Caring for your Kitten / Cat ....... Part 1

• Bedding
• Food
• Teeth
• Vaccinations
• Microchipping
• Litter box training

Bedding

When you have taken your kitten home, you must find an area where it will sleep.  A kitten only needs a padded box or basket to call its own.  Put their bedding in an out-of-the-way corner of a room.

After you have spent your hard earned money on their perfect bed & found the best spot for it – your kitten will disregard it and choose to sleep wherever it likes (which will probably be your bed!)

 

An outdoors cat needs a tight, dry house for protection from wind, cold and rainy weather.  The cat house should be big enough for your cat to stand up & turn around easily.   It needs to be easy to clean & treated regularly with insecticides to control fleas, ticks & worms.

Quote:"As every cat owner knows, nobody owns a cat." - Ellen Perry Berkeley

Flea Facts or "that's why it's so hard to get rid of fleas"

• Usually animals pick up fleas from flea infested environments, NOT by fleas jumping from one animal to another.
• A flea can lay up to 50 eggs per day and up to 2000 eggs in its lifetime.  During this time, the eggs are laid on the host, but they fall off into the environment where the eggs develop to mobile larvae then to pupae (dormant encased young fleas). 
• All stages of the flea lifecycle are sensitive to dryness and low temperatures.  To develop normally,the eggs require humidity and protection from sunlight.  The best humidity and sunlight protection places are typically the carpets, floor mats, in between the sofa cushions, under indoor furniture, under the house, under the kennel, in between cracks in floorboards and pet bedding.
• Only 5% of the flea's life is spent actually on your pet, the other 95% of flea life stages live in the environment and can survive for up to 12 months.
• Flea larvae are very mobile and they will move away from high traffic areas to under appliances and furniture and other sheltered areas in the house. 

             

Stop Fleas with these Strategies!

***The aim of any successful Flea Rid Program is to kill all the immature lifecycle stages of the flea. *** 
The problem with the immature life stages is that they are almost invisible.

You need to not only treat all household pets but the environment they live in as well.  Unfortunately this phase of treatment can take about 1-3 months to complete. 

Three areas need to be treated at the same time: 

1. the animal, 

2. inside the home &

3. outside the home (including under the house & the garden)

1. The Animal

• Use a monthly flea control treatment - such as Advantage, Advantix (treats fleas & ticks), Frontline plus (fleas & ticks), Revolution (fleas & heartworm). They are available for both dogs & cats, and need to be applied every 4 weeks, and sometimes more than that.  Apply the product at least 1 day after a bath - try not to bath your animals too much as you will wash away the product.  

  

• Use Comfortis or Capstar tablets as needed.

* Capstar can be used every 1-3 days initially to kill adult fleas, which should prevent further egg production and reducing overall environmental contamination.  It can be helpful to the monthly topical products above, if given at the end of the 2^nd and 3^rd weeks in the monthly cycle after their application. 

* Comfortis is an exciting new product given monthly and which should not need the use of the monthly topicals. 

* Both drugs are especially useful for dogs that need washing, or swim lots. Compatible with all other insecticides used concurrently.

* or use a natural pyrethrin rinse      

You need to continue to treat your pet with the monthly treatment all year round to help prevent further infestations from developing. 

2. Inside the Home ... Treat all areas in your house by:

• Vacuuming all accessible areas,  move furniture if necessary, and remove cushions from sofas.  Use the nozzle end for hard to reach places.
• Then use a hand held insecticidal aerosol SURFACE spray to spray where the immature flea stages may be (eg. Raid etc).  Make sure you spray horizontally under indoor furniture & appliances, because the flea larvae hate light (eg. under dishwashers, inside cat scratching towers, bookcases & washing machines).  
• Then repeat this vacuum & surface spray application again 2 weeks later

No need to buy the “flea bombs” are not as effective as the hand held sprays because their active ingredient only falls vertically.  The most effective treatment is to spray horizontal.  The average home with pets accessing all areas will need about 2-3 cans per application

Pet Bedding...
Pet bedding can be shaken well to remove immature stages, vacuumed, and then surface sprayed, and left in full sun for the day.  Get rid of any bedding where it would be difficult to dislodge the immature fleas stages eg. carpet, old mattresses, bedding in the kennel.

3. Outside the home ... try to stop your pet from getting underneath the house.  

Using a watering can or garden pump spray - Spray the following areas with a “wet” insecticide. (Any other brand of insecticide designed for use outdoors & can make a large volume.)  Read the manufacturers instructions! Spray these areas:

• the garage/carport, paved areas, under/around the dog kennel. 
• any outdoor/under-house areas including under barbeques & outdoor furniture that are away from full sun
• Consider professional pesticide control if the problem is severe and persistent.

Don’t allow your pet to contact any sprayed area while it is obviously damp with insecticide.  Cats are especially sensitive as they groom themselves continuously.

***Repeat the treatment outside the home two weeks later

Welcome to 2011! I absolutely love animals especially dogs and cats, and fish. Life is so much more enjoyable with a pet. 

There is nothing better than sitting down watching tv with a purring cat on your lap and a happy dog at your feet.  Have you spent time with your pets today? Go and pat them, walk with them, play with them- you will feel great !

Get a dog, improve your fitness and your state of mind! They are always happy to see you and they are fun to have around.