Anyone want to talk cats?

[DumbledoresGirl]

I have a few concerns about my cats. Can anyone advise/comment?

1. they have just come out of a cattery (not my first choice of cattery, which was fully booked, although I have used them before) where they were for 2 weeks and they are perpetually starving. The cattery woamn commented on how much they ate but I think she starved them as they are eating non stop right now. Do you think they were starved or is this some sort of comfort behaviour they are exhibiting?

2. They both have colds (sneezing lots). Is this anything to be concerned about? My beloved childhood cat died of cat flu so I find it quite hard to be blase about a cat sneezing although they are not obviously ill eg no third eye lid/ lack of energy. Are cat colds common or anything to worry about? Is it common for cats to catch things in catteries? I am really concerned about the cattery all round and hope not to use it again.

3. My cats are great outdoors animals - loads of hunting going on (to supplement the tins of cat food they devour!) Today they have caught frogs and bats (neither for the first time). Is it OK for cats to eat whatever they catch? Basically I am asking, they can't poison themselves, can they?

4. I have never got to grips with what sort of treatment they are meant to have on a regular basis. eg flea treatment/ worming? Can anyone say what regular treatment their cat gets please?

Oh so you mean £20 for a year's treatment?

drontal is about 2euros50 a tab... so about 2pounds.

you can get those tubes of fleas stuff in pets shops and some supermarkets but tea tree oil does exactly the same thing (in fact some of them are tea tree oil)

Yes DG, so not so bad really.

I use this website for Frontline (and Drontal). I have two cats too, so the price shown is for about 4 months supply. If I let it go to six weeks betwen treatments (which I often do), then it goes a bit further.

Well worth it though for a no flea guarantee!

We've just switched to a new 'drop on the back of the neck' product called Stronghold that de- fleas, de- worms and apparently you dont need to treat the house either.It seems to work well for our two.

Where do you get Stronghold, please? We have a constant flea problem, and Frontline seems to have stopped working!

Frontline actually kill the fleas when they bite the cat and hence stop any kind of reproduction. The similar stuff that you buy from the pet shops just repell the fleas . Does Stronghold do the same thing as Frontline? and do you need to get it from a vet. Its a pain in the neck keep taking the cat to the vet.

Stronhold is AFAIK only available from vets according to our vets its the drop-on-the-back-of-the-neck-once-a-month solution to everything short of middle east peace.
Seriously it is good, we dont use it every month though, we use it about four times a year
Info here and here