@crawgarden I'm very sorry about your great pyr.

As I said, yes it can happen. But as is with most medications, such adverse reactions are very rare. This is why you should always talk to your vet before starting a treatment, you should never buy off-brand non-Rx products or products like Hartz OR use any Rx product not prescribed for THIS animal.

This is also why I highly recommend the three prong treatment plan I outlined above. Because if you can break the flea cycle, you can eliminate fleas completely and therefore do not need to rely on treating your animals each and every month.

Cat-dog has lived here just over 4-1/2 years. In that time, she was treated at the shelter where I adopted her; and I treated her three times because we were going camping and there were likely to be fleas and/or ticks present. Tornado-dog has lived here almost 4 years and he was treated for the first three years monthly - not for fleas, but because he was having a sensitivity to microscopic mites that live on dog faces. The nexguard minimized the quantity of those mites while he built up a resistance. He no longer has an issue, so he no longer gets it regularly.

I'll also add that there are many home remedies that get bandied about, especially on the internet, that are flat out dangerous to your pets - including the use of essential oils.

I don't think flea collars are necessarily more dangerous, but I don't find them that effective. They tend to concentrate the chemicals in one small area of the dog (the neck) and the chemicals tend to sit on the skin and hair rather than being absorbed and that means that many fleas who are in other areas of the body are not affected.

While you apply topical treatments to the neck area, they are made to be absorbed and distributed throughout the animal's system and any flea that bites the animal anywhere on their body is subjected to the chemicals and dies. Edible treatments work similarly in that the chemical gets distributed throughout the body.

P.S. As this discussion has been going on, I have had a reaction to something and am itching like crazy about my head and upper torso. It happens occasionally - not serious, just very annoying. I feel like I have fleas!

Regarding Frontline - I used it for years on our pets, both cats and dogs, and then it basically stopped working; our vet said she was seeing a lot of cases of the Frontline becoming ineffective, the fleas had become resistant to it. That was when we switched to Bravecto.

Same has happened with Advantage in areas. Fleas become resistant. Another reason why you should check with your vet before starting a treatment.

We used one of the topicals on a cat once and it burned a hole in his skin. It looked like someone had touched a lit cigarette to him. Our vet was shocked and had never seen that reaction. After that we used Capstar for the occasional flea problem. When we moved from Fl to the mountains I asked our new vet if we needed to continue flea and tick meds (we use Trio) especially in the winter and she responded with an emphatic YES. She said the bugs can still be active in the cold weather and the diseases they carry these days can be dangerous to our pets and to people.

I use Nexgard on Buffy for fleas and ticks, our house and yard are treated with Demon, safe for pets. The cats have never had fleas as long as the dog is on flea control, they are indoor cats, but do go out on the screened porch. I also spray my organic bug spray on Buffy when we hike, she has learned it keeps the mosquitos off her. A good bath every 3 weeks.
My nephew uses the flea collar, his poor Golden retriever chews the hair off his tail end, so I agree the collar doesn't cover the whole body.

Struggling with the couch.

This morning...a new trio of kittens came joining the outdoor breakfast feeding time:
One was still being slow and shy:


Finally joining in as Gino, the older stray tabby cat, gave way:


Hmmm..I wonder if this tuxedo cat is the Mom or maybe just helping nurture tbe kittens ..

critterologist said: TK, how cute!

I appreciate the automatic litterbox comparison. We haven't gone to those, want to avoid clumping litter here if we can (at Mom's apartment, clumping is a necessity as scooping may only happen a couple times a week when we're there). But, as we become older and less agile, the robotic litter boxes sound better & better!

When we first had our dear Tikoy and Smokey we really learned a lot about their habits with the litterboxes, at that time, we started with a sifting litterbox, it was good but too low, lots of litter scatter and Smokey seems too big for that litterbox. Thankfully we came across NVR MS litterbox, glad it was high sided but it would be manual scooping. Then we got our new pet, Jewel and it was getting to be a lot of work litter scooping, so we got the Litter Robot 3 connect It was a big expense, but it was well worth it now, since it is still working as it should and with our present number of kitties inside especially at night it is well used. And that was also a reason we got other automated litterboxes, since some cats have finicky preferences, later on making us understand open top and wide entrance is best for them. Also just have to remember, litter scatter will always be there, we can try to lessen it by using litter mats or steps with catchers..but cats are such, always happy to run away from their own poop smell or some may be well behaved like our Jewel promptly covering it takes her time getting off the machine. And some like our Ellie, remains old school..no motorized whirring sound for her litterbox. But we will see, maybe Neakasa M1 will help ..fingers crossed!

We were also glad Arm &Hammer has this cloud control clumping litter..less dust this time. Works with any of the litterboxes we currently have.

