From:
Zazzue
Date: 2002-11-26 15:54:13 UTC
Subject: Re[2]: [ferrethealth] Look what the ferret brought home
To: Melissa Litwicki <ferrethealth@smartgroups.com>
Message-ID: <7586502806.20021126105413@twcny.rr.com>
Last year we had a flea infestation. My male cat, just a few, my
ferret, just a few, my female cat a lot more. I took my female cat to
the vet because she was acting sick, lost weight and was losing hair.
The vet said nothing was wrong and didn't even comment on the fleas.
A week or so later, she was thinner and lethargic, so I took her to a
cat specialist. It was thought she may have a disease (infection?)
caused by the fleas. While the blood work was processed she was put
on antibiotics and all the animals had an Advantage dose. While on
antibiotics, we thought she had rallied, but she ended up with total
organ failure. We let her go in peace.
Later, I saw a TV program about blood sucking insects. It talked
about ticks and what their role was on this planet. Apparently,
healthy animals will have ticks, and it will do them no harm. But
when a tick bites into an unhealthy animal, it sends out a signal that
this is the animal to be on and the animal ends up dead with in a few
days. I'm thinking that the same type of signal system probably
happens with fleas. That's why my lovely little female was so
infested, and so quickly. If this ever happens again, I will insist
that the vet runs all kind of tests to make sure the animal is truly
healthy.
Zazzue
> Howdy,
> I have successfully used Advantage (kitten dosage) on ferrets. However, I
> have also had terrific success with putting Advantage on the *cats* and
> leaving the ferrets alone, on the premise that the fleas hop from animal
> to animal, will bite the cat eventually, and die. If you do use Advantage
> on the ferrets, be sure to get confirmation on what the correct dose
> should be.