We seem to have adopted a ca

[rc10andy]

Ok, he kept coming round crying for food and upon investigation he is 'the street cat' which seems to have taken a fancy to our home. We let him in and feed him, he is so friendly. He seems to have ear mites tho, vets or off the shelf product? Btw he seems very healthy in every other way. Cheers

[rc10andy]

a CAT even.... lol. Sorry.

[RepoUK]

More likely to be fleas. Get Frontline from some cheap online place like www.vetuk.co.uk or www.petmeds.co.uk and treat with that. If you go to the vets they will probably use Frontline anyway so you might as well save yourself the aggro of getting him there and the cost too.

If he has fleas then he probably has worms too (connected life cycle) so buy some Panacur paste. Depending on his weight you may need more than one tube for an intensive first treatment - IIRR it's a full dose for three consecutive days.

Have a chat with some of your neighbours first to make sure they haven't had the same idea!

[feorag]

Are you saying ear mites because he's scratching or ear mites because his ears are dirty? Ear mites cause a build up of brown sediment inside the ears. If he has this, then it very probably is ear mites and you will need to visit the vet for that.

If it's just because he's scratching and his ears are clean then it'll more likely be fleas, as has been suggested. However, spraying with Frontline won't get rid of them. You will need to spray the house too, because fleas only feed on a cat - they breed off the cat in your carpets and soft furnishings, so you have to stop the growth cycle.

You need a spray containing Malathion, which is a growth inhibitor as that stops any eggs from hatching, any larvae from pupating and any pupae from hatching into adult fleas. Something like Staykill or Acclaim has a growth inhibitor which does this. Skoosh, acts a different way, by coating them in a sort of 'plastic' coating which does the same job. As far as I'm aware Skoosh is definitely safe if you have reps in the rooms you're treating, but not the other two.

Don't buy flea stuff from a pet shop, because it simply doesn't work.

Fleas are part of the life cycle for the tapeworm, so yes you'll need to worm him too, but to be honest I'd worm him anyway if he's been living rough for a while, he'll more than likely have a roundworm infestation.

[jazzywoo]

Originally Posted by rc10andy

Ok, he kept coming round crying for food and upon investigation he is 'the street cat' which seems to have taken a fancy to our home. We let him in and feed him, he is so friendly. He seems to have ear mites tho, vets or off the shelf product? Btw he seems very healthy in every other way. Cheers

it may have a owner could be worth getting it checkd for micro chip before spending cash on a cat that may not be yours to keep, that and it may have other heath issues or allergies you dont know about , cats do this be care full my friend had a cat once that was always going to another house where is was fed by other people as it was on a special diet they were left footing the vet bill every time it was ill due to been fed the wrong diet they got fed up with it so told the people stop feeding the cat please your making it ill it had always had a midic alleart tag on its collor which was obviously ignored , but they refused as they liked the cat and decided they wanted it, in the end my friend gave them the vets details the cats history and said here if you insist on stealing our cat have it as its costing us a fortune putting right you make wrong every week! she told the vet its wasnt their cat any more gave details of new owner etc they never saw the cat again however 6 mths later my friend was sent a bill from the cats vet saying that the new owners said they would pay any bills as the new owners were not following the special diet the bill was for over £800
so i would check out local vets etc to see if reported missing cat fitting the one thats seems to have moved in check for micro chip, put posters out saying cat found if no joy i guess its your cat
good luck
ann

[feorag]

Originally Posted by jazzywoo

she told the vet its wasnt their cat any more gave details of new owner etc they never saw the cat again however 6 mths later my friend was sent a bill from the cats vet saying that the new owners said they would pay any bills as the new owners were not following the special diet the bill was for over £800 ann

Erm......... that doesn't make sense! Did you mean to say the new owners said they wouldn't pay any bills?

[RepoUK]

I meant frontline drops - forgot you could get spray. I wouldn't fancy my chances at spraying a semi-stray and still having all my fingers

[zoeu]

Originally Posted by feorag

Erm......... that doesn't make sense! Did you mean to say the new owners said they wouldn't pay any bills?

And why would the vet send a bill to someone who hadn't been taking the cat to the vet and no longer owned it?!

[jazzywoo]

Originally Posted by zoeu

And why would the vet send a bill to someone who hadn't been taking the cat to the vet and no longer owned it?!

the idiot new owners refused to pay the bills when they realised it was a expensive cat to run with its medical bills because of its condition they changed vets and told them its history and then the cheaky people then told them them this is where you send the bill it took months for my friend to sort it out the old vets backed them up with what was going on etc in the end the new owners had to pay up ut she ws lucky the cat was micro chipped so as the new people didnt transfere the chip they used that as a excuse not to pay the bills saying it was registered to my friend so why should they pay it was very strange but it did get sorted in the end