The whole territory has been made so much easier since the arrival of Bravecto-plus, which only needs applying every 3 months rather than monthly and which covers fleas, ticks, and roundworms all in the one pipette.
All depends on how easily you can medicate your cat, and what its individual needs are. Generally it’s a choice of tablets or spot-on preparations. Choose the ‘cat-group’ that corresponds to your kitty for our simple solutions.
Indoor cat/s
Generally no need for any paraciticides unless you also have dogs, though there is always a risk of you or your visitors bringing in fleas on clothes.
You have 2 choices
- Don’t bother with any treatments and treat if any infestation occurs
- Treat regularly just in case.
Jaffa’s advice:
Fleas if you have a paranoia about fleas then treat your cats, otherwise make sure you know how to detect fleas and treat only if necessary. We can supply a free flea comb – better and cheaper to comb monthly rather than medicate monthly!
If you find you have to treat more-frequently then every few years then swap to full-time treatment.
Another option is ‘Program’ injection – not an insecticide as such – it is like a contraceptive for fleas, injected every 6 months – avoiding powerful chemicals. It doesn’t mean your cat wont ever have a flea – but they will be groomed out and unable to breed, so you wont ever get a flea infestation.
Worms no need to worm
Outdoor cats
Most outdoor cats are going to need regular paraciticides. If the local cat population is very sparse then you might get away with a suck-it-and-see approach.
Otherwise treat for 12 months of the year. There is no ‘low season’ for fleas as they thrive in centrally-heated houses – we see bigger flea problems in winter when people stop treating!
Worms Tapeworm need fleas, mice, rats and rabbits as their ‘intermediate host’. If your cat hunts, treat regularly for tapeworm. If your cat is properly protected against fleas and doesn’t hunt (and eat) rabbits and rodents, tapeworm infections are rare – and if they do happen they are easily treated. In this neck of the woods they little or no risk to cat or owner.
Roundworms ARE important as they can (very occasionally) cause problems in people, especially young children – see separate paragraph if you have young children of crawling size.
Jaffa’s advice
Spot-on
Treat once every 3 months with Bravecto plus.
In addition, for cats that hunt or develop tapeworm infestation,
treat with Droncit spot-on quarterly. If they still have tapeworm problems increase frequency to monthly.
Tablets
Treat monthly with Credelio tablets.
Treat tapeworm under the same circumstances as for spot-ons using Milbacter tablets.
Young children
If you have babies or children still in the crawling/hands-in-mouth phase, then the risks of them picking up roundworm eggs from your pet are increased.
Jaffa’s advice
Advocate spot-on every 4 weeks will eliminate the risk of any worm eggs being passed by your cat/s. If ticks are an issue Stronghold-plus sorts these in addition to all that Advocate covers.
Credelio and Bravecto plus (kittens only) have a ‘buy-one get-second-one-free’ on your first purchase. After that, both are buy 9 months get 3 months free – you buy individually and we keep count and give you your free product when due. The monthly guide prices in the chart take account of the 3/12 free.
Already have a flea problem?
Then you need to treat ALL the cats and dogs in the household, and for anything other than a minor infestation we advise you treat with a household spray initially – if you then treat your pets regularly you shouldn’t need to repeat the household spray.
Whilst we believe these sprays to be pretty safe products, to minimise human exposure we suggest that you shut all the windows, spray all carpets and soft furnishings, then go out for a few hours. On your return open all the windows for an hour. Alternatively treat one room a day, shutting it of for the day.
If you are using a product currently and still seeing fleas they may be resistant. We see this frequently with Fipronil-based products – Frontline and Fipracare are two examples (usually has ‘fip’ in the name)
Frontline is however very helpful for harvest mites which cause itchy ears in August and September - ask us for advice.
Prescription medicines
There are few effective flea products that are not ‘prescription-only’. This means that animals must be in our care to dispense the product to you. This effectively means your cats need annual checks – it’s not us who make the rules, but this explains why we can’t hand out flea products year on year without seeing your cat.
