ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Wednesday, March 27, 1996 TAG: 9603270020
SECTION: BUSINESS PAGE: B8 EDITION: METRO
COLUMN: Marketplace
SOURCE: MEGAN SCHNABEL
The weather's finally getting warmer, and you're thinking about letting your cat outside more often. How's Snowball's flea resistance?
Fleas begin to emerge, you see, when the weather starts to warm up.
(Scratch, scratch.)
The flea population reaches its peak by late summer, thanks to the stamina of female fleas, which can lay as many as 50 eggs a day.
(Scratch, scratch.)
In other words, early spring is the best time to launch a pre-emptive strike.
As any cat owner can tell you, however, felines are notoriously good at avoiding flea dips and sprays and powders.
But there's hope. Ciba-Geigy Corp., the same company that last year introduced once-a-month oral flea treatment for dogs, now offers Program for cats, a liquid flea treatment that you mix once a month with canned cat food, milk or anything the cat will eat.
Program contains lufernon, an insect development inhibitor. Adult female fleas ingest it when they bite the cat, then pass it on to their eggs. There it prevents the formation of chitin, the hard substance that forms the larva's egg tooth. Without the chitin, most larvae can't hatch because they can't cut through their egg shells. The ones that do manage to hatch die quite soon.
Program starts to work within 12 hours after you give it to your cat. If he already has fleas before you start the treatment, there probably will be immature fleas in your home as well. It usually takes from 30 to 90 days for this flea population to die off.
Lufernon is nontoxic to mammals, because our bodies don't produce chitin. And Program contains no insecticide, so it's safe for pregnant and nursing cats, as well as kittens older than six weeks. Dr. Mark Finkler, a veterinarian at Roanoke Animal Hospital, said he has been prescribing Program for several months and has seen no side effects.
Program doesn't kill or repel adult fleas, he said, so you may want to use an additional form of protection - a flea collar or flea shampoo - to keep the critters off your cat, especially when you first start the treatment.
If your cat never ventures outside and you don't bring other pets into the house, you probably don't need a treatment such as Program, he said. But you still should check your cat for fleas periodically, since flea eggs may be brought into the house by visitors.
Program is available only by prescription, so talk to your veterinarian if you're interested. It costs $5 to $6 a month to treat a cat. A month's worth of Program for dogs - which comes in pill form - runs about the same.
You also can buy flea collars that prevent eggs from hatching rather than just repelling them, Finkler said. One name brand you can look for is Ovitrol, which will last up to a year for cats and about seven months for dogs.
Another flea treatment, which should be on the market by next month, is Advantage, a treatment made by Bayer (the aspirin people) that kills fleas on contact. Just apply a small amount of the liquid to a patch of your pet's skin - usually on the back of the neck, where he can't lick at it - and the repellant spreads microscopically all over his body. It starts to work within 24 hours. Unlike a flea dip, which lasts only a week or two, Advantage is a monthly treatment.
Whatever you choose as your primary flea treatment, plan to back it up with another method.
"There is no silver bullet," Finkler said. "It usually requires multiple approaches." Use shampoos, he said, or powders or sprays to help control fleas. But don't overdo it, either. Overmedicating your pet - cat or dog - may get rid of the flea problem, but it also may have unwanted side effects. Check with your vet if you aren't sure about product interactions. |n n| You can wrap up your dog's heartworm pill in a hunk of hamburger, but don't even try fooling the cat. You'll end up with a miffed kitty and a wet pill spit out on the carpet.
If you just cannot get your cat to take its prescription pills, a New England pharmacy may be able to help. Prescription Specialties Inc. of Cheshire, Conn., mixes up prescriptions for dogs and birds and even human beings, but Lisa Rakowitz, the company's office manager, said most of the orders come from vets who treat pill-hating felines.
They'll mix up the medicine in a sardine-flavored liquid base that you can dispense with a syringe or mix with your cat's food. For dogs and birds, they use a sweet solution. The company also will mix up medications in customized dosages for very small or very large pets.
Prescription Specialties deals only with veterinarians, so you can't just call them up and order tuna-flavored sedatives for high-strung Fluffy. Talk to your vet if you think the sardine treatment may be what your pet needs.
LENGTH: Medium: 86 lines ILLUSTRATION: GRAPHIC: chart - Typical Flea Popluation color.by CNB