cat sick or flees?
 

Hi,

I have a 1 year old female (spayed) indoor cat (she goes outside maybe for 40mins per week while we are watching her). Recently she has been really bothered by something but all of the sudden. For example: her back leg will start shaking very fast and then she will move, and furoushously lick herself. Or her back will quiver and then she'll run and start licking herself - she seems very bothered when these things happen. It happened one evening and bothered her off and on for an hour, then it was fine for 3-4days now its doing it again this evening... she also seems a little more tired than normal. Also she does wear a flee colar, I put it on after the first incident.

Anyone have any ideas, should I take her to the vet?
thanks

A vet visit is definitely a good idea. Also, please take off that flea collar. They do not work and in some cases can cause very very serious side effects; sometimes resulting in death. It is much better to talk to your vet about Revolution or another flea medication.

hi ya if this happens randomly and at the same spot i would take her in to see btw flea collars arent the best thing for a cat ask youur vet about revolution or frontline

[B]dustincanada[/B]- first, a very warm welcome to the forum!!!

Yes, please REMOVE that collar pronto! IMO, NONE of the flea "control" products sold in pet stores are things I would even SHOW to my cats!!! Many are quite dangerous and some have even resulted in cats' deaths. In the USA, the FDA has started an investigation into them.

I'd suggest a quick Vet visit because you're obviously new to the "flea thing"...if she has some, there are SAFE remedies that the Vet can give you - and, s/he can also show you how to find/check for future flea "visits".

Now...about the "tired" symptoms....sometimes, if a cat has a really "bad case" of fleas, the cat can appear to be tired or run down. That's because the flea bites have resulted in the cat losing much blood. I don't know if that's what's causing her to appear tired, but, for me it would be a clear message to take her to the Vet.

It sounds like fleas and a flea collar doesn't really do much.

I use feline Advantage on all my cats (frontline stopped working for all my and my friend's animals, but we live in an area where it's warm a large portion of the year and fleas are rampant).

You can also give appropriate dose of Capstar before Advantage to kill the adult fleas within 24 hrs.

I dunno about in Canada, but in the U.S. you can order both of these meds without a prescription.
Either way your kitty needs to see a vet for a checkup and to make sure that's the only problem :)

More tired than normal can either be anemia (loss of blood from the fleas) or something else entirely, so a vet check is definately needed.