Cats and heartworm. What do you use? Do you protect even if your cat is

[japple]

indoor only?

[spooky3]

1. Revolution is expensive but none of my cats have

Had heartworms or fleas on it.

[iscooterliberally]

5. I use Revolution for my dogs and cats as well.

It sure is expensive! I have 6 cats that mostly stay indoors. There's also a stray who lives on my carport. We treat him too since he's probably related to the kittens we rescued last year. I usually get the 6pack and one single extra dose for the outside guy. We never see fleas and we had one cat that almost made it to her 23rd birthday this year.

[WhiteTara]

2. I thought heartworms was for dogs?

[japple]

3. Yes, cats can get heartworm. I think we are going to see more of this as our planet

heats up. My sister's 11 yr. old cat just died from what we think must have been heartworm. He was born outdoors to a feral mother but had been an indoor only cat since he was rescued in kittenhood. Last week, he had a seizure or episode, and then he fell over and died right in front of us. He had been taken to the vet on 2 previous occasions because of what appeared to be seizures, but vet said that "bloodwork is normal. Cats rarely have seizures." I filmed part of this episode and the experts that viewed it, including vets and vet techs posted that it "looks like a cat with hypertrophic cardiomyopathy or heartworm disease. And also, cats can have seizures, I have treated them myself. It’s not as common as with dogs, but it does happen. Unfortunately, no matter what diagnosis was made, there probably was nothing you could have done for this poor baby." and

"Sadly, we can’t really test for heartworm in cats. The test is for the female heartworm uterine antigen (yes, I know, very specific). Since cats are an aberrant host, they usually only have a single worm, and therefore rarely will test positive."


https://www.livescience.com/17363-heartworm-cats-fatal-nsf-ria.html

Just an FYI and heads up to those cat people who live in areas where mosquitoes are ever-present.

[Rhiannon12866]

4. Thanks for letting us know, I'm going to have to ask my vet

My cat is indoor only, too, but I rescued him from outdoors - a supermarket parking lot - as a kitten four years ago. I'm very sorry about your sister's kitty.

[hermetic]

6. Revolution

can be purchased from other countries much cheaper. I got some from Australia, Sierra Pet Meds. There are others in other countries. Search "Revolution without prescription".

Very sorry about your sister's kitty.