Pesticide use and the argument against it is not new. Pesticides have long been criminalized for their connections to human disease. Over the years, they have also been connected to heath issues among our pets.
Over the last few years, class action lawsuits have been filed - to the tune of more than 75,000 of them - due to injury or death of a pet because of spot-on (topical) flea and tick products. Any flea and tick medicine may cause adverse affects to pets or their humans, but permethrins are the specific chemical at the center of these lawsuits.
Honestly, I've never given much thought to flea and tick medications because my cats are strictly indoors and spent most of their lives in Wisconsin where the threat isn't quite as serious. Now that we are in South Carolina - where winters are too mild to kill mosquitoes, fleas and ticks - our veterinarian has recommended the cats receive a monthly treatment. So once a month we cat wrangle and do our best to keep them from grooming themselves for a few hours. You wouldn't think they could reach between the back of their skull and their shoulder blades, but they are amazing contortionists.
After reading this article, I went to take a look at the Sentry PurrScriptions Plus topical treatment we purchased at Petsmart. This particular treatment has etofenprox and pyriproxyfen. Seems its a different chemical, but it's got me thinking. Is any chemical better than another? Particularly when used on an 8 pound animal?
Talk to your veterinarian about the risks and consider an all natural treatment instead. I know I'll be shopping around.
Showing posts with label Product Information/Reviews. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Product Information/Reviews. Show all posts
Thursday, January 12, 2012
Tuesday, June 14, 2011
Greenies Pill Pockets
Molly suffers from inflammatory bowel disease and has been receiving a liquid medicine (Budesonide) through an eye dropper for the past 2-3 months. She wasn't happy about it, but with the element of surprise on my side, it was fairly easy to stuff it down her throat before she had the time to be upset. My husband didn't always fare as well.
My cell phone rings.
"I'm done giving her medicine."
The medicine was kept in the refrigerator and needed to be shaken. Hubby got the barbecue sauce out of the refrigerator and shook it. Molly crashed into the refrigerator in her crazed scramble out of the kitchen. She was fine. My husband was frantic.
We soldiered on and thought she was well on the way to recovery, but she was still having some issues with diarrhea. I called the vet. There's medicine for this, but it comes with a warning:
"It tastes really bad. She's not going to like it." Great.
Turns out, that was an understatement. I've never seen a cat make herself foam at the mouth so she could spit something out with such determination. It was actually painful to watch.
At her follow up visit this past Saturday, the vet changed Molly's medicine to Prednisolone pills. It was something out of WWE Wrestling match to get the Budesonide into her system some days. I was sure the Prednisolone was going to be a disaster.
I tried putting one down her throat and she bit, thrashed, screamed and spit until the melted pill was mashed into the living room carpet. I tried to crush one into her new hypo-allergenic prescription diet. This is the same food she had eaten earlier in the day with no problems. I thought I was being tricky but she looked down at the food and then up at me. She even snorted as she walked away. I was determined this cat was going to take her medicine whether she liked it or not.
Enter Greenies Pill Pockets. At almost $10 for a bag of 45 treats, they are far from the cheapest cat treats I've ever purchased. Since she sniffed out the medicine in the canned food, I was convinced the Pill Pockets were going to turn into a new chapter in the human/cat battle over who was the boss. I was convinced she would chew it once, notice the pill inside and spit it out.
Interestingly, I was wrong.
Molly inhales the Pill Pocket treats like they are a slice of kitty heaven. Put the pill in the center opening, squeeze the soft treat shut and kitty unknowingly ingests her medicine with no bellowing or protest.
Finally, a battle with Molly I actually win.
My cell phone rings.
"I'm done giving her medicine."
The medicine was kept in the refrigerator and needed to be shaken. Hubby got the barbecue sauce out of the refrigerator and shook it. Molly crashed into the refrigerator in her crazed scramble out of the kitchen. She was fine. My husband was frantic.
We soldiered on and thought she was well on the way to recovery, but she was still having some issues with diarrhea. I called the vet. There's medicine for this, but it comes with a warning:
"It tastes really bad. She's not going to like it." Great.
