How the Heck to you DE a long haired cat?!?!

[princess araucana]

She has fleas.
I have DE.
I just tried somewhat unsuccessfully to put the two together and made a terrible and unhealthy mess.

Anyone have any advice on application method?

 

[princess araucana]

FYI:
DE is diatamaceous earth
yes, I got the food grade kind from Perma Guard.

Cat has very long fur, a little mated in places....
How can the powder reach her skin?
How can I put it on her without making a cloud of bad stuff for her lungs and mine?

 

[Hillsvale]

haven't tried the DE however once my LH Cat had fleas that weren't responding to anything and deep mats so the kids gave him a lion cut and then treated.... it worked however the cat was so embarrased he didn't go out for ages!

 

[ametauss]

I would remove the matted areas.

Next take a towel and sprinkle a little on it then wrap the cat in it to prevent her from scratching you....

Using a brush, gently brush her opposite to hair growth and sprinkle the DE when you have the hair pulled back, exposing her skin...

Don't worry to much about getting it all down to the skin as it will work its way down....

sprinkle some where she lays as well....

I don't have LH cats but do have LH dogs and w/o the towel this method works well....

 

[onthespot]

how about using a knee high panty hose. fill it with DE and pat it all over the cat every day. I have not tried it, but I think it would work its way in over time and help.

 

[patandchickens]

Sorry but I do not see a lot of point in it, not enough to be worth all the dust that the cat will inhale.

Fleas do not breed on the cat, they breed elsewhere (so the majority of your efforts need to be directed to eradicating them from your household as much as possible; if the cat goes outdoors she can still pick more up but keeping the house basically flea-free will help a lot and is really all you can do.)

And DE has no repellent properties so it won't protect her in any way from fleas hopping onto her from the environment and biting her.

Take care of the mats, though. Fleas or no fleas. They can snowball into Trouble pretty fast, and are vastly easier to remove when they are still quite small and mild.

Good luck, have fun,

Pat

 

[Akane]

Personally I'd just grab some advantage or frontline at the vet. Fleas will be gone within days and not come back for a month or ever if you keep applying it. DE isn't too bad of a preventative or a mild treatment for one time issues but I wouldn't apply it to an animal that is repeatedly picking up fleas and it does have a risk of respiratory damage if they keep breathing it in. I would apply it to your house and yard and use something proven to work on the cat. We tried all those powders from DE to strong chemicals at our old house and we had constant fleas on the animals and then us until we started using advantage monthly. No fleas on the pets within days. No fleas in the house or on us within a couple weeks. No fleas in the yard the next year or after that until we moved years later. There is also capstar which is a pill that kills all fleas and pests within 24hours but it only works for that time period where the others work for a month. Generally only used to knock out a bad infestation, in place of those less effective and more dangerous chemical baths or dips, and then a longer term preventative is used. If you want to avoid the stronger chemicals there are things made of essential oils. I use some to help repel mosquitos and ticks on my dog along with the frontline. Natural defense and sentry are some good brands of non chemical or over the counter mild chemical sprays and topicals. Do not touch anything hartz or 8 in 1 brand. Any online search will tell you why.

 

[Countrywife]

Quote:
what Akane said

 

[L*A*G*]

I have heard that a little ACV on their back works.

 

[princess araucana]

Frontline does not seem to work for us but the Advantage does and we plan on getting some more. I liked the DE because I have some on hand immediately and I saw a few big mother of fleas and loved the idea of them being chaffed apart.
Also I noticed the back of her neck is missing patches of fur which look like where you apply the advantage stuff, I hope it is not burning her fur off!
Her matts are not terrible but she acts like you are killing her when scissors get near!
I'll try the back brushing, that is a good idea. I guess it will make a big mess regardless!
House is in shambles for major renovations which are taking forever..... so I will have to vacuum cardboard boxes? ugh.
thanks for the feedback though!