I understand about cats with finicky litter box habits. One of Mom's previous cats insisted on an open box, as clean as possible, or he'd poop on the floor. I think I've mentioned that the staff at her assisted living isn't supposed to lift a finger with any sort of pet care, so we'd get a call and have to go over to pick up the poop that was under the bathroom sink. I don't think Mom (MIL)has ever in her life cleaned a litter box, and with her balance issues this isn't the time to start.

Good to know about the Arm & Hammer litter, too, although the Fresh Step Clumping seems to be pretty low in dust. Our vet doesn't like clumping litter because apparently some cats will groom it off their paws and get clumps forming in their bellies, definitely worse than a hairball.

I mentioned before that I won't use clumping litter ever again. With Looney1, I started using PetSafe crystals. https://a.co/d/5uojk1y. I get the lavender scented - it really isn't much of a scent, neither is the blue. You can see when it's time to empty because the crystals turn yellowish as they absorb.

It is so much better. Less dust than any other type of litter. Non-clumping so it doesn't stick to the bottom of the box (or inside the cat tummy). The crystals absorb the pee so it isn't wet and won't stick to cat feet and there is no urine smell at all. Easy to sweep up if it spills. Just pour one bag into you box and scoop up the poop each day (I use doggy poop bags for that). After one to two weeks, I pour the entire contents into a small garbage bag and toss it in the garbage and empty a new fresh bag in the box.

When I just had Looney1, one bag lasted two weeks easy. With the addition of Looney2, I used two boxes and two bags every two weeks. With the addition of the girls, I use three boxes and three bags every week - I added a box downstairs.

There is never any peeing outside the box and Looney3 only poops outside the box if I don't clean the poop out often enough (which is actually several days .

And it is so lightweight - the cardboard box two bags came in is heavier than six bags of the litter. Which makes emptying the boxes so easy - I just open the garbage bag, pull it over one end of the box and lift them together and the contents go straight into the bag.

I really cannot praise it enough.

For boxes, I use these: https://a.co/d/0Ntbulc
They are big enough for Looney2 to use easily and the sides keep any digging inside. I've never had the poop hanging off the side as with other boxes. And the bag of litter works perfectly - deep enough for the cats to dig but not so much that any is wasted.

Our new kitties (Maple here, Cami at Mom's) are small and female. Cami produces so much less waste (both types) than Mom's 2 previous boy cats, who I swear had peeing contests in the littlerbox. At least it kept them drinking enough to keep their kidneys healthy.

We tried the crystals once, but Jim mixed them with the regular Fresh Step in an effort to transition the kitties to them. I think they'd have worked far better on their own. We may try again at some point. I'm sure crystals would work in a litter robot also, but there may be no need for the robot's constant sifting.

Interesting! I've been using "Tidy Cat multiple cats" litter for quite a few years now, have never had a cat use anything but the litter box to "go" (other than the "outdoor facilities"), and as far as I know have never had any cat ingest the clumping litter. I clean out the boxes every couple of days and honestly feel that this is one of the best inventions ever. I use "sweater box" storage boxes for litter boxes, and the only problem we've ever had is one cat or another peeing over the edge of the box, which was also an issue long before the advent of clumping litter.

The sifting will help to spread the "empty" crystals around for better absorption. Definitely use the crystals on their own not mixed with regular litter.

I think the cats actually prefer the crystals. They all started using it without any issue at all. They spend less time scratching it it before going potty - so the odor control seems to work for them since they aren't searching for a "fresh spot" to go.

@Weedwhacker you might try the litter boxes I linked to above. Even Looney2 who is too long for most boxes can use these without going over the edge. I got the smaller "large" one for the camper and never had issues either. The sides are high enough that the cats keep everything inside the box.

When the clumping came out, I really tried to like it. But I hated how it glued itself to the bottom of the box. I broke many a scooper trying to remove clumps. With the crystals, I never even need to use the scooper when I empty the boxes because everything just slides right out.

Toed, I truly appreciate the suggestions but am really in a state of "if it isn't broken, don't fix it." Although I did previously have some scoops that broke, I now have a metal scoop... and have really never had an issue of the clumping litter sticking to the bottom of the "sweater boxes." I wonder if there is some difference with the type of plastic the various boxes are made of?

When we had an a male cat he sprayed over the edge as he aged. The answer was a box with taller sides. Like Sandy, we used plastic sweater boxes. I don't recall clumps sticking to the bottom either. Perhaps it is the type of plastic?

I also put the lids for the boxes underneath, which helps catch anything that goes over the sides - usually just the litter, from over-enthusiastic "burying".

Good morning! My name is Scout! Have a good day!

@Weedwhacker no worries, just throwing it out there.

Maybe I had sticking issues because my cats dug down to the box before peeing - I've used every type of boxes, including sweater boxes with the same issues.