Turns out, that was an understatement. I've never seen a cat make herself foam at the mouth so she could spit something out with such determination. It was actually painful to watch.
At her follow up visit this past Saturday, the vet changed Molly's medicine to Prednisolone pills. It was something out of WWE Wrestling match to get the Budesonide into her system some days. I was sure the Prednisolone was going to be a disaster.
I tried putting one down her throat and she bit, thrashed, screamed and spit until the melted pill was mashed into the living room carpet. I tried to crush one into her new hypo-allergenic prescription diet. This is the same food she had eaten earlier in the day with no problems. I thought I was being tricky but she looked down at the food and then up at me. She even snorted as she walked away. I was determined this cat was going to take her medicine whether she liked it or not.
Enter Greenies Pill Pockets. At almost $10 for a bag of 45 treats, they are far from the cheapest cat treats I've ever purchased. Since she sniffed out the medicine in the canned food, I was convinced the Pill Pockets were going to turn into a new chapter in the human/cat battle over who was the boss. I was convinced she would chew it once, notice the pill inside and spit it out.
Interestingly, I was wrong.
Molly inhales the Pill Pocket treats like they are a slice of kitty heaven. Put the pill in the center opening, squeeze the soft treat shut and kitty unknowingly ingests her medicine with no bellowing or protest.
Finally, a battle with Molly I actually win.
Sunday, May 1, 2011
Review of World's Best Cat Litter
A few posts ago, I was in the process of changing my cat's litter to the World's Best Cat Litter, made from corn. Now that we are completely acclimated to the new litter, I have a few observations:
1) It is NOT dust free. Does it kick up less dust than clay brands, yes, but expect small clouds of corn dust every time you change the litter. On the plus side, the dust smells like a farmer's field and remains in the room. As opposed to clay litters that cling to your lungs like mud and easily float through the air into other parts of the house.
2) The package claims it clumps faster and perhaps it does, but it's not near as strong a clump as clay-based litters create. With clay, you could play golf with the clumps and they would hold together. Corn clumps can barely hold together through the scooping process. Plus, the larger corn particles means it doesn't sift near as well as clay through a traditional kitty litter scoop.
3) It has fine odor control if the cat actually takes the time to cover her business. Apparently, my cats are far too busy to waste time with that.
4) I'm not quite sure what is meant on the package by "lasts longer." I don't find that necessarily to be true. It feels like I'm buying litter more often than I was before and it's more expensive than clay litter. If they mean it goes longer before you have to completely empty the litter box, wash it out, and start completely over...well, the jury is still out on that.
5) World's Best Cat Litter is a little more of a challenge to get your hands on. Clay litters are sold in drug stores and grocery stores everywhere. Even some of your convenience store/gas stations will have some kind of clumping cat litter. If you are looking for World's Best, you have to make a trip to the pet store or Target or another specific retailer. (A list of retailers can be found on their website.) The point is: you can't just buy it anywhere like you can with clay.
6) It seems to track less than clay. Maybe because the corn particles are larger and they don't as easily get caught in between kitty toes, but I find far less corn litter throughout the house than I used to find clay. This makes up for most of my issues with the clumping capabilities because if there's one thing I hate about cat litter it's finding it on the opposite end of the house from where the litter box is located.
I like the fact that I'm being environmentally friendly and it does a good job, but the manufacturer has a little work to do. For most of us, solid clumping is the biggest inconvenience. I can deal with a little dust just so long as I know when I scoop the clump out, it's not going to bust apart, spewing pieces back into the litter box I am desperately trying to clean.
For me, World's Best Cat Litter earns a grade of: B. Certainly doing it's job, but not doing as good a job as it could be.
1) It is NOT dust free. Does it kick up less dust than clay brands, yes, but expect small clouds of corn dust every time you change the litter. On the plus side, the dust smells like a farmer's field and remains in the room. As opposed to clay litters that cling to your lungs like mud and easily float through the air into other parts of the house.
