Cats and Birds information on net.

No need to wrestle your cat into a flea dip anymore. The latest preventive treatments are easy to apply. While shampoos and flea collars are still options, parasitologists have developed wonderful new weapons in the war against fleas and ticks. With simple monthly administrations of these oral, injectable, or topical medications, you can guard your cat against flea and tick infestations. Fleas and ticks are dangerous disease carriers that can make your cat's life miserable. Fleas can transmit tapeworms and cause itchy allergic reactions, which can lead to scratching, hair loss, and infection. Fleas ingest animals' blood, and the bloodsuckers can actually consume so much that some cats die of blood loss. Hence it's crucial to keep your cat flea-free.

These Treatments Keep the Pests Away

New medications prevent infestations by killing the adults that hitch a ride on your furry friend or by keeping their eggs from hatching. Here's what you need to know about the most common flea and tick preventives in your veterinarian's arsenal.

Program contains lufenuron, a chemical that prevents flea eggs from hatching but does not kill adult fleas. It is available as a monthly oral tablet or suspension and as a twice yearly veterinarian administered injection. This compound doesn't work against ticks. Frontline is available in a dab-on formula or a spray. It uses fipronil to wipe out both fleas and ticks, and it continues to work even after you give your pet a bath.

Advantage (imidacloprid) is a topical treatment that also withstands washings and keeps killing fleas for a full month.

Revolution (selamectin) is the latest big gun among the monthly options for flea and tick prevention. You apply a few drops of the liquid medication to your pet's skin, and it guards against heartworms, flea eggs and adult fleas, ticks, ear mites, hookworms, and roundworms.

# posted by Medical Information : 1:14 PM