Help with Flea Treating and worming my Feral cat

Hi all,

My boyfriend and I took in a beautiful Ferral kitten called Nala after our cat Jasper brought her home. Nala is a very beautiful and intelligent cat which is great but causes its own issues. She is incredibly shy and runs whenever we get close to her making it difficult to flea treat and work her. She's had her vaccinations but I was hoping for some suggestions on how to get her to eat the tablets that she knows are hidden in her food! I've tried broths, cheese and tuna but she always knows and leaves the tablets! Any hot tips?
Thanks
Jo

Hello Jo and Welcome Nala and Jasper.

That's awesome that Jasper took her home.  At least you know they'll get along.

There are many threads on pill feeding.

One trick I learned for our girl who hates pills, and being held for too long was fed pills by wrapping her in a towel like a burrito.  

Swaddle like a baby so the arms and feed remain steady.  Although not too tight as to choke her leave some room around the neck shoulder area.

Of course this can only be done if you can catch her.

Can you get Jasper to come near you, showing her that you guys are cool and won't hurt her?

Best of luck.  They sound awesome.  Jasper sounds like a charmer. LOL

Hi 2cats4everLoved,

Thanks heaps for answering so quickly he really is a charmer- he's a very sweet cat and very loving.

Sadly we can't get near her in a substantial enough way to Grab her- she's very careful. We've had her now for about 12 months and I've only just found this fabulous site!! This info is priceless... I just wish I'd been able to find it earlier.

I'm very lucky a ADP have a relationship with her as she lets me put my finger out to touch her nose every day and occasionally lets me run but her if I'm low down and in front of her... But that's rare.

Originally she was okay with me hiding pills in her food but now she's onto me and I she's can smell comfortis and worming tablets a mile off.

I'll see if I can find some other info on this site but am super grateful for the suggestion!

Thanks again

Hi @catlover1980  welcome to The Cat Site

One thing a lot of feral caretakers us is Diatomaceous earth, which can be added to food to control fleas. Have you tried that?

http://www.earthclinic.com/pets/health-benefits-of-diatomaceous-earth.html

My vet put seresto collars on all my cats. It works for 8 months for fleas. Panacur granules might not be as detectable in mixed food. It kills hookworms,roundworms, and some tapeworms, It's OTC for dogs, but we gave it to our cats. Our vet prescribed it for giardia, but it's a dewormer too, and you don't actually need a prescription. It's like 8 bucks on Amazon. The stuff my vet prescribed was compounded into a liver flavor and it was expensive.

I like your cat's names lol I have a cat named Jasper too! GOOD LUCK

We had a feral kitten living under neath our shed.  My friend would go in the evenings and sit very still and talk softly.  I would feed the kitten in the morning and in the evening.  We put a cage in the back which he used to go in and he was afraid of me but not Carl.  I as patient and crouched down closed to the ground. Stop and think how you would feel if the giant (from Jack and the Bean Stalk" were hovering over you even if he was feeding you.  Let him see you loving an petting Jaspar.  I now have two feral kittens and both are domesticated.   Carl thought the first feral kitten was a girl so he named "her" Annie the Orphan.  A trip to the Vet and we had a found his name was Anny (unfortunately he took to the name).  The other kitten is now 18 weeks and was about 6 when I found him.  He is a Tiger!

Be patient, sit and play with Jaspar while kitty is around.

If it's flea meds, try a topical treatment and see if that works better.  You could wrap her in a towel and then apply the liquid on the back of the head/neck where she can't reach it.

Hi all,

Sorry for my tardiness in getting back to you. I've had issues with my other cat over the last couple of weeks who has developed an intolerance to something he's eating and we can't quite work it out...it's funny/ironic how you potentially solve one thing and quite quickly develop another.

I'm so excited to try out all these new ideas and am incredibly grateful for you taking the time to help me!

I'll report back with with where I have success (hopefully!!) so will keep you posted! Wish me luck!

I am putting Revolution on our one feral.  I can now pick him up, give him big pets and he rubs himself back on me.  But I don't want to force anything into his mouth and I can't be sure who eats food, he doesn't eat in our presence, he'd rather play and be petted.   I had the Revolution left over from another cat and it's the right dose for his weight.  It's the stuff that's liquid and you rub it into the back of their necks/heads, just in case you don't know it.  There are others that apply the same way.