Toxic flea meds?

I am going to attempt to treat one feral for fleas. He is a very friendly older tomcat. Friendly but very smart. So much so that because i once attempted to treat his eye infection while wearing latex gloves, he forever runs if he sees those on my hands. He seems to have fleas alittle worse than the average feral and I am particularly found of him. While looking up spot treatments I became aware of people reporting horrible side effects. Is there anything safer and effective? I only see him at night so I can not keep an eye on him if anything goes wrong and he has bad reaction. 

Cant find any info in another thread. His name is Giuseppe. He is a lover! A thick, cobby body grey tabby. Looks like a little feline pitbull. He knows where I live and waits every morning

I like to grind up Capstar to put in the ferals' food. No trauma, and it kills all the fleas currently on their body. But it doesn't last long :/. For something longer-lasting, a decent spot-on is best---never get the brands commonly sold at stores (like Hartz or Sergeant). Something that vets sell, like Advantage or Frontline, will be much safer (even if you don't buy it from the vet, make sure it's something they sell). I think Advantage works better for fleas, but it doesn't kill ticks.

But all flea meds are toxic, that's why they kill fleas . You just have to pick one that is less toxic to the cats. There's always the chance of a bad reaction though.

Willowy said:

I like to grind up Capstar to put in the ferals' food. No trauma, and it kills all the fleas currently on their body. But it doesn't last long :/. For something longer-lasting, a decent spot-on is best---never get the brands commonly sold at stores (like Hartz or Sergeant). Something that vets sell, like Advantage or Frontline, will be much safer (even if you don't buy it from the vet, make sure it's something they sell). I think Advantage works better for fleas, but it doesn't kill ticks.

But all flea meds are toxic, that's why they kill fleas

. You just have to pick one that is less toxic to the cats. There's always the chance of a bad reaction though.

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see i heard scary things about capstar too. It is hard to put it into perspective.  I wish I could figure out where he sleeps I would try to make him a shelter with DE on straw....Ok I guess I will weigh pros and cons, thanks

While I am not super familiar with fleas (we don't have them here), I don't think there is any type of flea medicine that doesn't have risks associated with it.  At the vet I work at we give people Frontline if they do have fleas (maybe 1-2 cases per year).

DO you think with a healthier diet they could be kept in check? Maybe give him a raw diet for awhile with breyers yeast in it?