Vet necessary for de-flea/worming?

[whethergirl]

I recently bought a kitten from a breeder, who told me that he was up to date with flea and worm treatments and she had treated him at home.

I popped into the vet the other day to ask if they would recommend the best flea/worm treatments, and was told I would need to bring the kitten in to be treated as over the counter treatments were not very effective. After first treatment I could just then continue buying treatments from the vet to administer at home.

I spoke to a friend who always treated her cat with shop bought treatments and never had a problem, and reckoned the vet was just trying to get some custom out of me.

What do you think?

i'm not sure about this. I know that you have to be careful with their ages. Kittens can get sick from flea treatment.

If it was me, I probably would get it done at the vets because I would not take the breeder's word for it, and would want to make sure the kitten was ok from the start.

I do know that the over the counter one's are not as good as the one's you get from the vet, but then they have always been good enough for my (now RIP) cats.

If it is a kitten there are very few treatments for fleas/worms that are suitable. Also, at some stage soon you will need to think about breeding, ie do you want to or do you want to sterilise? And you will need to consider cat flu and cat AIDS and whether you want to protect your new cats from that. I think a visit to the vet is worthwhile, he/she will give you good advice and could actually save you money by giving you the best advice at the right time.

If the breeder had the kitten treated for worm and flea, they should have told you the names of the treatments and exactly when they were given, sounds very lax if they didn't.

Kittens need treatments specifically for the 1st year of their life, or until they reach a certain body weight. And eventually will need vaccinations and neutering, which have to be done at a vets. It is definitely worth getting the kitten registered at the vet, they will do a thorough health check, and prescribe the treatments it needs. Some vets offer loyalty schemes where you can pay monthly direct debit and annual vaccs, flea and worm treatments, health checks etc are included, and discounts offered on neutering and diets. This is good because you can spread the costs. My kitten got a health and development check every three months for her first year under this scheme, then every six months.

Thank you, I will take him to the vet, it sounds obvious now that as he is only a kitten he will need extra care. I emailed the breeder last week re what treatments did she give him and still have had no reply.

Thanks girlywhirly, hopefully my vet will offer a similiar scheme, that would be really useful for me, and it would give me such a peace of mind for my kitten to get regular checks.

Don't EVER buy supermarket wormers or flea treatments. In that I include Bob Martin, Hartz etc. The majority of them are old formulations and can often have seriously toxic side effects.

Flea treatments - use Frontline. The difference between the Frontline that vets use is that it is a different formula that is Prescription only compared to the Frontline you see online/in Pets at Home etc. The Frontline supplied by vets has an extra formulation that prevents flea eggs hatching, which helps prevent a further flea outbreak. The Frontline bought not via the vet, whilst still very effective (and good) does not have the added formulation. Vets are not trying to rip off with higher prices, they are selling what is technically a different product.

Worming - use Drontal, Milbemax or Profender. Again, get these from the vets.