Need some advice with two of my cats

[nikkistarr]

I signed on here because I have a few health concerns with two out of my 3 cats and my budget is very limited so I am trying to do what I can myself before I have to go to a vet.

My cats as much as I have tried to prevent, have gotten fleas. One of them is driven nuts by them and he has been digging to the point he is has wounds all over him and is pulling a lot of his fur out. (he has also done this in phases in the past without fleas as well) I am scared to put any flea treatment on him with the open wounds. I have been trying to come up with ideas on how to get him to stop digging so badly, but his wounds are getting worse. They are mostly all around his head, the back of his head and shoulders, cheeks and under his chin. I wake up to big piles of fur he has pulled out. I have tried giving him baths and bought some wipes that are supposed to sooth his skin but it keeps getting worse. I also have been vacuuming, cleaning, and flea combing to keep the fleas under control but still haven't actually put any flea treatment on him since I am worried about getting poison into open wounds. He doesn't seem to be in bad spirits other than combustible bites, scratches, and digs himself. Does anyone have advice on what to do to help him heal up?

Also...his brother I also noticed while checking for fleas suddenly has a lump that seemed to appear over night. It feels like a small ball. It has been increasing in size. Now it's about the size of a large pea. He is in good spirits, and doesn't seem to be sick at all. But of course I am still worried about it being cancer. I don't have the funds to have a vet look at it and treat it if it is. Just was curious if anyone had any input on what else it could be or on the subject matter.

Thanks in advance for your help

 

[missmimz]

 
I signed on here because I have a few health concerns with two out of my 3 cats and my budget is very limited so I am trying to do what I can myself before I have to go to a vet.

My cats as much as I have tried to prevent, have gotten fleas. One of them is driven nuts by them and he has been digging to the point he is has wounds all over him and is pulling a lot of his fur out. (he has also done this in phases in the past without fleas as well) I am scared to put any flea treatment on him with the open wounds. I have been trying to come up with ideas on how to get him to stop digging so badly, but his wounds are getting worse. They are mostly all around his head, the back of his head and shoulders, cheeks and under his chin. I wake up to big piles of fur he has pulled out. I have tried giving him baths and bought some wipes that are supposed to sooth his skin but it keeps getting worse. I also have been vacuuming, cleaning, and flea combing to keep the fleas under control but still haven't actually put any flea treatment on him since I am worried about getting poison into open wounds. He doesn't seem to be in bad spirits other than combustible bites, scratches, and digs himself. Does anyone have advice on what to do to help him heal up?

Also...his brother I also noticed while checking for fleas suddenly has a lump that seemed to appear over night. It feels like a small ball. It has been increasing in size. Now it's about the size of a large pea. He is in good spirits, and doesn't seem to be sick at all. But of course I am still worried about it being cancer. I don't have the funds to have a vet look at it and treat it if it is. Just was curious if anyone had any input on what else it could be or on the subject matter.

Thanks in advance for your help

You need to take them to a vet and get some RX meds to treat this problem. At this point it sounds like you have a very heavy infestation going on and you need to get something from the vet, likely nothing OTC is going to work at this point. You also need to vacuum and wash everything. Vacuum, vacuum, and vacuum more. 

 

[whatsonemore]

I wonder if just a flea collar, would work better to get rid of the fleas for now.  At one point, I purchased some flea pills off amazon that were supposed to kill fleas within like 30 minutes, but I never ended up needing to use them, because what few my new kittens had after I bathed them in Dawn dish soap a few times, I was able to pick off or flea comb off the rest.  Take a look on amazon and see what you can find.  As I recall, they had good reviews.  missmimz is right though, wash all the bedding and vacuum every day a couple of times a day at least to make sure you get the fleas, eggs, droppings, everything.

I have a cat that pulls his hair out randomly throughout the year.  He has done it since the day I took him in regardless of any food he's been on or anything else.  After doing a ton of research, I've decided that because he is a much more thorough cleaner than the rest of my cats, he just has OCD and just pulls his hair out sometimes.  Usually there are no wounds, but sometimes he will have red patches where he's done it.  After a few days of doing it, he's done for a few months.

As far as your cat with the lump, has he gotten an injection/vaccination recently in that spot?  If it's growing quickly, you really should get it checked out and if determined to be cancer, there are natural ways to treat it (google is your friend).  Getting a diagnosis would need to be your first step though.

 

[luvjere]

I think you are going to need to get something along the lines of frontline or revolution. I think it is going to be extremely difficult for you to break the reproduction cycle of fleas  with bathing/flea collars and vacuuming/changing bedding. You might want to consider saving some money and seeing if you can buy it online or at a low cost vet clinic. I think the above two options work very well. 

 

[raina21]

N nikkistarr

Advantage II works better than Frontline in my opinion and if you buy that, get the large dog size, squirt the full dose out of the tube into a small glass container or vial and split the doses using a 1ml needless syringe (these are free at most pharmacies). The doeses come in 4ml tubes and the dose for a cat 9lbs+ is .8ml and the dose for cats that weigh less than 9lbs is .4ml. Seal the glass container and save whatever is left of the dose in the refrigerator and use it the next month.

You should put flea treatment on your other 2 cats. This will at least kill some of them.

The one with open wounds likely has a flea allergy and may need a steriod shot in the future. Instead of topical flea treatment, I would use a flea treatment that is in pill form (its called Capstar and I believe it is sold on Amazon).

 

[Geoffrey]

I am a human doctor, not a vet.   From what you have told us it appears that your cat has a very severe skin complaint.  I am sure that you do not have the specialised knowledge to try to treat the poor animal yourself and I advise you strongly to somehow take it to a vet and not waste time and effort trying to treat him yourself.   With regards to his brother, there are a number of causes of a lump appearing on your cat,  the lump may be benign or much more serious and the best thing that you can do is to seek veterinary advice concerning this. 

With all best wishes,

Geoffrey 

 

[mrsgreenjeens]

Since it does sounds like you need to take them to the Vet, maybe this article will help you:  http://www.thecatsite.com/a/no-money-for-vet-care-how-to-find-help-and-save-your-cats-life

 

[nikkistarr]

thanks everyone for the advice. I was trying not to take them to the vet because I live paycheck to paycheck. Plus the cat with the skin problem seems to always have reactions to flea medicine. But I agree, he does seem to have a skin allergy to the fleas because I have never seen a cat react to them like he does. I've been vacuuming everyday, cleaning counters, flea combing, ect ect. I will have to look into the pill because not only do the drops appear to make my cat sick but they never seem to work. 

One method I have learned in the past that seems to work with flea in the house is sprinkling salt all over. I'm going to have to resort to that next to take care of the house. 

The cats wounds seem to be starting to heal, but now he is digging in new places and he is throwing a fit over any treatments.