2) The package claims it clumps faster and perhaps it does, but it's not near as strong a clump as clay-based litters create. With clay, you could play golf with the clumps and they would hold together. Corn clumps can barely hold together through the scooping process. Plus, the larger corn particles means it doesn't sift near as well as clay through a traditional kitty litter scoop.
3) It has fine odor control if the cat actually takes the time to cover her business. Apparently, my cats are far too busy to waste time with that.
4) I'm not quite sure what is meant on the package by "lasts longer." I don't find that necessarily to be true. It feels like I'm buying litter more often than I was before and it's more expensive than clay litter. If they mean it goes longer before you have to completely empty the litter box, wash it out, and start completely over...well, the jury is still out on that.
5) World's Best Cat Litter is a little more of a challenge to get your hands on. Clay litters are sold in drug stores and grocery stores everywhere. Even some of your convenience store/gas stations will have some kind of clumping cat litter. If you are looking for World's Best, you have to make a trip to the pet store or Target or another specific retailer. (A list of retailers can be found on their website.) The point is: you can't just buy it anywhere like you can with clay.
6) It seems to track less than clay. Maybe because the corn particles are larger and they don't as easily get caught in between kitty toes, but I find far less corn litter throughout the house than I used to find clay. This makes up for most of my issues with the clumping capabilities because if there's one thing I hate about cat litter it's finding it on the opposite end of the house from where the litter box is located.
I like the fact that I'm being environmentally friendly and it does a good job, but the manufacturer has a little work to do. For most of us, solid clumping is the biggest inconvenience. I can deal with a little dust just so long as I know when I scoop the clump out, it's not going to bust apart, spewing pieces back into the litter box I am desperately trying to clean.
For me, World's Best Cat Litter earns a grade of: B. Certainly doing it's job, but not doing as good a job as it could be.
Sunday, April 17, 2011
The FURminator
As spring approaches, your cats will begin shedding their thick winter coats and replacing them with a lighter coat for summer. This can be a frustrating time for most cat owners. Not only do you have more hair floating through your home, but your probably cleaning up more hairballs this time of year as well.
Enter the FURminator. This specialized kitty comb claims to reach down to the undercoat and get out loose hair like no other comb on the market. By using the FURminator, you can reduce the amount of hair clogging up your vacuum cleaner by 90%.
And it works. Really well.
The problem you might have with FURminator products lies in the personality of your cat. Apollo is perfectly willing to stand around for a brushing, anytime...anyplace.
My girl cats, though, are much less tolerant to being touched, poked, and prodded. Molly will allow a brushing with a normal cat comb (protests notwithstanding) but she will have nothing to do with the FURminator. Her screams and hisses can be heard for blocks. Emma, on the other hand, won't allow even your basic kitty brush without having a meltdown of cosmic proportions. As a result,she has never seen the FURminator. Interestingly, she's an angel for the groomer at the "kitty salon."
If your cat loves brushings, the FURminator is the way to go. If your cat is barely tolerant of a comb, this might not be the product to go with - at least not right away.
Enter the FURminator. This specialized kitty comb claims to reach down to the undercoat and get out loose hair like no other comb on the market. By using the FURminator, you can reduce the amount of hair clogging up your vacuum cleaner by 90%.
And it works. Really well.
The problem you might have with FURminator products lies in the personality of your cat. Apollo is perfectly willing to stand around for a brushing, anytime...anyplace.
My girl cats, though, are much less tolerant to being touched, poked, and prodded. Molly will allow a brushing with a normal cat comb (protests notwithstanding) but she will have nothing to do with the FURminator. Her screams and hisses can be heard for blocks. Emma, on the other hand, won't allow even your basic kitty brush without having a meltdown of cosmic proportions. As a result,she has never seen the FURminator. Interestingly, she's an angel for the groomer at the "kitty salon."
If your cat loves brushings, the FURminator is the way to go. If your cat is barely tolerant of a comb, this might not be the product to go with - at least not right away.
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