrunched up her nose at the wet food & said that all supermarket cat food is rubbish & I need to feed her a premium wet food, like Royal Canin pouches. I can't afford the pouches really, how bad is the supermarket wet food? (Her weight is fine)

Thanks very much :)

[KittiesInsane]

Wonder what the vet means by 'need' to feed her premium food? Our oldest cat is 19-and-counting on a diet of Felix plus a bit of dry food.

[NorthenFeminist]

Yes do it every month. I was quite lax with flea treatment for my indoor cat. Then we got fleas!! They were everywhere and it took weeks to get rid of them. I had to throw so much out too.

[Madbengalmum]

Your vet sounds OTT to me.
Yes, theres a possiblity of fleas and worms, but i take my chances as i would sooner not pump my indoor boys full of the chemicals associated with these products.
I worm my dog regularly, but i dont put flea treatment on her much except in high summer as i again dont like the chemicals, i would sooner give a herbal remedy.
I feed royal canin biscuits, sometimes chicken or fish and gourmet or felix pouches, my cats are mixed ages and have died of old age. Go with a varied diet and dont worry, vet is only flogging sponsored brand.

[OrangeSquashTallGlass]

Yes to the defleaing, definitely do it. We have an indoor cat who somehow got fleas. It was rubbish both for her (she was all scabby and obviously felt under the weather) and us (living with fleas is gross). Now we just do the monthly treatment; definitely worth it.

[TheBunnyOfDoom]

Yes, definitely de-flea every month. We have indoor cats who've only ever been out in their carriers to go to the vets, but we've still had fleas before. We de-flea every month without fail, as our girl has a flea allergy and it's not worth the sores she gets if we get infested.

Supermarket wet food should be fine. Ours are on Royal Canin dry and Gourmet Perle wet food. No issues so far :)

[LeftMyRidingCropInTheMortuary]

I was told to feed my cat Whiskas, Felix etc on rotation so she doesn't get fussy. Once you start on the premium brands, that's all they'll eat and then what happens if they go into a cattery which doesn't serve it?

Too much dry food isn't a good idea cos of kidney problems/dehydration, that's what I've heard.

[TheBunnyOfDoom]

It depends on how much grains the dry food contains, I think. The cheap brands (GoCat especially) are really bad for them.

[overthemill]

Do the flea and worming treatment. Ignore food recommendations as vets get commission on sales but our vet resells at wholesale price to customers if you are a VIP patient ( pay monthly fee which covers all fles/worming treatments plus 2 check ups a year plus 15% discount on vaccines). We buy from Amazon

[WhoKnowsWhereTheTimeG0es]

Mine seem very happy on half a pouch of Felix morning and evening plus premium dry food. Mine are outdoor cats, so we do flea and worm treat regularly, but have just switched to the Program flea injection at the vet which is only once every six months and they have a six monthly worm treatment too.

[LeftMyRidingCropInTheMortuary]

Isn't half a pouch an absolutely tiny amount?! Mine eats 2 pouches a day plus a few dental biscuit thingies and a bit of meat/fish if I'm having it.

[WhoKnowsWhereTheTimeG0es]

The one time we gave them a whole pouch each one of them promptly threw it up on the carpet so we reverted to halves and have stuck with it, two cats, half each, easy.

[MilkTwoSugarsThanks]

DO NOT GIVE YOUR CAT PREMIUM POUCHES AND PREMIUM BISCUITS

They will just turn their nose up at one or the other depending on which cost the most money.

[JeffsanArsehole]

I disagree with the de fleaing every month for indoor cats. I haven't done my 18 year old for almost 2 years.

I'm allergic to flea bites so I'm 100% sure he doesn't have fleas. He has poor kidneys so there's no way I'm adding chemicals to his constitution. Advantage is really strong.

[FinestGrundyTurkey]

Mine have Royal Canin vet biscuits (neutered female - I have a male as well now but vet said it was ok for him to eat them too) plus 2-3 pouches each of Felix doubly delicious & they seem pretty healthy on it.

They do go out a bit, if it's not raining, but not far, & like you I've only ever put flea stuff on for cattery stays (& have never been able to get worming tablets into them at all! So they generally only get one dose annually, at booster appt.) Surely the idea of a cat flea hitching a ride on a human outside is a bit far-fetched?

New boy cat did introduce fleas recently - previous owner said she had done him but I don't know what with, & I forgot to use the dose of kitten Stronghold the vet gave me at his first appt, & when he went in for neutering she found an actual flea & shortly afterwards I was bitten repeatedly in bed. So that was nasty.

But I did all of them with Stronghold right away - first time for older cats since May - & seem to have caught it just in time. (Also sprayed bed with Indorex & subsequently found a corpse)

[JeffsanArsehole]

He does however cost £48 in food (kidney pouches) every month. But it's keeping him alive so I don't care.

[FinestGrundyTurkey]

I wonder if the indoor/outdoor flea thing depends on where you live & how many other animals are around? (I'm quite close to the centre of a small town & virtually none of the nearby neighbours have dogs or cats)

[acatcalledjohn]

We've had a flea infestation before with our indoor cats. However, due to the chemical nature of the various spot on treatments we still limit the use of them considerably and have not treated them for at least a year now - no fleas. In terms of food:

The boy eats Royal Canin dry food, and the old girl gets Hill's Prescription diet T/D. They share a pouch a day of Felix As Good as it Looks (which is almost always on offer somewhere). The dry food we get from Zooplus as it's such good value for money.

To add to this: We recently changed vets, and the new vet actually suggested that indoor cats really don't need to be vaccinated every year. You can if you wish, but again it seems to be silly to again whack a load of chemicals in to their bloodstream when they are safely indoors and probably only require a booster every two to three years.

[OrangeSquashTallGlass]

'Surely the idea of a cat flea hitching a ride on a human outside is a bit far-fetched?'

Our vet suggested it was more likely a human could carry in a flea egg (on e.g the sole of their shoe) which would later hatch.

The fact is indoor cats can and do get fleas.

[orangeyellowgreen]

My rescue cat was addicted to Felix pouches and needed 3 or 4 a day to satisfy him. It's sloppy stuff and a pouch is only a spoonful. I've weaned him onto tinned food which is solider and works out much cheaper.
I deflea only in summer and deworm only kittens, which usually have roundworms. If adult cats have tapeworm you see the segments. My cats go outside. How would indoor cats get worms?

[FinestGrundyTurkey]

but fleas lay eggs on their hosts, not randomly on the ground!

This says fleas can hitch inside on your clothing but I'd imagine it's a lot more common in some environments than others

www.catclinic.co.uk/fleas.html

[FinestGrundyTurkey]

if they get fleas they can get worms from that apparently, orange

parasites are filthy little buggers

[ragged]

Vet told me every 3-4 months of deworming for my outdoor cats.

Fleas: you can take your chances. We never treated for a yr & had none at all until Cat3 came to live with us (shudder).

[bonzo77]

Depends on the cat I suppose, but ott by my standards! I treat for fleas if she scratches more than usual of is going to the Cattery. Maybe 2-3 X a year. Have wormed her maybe twice ever. She's 5.5. She had 1/2 a ouch of whiskas twice a day and a very small bowl of dry food (whatever is on offer). At her annual jabs appointment there has never been any evidence of fleas, worms or diet related issues.