Flea and worm treatment questions

[Bear2014]

Hi all, we have had our lovely rescue cat for a couple of weeks, she's settling in slowly but is still pretty nervous. Any hint of a stranger/delivery person she will retreat to a hiding place and stay there for hours. My in laws came at the weekend and I think it's set her back quite a bit to be honest. We had an appointment with the vet today to do flea and worm prescriptions but had to cancel as we couldn't get her in the carrier. We tried everything including physically putting her in but she is agile and stubborn! My question is this. She has been comprehensively vet checked when she was in foster care only a few weeks ago, is 100% healthy, spayed, vaccinated etc and last had flea and worm treatments a month ago so not mega overdue. Is it strictly necessary to go to the vet for this or can I just buy treatments? We have re-scheduled again for Friday when we are both WFH again but just wondering really. Thanks!

I get my vet to prescribe Bravecto Plus which is for fleas, ticks and worms.

I then buy it online. You only need to do it once every three months.

I use 365vet.

https://www.365vet.co.uk/

For flea treatment that works it has to come from the vet and they have to weigh the cat to make sure it's the right dose. You could phone the vet to see if they will allow you to just come in yourself to buy it if they have all her deets on their system already.

Gorgeous little cat btw. I'm sure she will settle in soon. Ours is very feisty and it's sooooo hard to get her into her carrier. She doesn't tolerate being picked up at all so it's a two person job!

Thanks both. We're going to try again on Friday. The vet she has been to before is not in our neighbourhood so we need to take her in to register her with the new surgery. Such a pain! We were literally watching YouTube videos of people putting cats into carriers, which obviously made it look really easy then our little Houdini was like a slippery fish.

My top tip is to book an appointment at a time when she is usually snoozing (regardless of convenience to yourselves!) and get the cat carrier out without her seeing it (in another room, with all windows and other doors closed) open it up, pick her up and pop her in. 11 years in and it works most times now.

I find the cheapest way to get flea/worm treatment and the annual jab is to join the vet’s Healthy Pet Club so ask about that. If there’s more than one vet in your area, compare their prices. I would only use the vet prescribed treatments as they monitor resistance etc and choose those that still work.

My big tip to get the cat in the carrier is to put it out of sight in a room corner, with the front door open, carry the cat to it keeping the cat facing you, then put her on floor in front of open door and quickly/firmly push her in backwards. They will always resist if you put them in head first. Good luck !

We find a top opening carrier much easier .

I insert my cats back end first and simultaneously close and lock the front of the jail

Thanks all - after second failed attempt on Friday we're going to bin off the carrier and get a big open top one.

Now I'm stressing about the flea treatment as vet said just use Frontline this month and come in next month. I was stroking her and squeezed the thing under her fur, then she jumped up and most of it went down her back. I'm guessing I can't use another one, but will that really do it for that treatment?!

I really am a terrible cat mum and find all this more intimidating than when we had our babies!

Has your vet got a messaging app? Ours has, so I would probably just pop a message on there to explain what happened with the frontline and see what they suggest. If she is still being kept in you should be OK for now. We gave up spot-ons years ago partly because of this sort of thing, partly because one of ours has some skin problems around her neck, but I do remember what a pain they were.

You could try weighing your cat yourself, giving the weight to the vet and they'll prescribe something like Stronghold.

I take my boy in annually for his check, and they weigh him then. I get 3 months of Stronghold at a time.
I hate taking mine to the vet, he gets so stressed out in the carrier, he poo's in it every time without fail. I have to line it with newspaper and those puppy training pads and carry spares for the return journey.
I have to agree, the top opening carriers are much easier.

We've got a top opening carrier now but when we used to have an end opening one we used to prop it on it's end in the bath and drop the cat in back end first. They did used to put their front legs out in a T shape to try and stop themselves going in though and you had to be very quick shutting the door once they were in.

We did this having watched a YouTube video but completely lost my nerve while attempting it as she was so hissy and squirmy, bless her!

If anyone has a link to their great, idiot-proof top opening carrier it would be much appreciated.