PROS: works well, appropriate for large cats, easy application, ability to buy in bulk
CONS: expensive, sometimes applicator breaks, stinky smell!
I first purchased this product in August 2015, Again in Janurary 2016, and I just purchased this again (July 2016). I purchased this product to help control fleas on my two cats, one of which is an indoor/outdoor cat. The neighborhood I live in has terrible fleas, so using flea medication is essential.
The product arrived quickly, and came with thorough instructions, which I skimmed. The medication comes in a tiny tube incased in a foil packet. I opened the packet, and took out the tube. You break the seal on the tube by inverting the cap and puncturing the seal. I did this and accidentally twisted, causing the point on the top of the lid to become lodged in the opening of the tube. This was stressful because each treatment is so expensive. I realized, however, that I could fish out the point with some tweezers and still use the product! I then pinned my cat down and applied the product to the back of their neck. While I did see a decrease in fleas, I still saw several. I increased application to once every two weeks, and added baths and flea combing to the regime. Eventually, I was able to apply only once a month. During the summer the flea population seems to increase, which also coincided with my adoption of a second cat. I noticed the cat came in with fleas and I applied this medication, but it didn't seem to do much. I then woke up one morning with about 30 flea bites covering my lower legs and feet! I was horrified, and I knew it was time to get serious!
After a bit of research I realized apart of why the medication may have been ineffective previously was that I wasn't applying it correctly (ha! Thats what i get for skimming!) Rereading instructions, I realized that I need to part my cats fur and try to make skin contact with the medication. I also learned that if my cats lick it it will taste bitter, discouraging licking behaviors of the medication. I'm going to include a few steps I took to control fleas in my house, unrelated to this product, but I think it might be useful! Scroll down to my conclusion if uninterested :) Anyways, so my cats hate baths (they were both rescued and are older so its hard to introduce new behaviors, I mean, I'm no jackson galaxy) For this reason flea baths always stressed me out and I was worried about my cats catching a cold or licking the flea shampoo and getting sick.Instead of bathing my cats, I gave them a pill that will kill all the fleas on them within 6 hours( https://www.amazon.com/Novartis-Capstar-Flea-Tablets-Count/dp/B005Z6UL1M/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1469319334&sr=8-2&keywords=flea+killer+pill). Using this pill in conjunction with this treatment, was a life saver! The next thing I did was give my pets a dry, diatomaceous earth bath. If you choose to do this with your cats, make sure you use food grade DE. DE is a great natural alternative for flea control, but the dust can be damaging to yourself and your cats! To prevent this, I wore a bandana around my mouth, and I stuck a comfy cone on my cat ( https://www.amazon.com/Comfy-Cone-E-Collar-Large-Black/dp/B000XY7CKE/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1469319818&sr=8-1&keywords=comfy+cone). My cats didn't like it, but it was safer and easier than flea baths! I also put some apple cider vinegar diluted with water in a spray bottle, and I sprayed down my cats. They hated this, but I think it maybe helped the fleas? It also reduced dust from the DE.
CONCLUSION: I think that all cat owners should use this product on their cats, even if their cats are indoor cats. an inch of prevention is worth a pound of solution, and this is especially true for fleas. Make sure to treat your cats regularly and make sure you apply it correctly!
included some photos of my happy flea free cats :)
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