Comfortis for cat fleas, or?

[Xanthoria]

I have three ex feral kittens that I’m fostering, or rather failing at fostering and will probably keep, and two adult cats. The adult cats haven’t had fleas forever as they are indoor only. The kittens brought a lot of fleas in but I thought that two doses of Capstar had killed them. Apparently not! But they’re big enough to be treated with longer acting flea treatment now.

It’s been probably 15 years since I had to treat a cat for fleas and back then you’d buy a large dog size tube of advantage and treat all your cats for the same price!
Is it possible to do the same with Comfortis? I see the large dog size, or even a large cat size pill is the same as the small cat size and of course I have five to treat…

Is that oral medication better or worse than a topical one these days? I am sure a lot has changed since I last had fleas around…

[Barn_Mom]

Comfortis almost killed my dog after one dose, given per my veterinarian’s instruction. My dog recovered after a month of high dose steroids. I had to hand feed him because he couldn’t pick food up with his mouth, he went from playing with kittens to not being able to keep his hind legs under him, he couldn’t kick his leg to pee, it caused him to be almost completely blind and he would get lost in his yard. It took a full month before he started acting normal again. I wouldn’t give it to any creature that I cared about. My sister’s golden doodle and a friend’s boxer also had reactions, though minor in comparison, and not after their first dose. They were on trifexis vs comfortis. Trifexis has a heart worm drug plus Comfortis for fleas.

[4horses]

I would bathe them and shampoo/ flea comb. I always teach my young kittens to take baths.

[Xanthoria]

Hm, you know I’m just not into washing cats - they usually hate it and topical or oral flea control produce are usually more effective IMEX.

[Xanthoria]

@Barn Mom I’m sorry to hear about your dog…

[Barn_Mom]

@Xanthoria

@Barn Mom I’m sorry to hear about your dog…

Thank you! It was a rough and terrifying month, for both of us! I tried comfortis, in good faith, for him for flea allergy. Thankfully, the steroids did the trick, he fully recovered and lived happily for many more years afterward.

[Xanthoria]

Wow - what an ordeal! Poor pup.

[Peggy]

I have been using Vectra, but you have to get it from a vet. There is another one that my vet is now recommending, but I didn’t get it when I was just in as I’d just bought more Vectra.

[Simkie]

I use seresto collars on my indoor kitties. Their risk is very low–the dog also wears a collar–but the thought of an infestation because one little hitchhiker is terrifying. What a hassle that would be.

The last time I talked topicals with the vet, they were recommending Revolution.

”‹”‹”‹”‹”‹”‹Bathing baby kitties isn’t awful. Consider trimming toenails first :yes:

[Xanthoria]

Yeah but @Simkie I just don’t find bathing as effective as topicals etc, and they plain hate it - which, for baby ferals is a strike against humankind when I’m trying to make them love us! :lol: Certainly they’ve had to have their poopy butts or paws washed a couple times when they were tiny, and it made them very sad…

Similarly collars have caused mayhem here - cats working them loose and then having jaws stuck in them, collars lost repeatedly, hatred, gnashing of teeth… I know lots of cats do fine with them but oy, I have had such annoyance.

@Peggy I’d prefer not to take 5 cats to the vet and get 5 exam fees and 5 pre$cription flea treatments… these little ferals have already cost me $3,000 in vet bills what with one thing and another in their short lives, and I’m currently unemployed! :no:

So, back to the original post - does anyone use an oral or topical med I can buy a large size of and break up to treat multiple cats? Can you do that with Revolution? Buy a large dog size for $65 to treat them all, or is it just suck it up and pay $40/cat?

Well shoot… this page says you CAN! https://www.uwsheltermedicine.com/library/resources/selamectin-revolution-dosing-chart

“each dose of PLUM Revolution® for Extra Large Dogs (360 mg) can treat 24 kittens or 8 cats!”

So how does one measure 0.38ml…

[Xanthoria]

Aaaand according to google 1 drop = 0.05ml. Surely it’s dependent on viscosity and such? Anyway… that’s like 7 drops… roughly… right?

[Simkie]

Revolution is still rx…so you might be looking at frontline plus as a best option?

A 1mL syringe will measure the tiny volume necessary. Don’t rely on “drops”–way too easy to get too many on a wiggly baby kitty

[Xanthoria]

Oh shoot you’re right. Or Advantage II? Looks like 6 doses is about $56 for the cat size, which works. Assuming they’re all killed in the 1st month. The fleas, that is!

[Simkie]

When I was buying the spot on stuff, the best price was always Costco–so definitely check out that option, if you have a membership :yes:

Haven’t ever used Advantage II, so no input there.

Hope your kitties are flea free soon

[Peggy]

Use a 1-mL = 1 cc syringe. I wouldn’t use a given syringe more than once. In other words, one day for multiple cats is fine, but I’d toss it then. The flea stuff might not be very good for the plastic. There is a chem lab trick involving the syringe, a Pasteur piper and a length of tubing that will keep the liquid out of the syringe itself, but that is more heroic than needed here. Based on using them in chem lab, I don’t think the green TB syringes are very accurate. Of course, this is the only kind our chem stockroom is capable of buying so I get good ones from Valkey Vet or similar and then go on a mission to remove the green ones.

This is the same stockroom that told me that 15 mm filter paper was not available, not realizing that 15 mm = 1.5 cm. #butidigress. 🤦🏼*♀️

[enjoytheride]

We use Capstar, or the generic both of which are available at Walmart. It kills all fleas for a 48 hour period. After that we use a topical.

You can tell the Capstar is working when the cat freaks out as all the fleas start to run away to their feet and face then die. It’s gross.