Don’t mix pet medicines

With so many different kinds of over the counter pet medication on sale it’s not surprising that pet owners are sometimes getting them mixed up.   The main thing to remember is tha medicines for cats and dogs are entirely different.  Alright, so it says Flea Treatment on the packet but read the small print carefully before you use it – if you treat a cat with dog ‘spot -on’ you risk causing your pet’s death.

The Veterinary Poisons Information Service has recently said that hundreds of cats have died needlessly through being given a flea treatment meant for dogs.   The insecticide permethrin, which is is harmless to dogs , is lethal to cats, so if you put drops of that on the back of the neck of your cat, he or she is likely to die.  At the very least the cat will suffer convulsions and twitching.   See a vet immediately if your cat has been given the wrong pet medicine.

Permethrin is non toxic for most mammals – so you will find it in fly sprays also – make sure your cat doesn’t come into contact with anything containing it.   The cats have a metabolic deficiency which makes contact with this pesticide extremely harmful to them.

Many everyday foods are harmful to cats, onion and garlic can be toxic and chocolate is dangerous for both cats and dogs.