Marcy wrote, "have you tried L-lysine for Yoyo's scratching?"
No, I did not know it was used for itching. Yoyo is not doing a lot of scratching anymore. But if he does scratch, even if is only for a moment, I note it and I also note where he is scratching. If it continues, and I get to the point that I don't think it can be flea-related, I will try to track down what is causing it. Right now, he is taking an herb that the acupuncturist is giving him, but, when I finish the herb, if he is still itching, I will give the L-lysine a try.
Pamela wrote, "I looked on the Capster site and they recommend using it along with PROGRAM Flavor Tabs. Have you ever tried this? Maybe then you could cut back on using the Capster so often?
With Program, the flea must bite the cat in order to get the ingredient that eventually kills it. Allergic cats are allergic to flea saliva.
"PROGRAM® is a once a month flea treatment that you give in your pet's food. It comes in tablet form for dogs and in liquid form for cats. How does Program Plus work: All fleas must have a blood meal before they are physically able to lay eggs and start an infestation. This is why PROGRAM® is such a cunning method of flea control. After an animal is treated, a tiny amount of PROGRAM® circulates in their blood. If a female flea now bites the animal, it will 'swallow' some of the active ingredient and pass it on to her eggs. Inside the eggs, PROGRAM® goes to work, preventing the developing flea from growing a tooth that it needs to be able to hatch. Since all fleas must bite in order to continue their life cycle, all will be affected, and none of their eggs will be able to develop into adults."
Pamela wrote, "I see poor Yoyo just had 3 teeth extracted."
The diagnosis the dentist gave me was that "two teeth had resorptive lesions and the third one was broken, the pulp tissue was exposed and necrotic." I have not looked up definitions for these terms yet but it sounds pretty bad. He said he had a hard time getting the third tooth out, the problem went all the way into the bone --- it had eaten into the jaw bone and he had very little jaw bone left. For two weeks, Yoyo is to get soft foods and is not to go outside unsupervised. No pain meds or antibiotics... at least none that he gave me to bring home. He has recovered. He is driving me crazy. On Thursday, I am going to call the vet dentist and ask if it absolutely must be 2 weeks that he has to stay inside! The dentist wants him inside because his jaw bone is so fragile that he could break it if he were to bite down on something hard and two weeks should provide healing time. I don't think Yoyo is going to bite down on anything outside. He's not an explorer.... he just lies under the house, in the sand with the fleas, no doubt, just in case he needs to defend his house.
Also, Pamela, the pest control company is "green," and they are telling me I have to get the yard sprayed every month, $85 per treatment. I told them to go ahead and spray for this month, but I need to find another option.
As to the dosage, I think you are both right. I will continue with the fat 0.5 through tomorrow which will be 5 full days and go back to 0.75 day after tomorrow. Maybe I can start dropping him again after his teeth settle down. Today, it looked to me like the swelling I had seen in his mouth was greatly reduced.
Lana
