Bug off!
A nerdy cat parent’s guide to protecting our furbabies from fleas, ticks, & other pests
Image via James Gathany for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)
At least once a year, I get The Flea Terrors.
What are The Flea Terrors? Just one of the many dangers a cat mom could wake up in the middle of the night worrying about …
Act I. Fleas are not a monolith … also, climate change
(aka why you should get The Flea Terrors too)
At the risk of sounding too philosophical, what is a flea? You may be surprised to learn that fleas are not a monolith. Per InsectIQ, there are over 2,000 known species of fleas, the most common type of which is the Ctenocephalides felis, aka cat fleas (who, despite their name, also love dogs, humans, and any other warm-blooded host). All fleas, though, are parasites.
*cue mental image from Parasite movie*
You shuddering yet? Oh, but we haven’t even gotten started.
Facts:
An estimated 80% of fleas collected from cats contain at least one organism that could induce illness in cats or people.
Fleas can cause severe health problems for cats, including anemia, plague, murine typhus and bartonellosis.
Fleas can also cause severe health problems, e.g. rickettsiosis and bartonellosis, for humans via the nifty (*not*) mechanisms of zoonosis.
Finally, fleas also serve as an intermediate host for tapeworms, which can infect both you and your furbaby.
Also, though fleas are considered the most prevalent ectoparasite — an estimated 20% of cats and 10% of dogs have fleas at any given time, per Elsheikha 2017 — it’s not just fleas we pet parents need to worry about:
There are multiple vector-borne diseases in cats, the most prominent being those transmitted by mosquitos, sand flies, fleas, and ticks.
According to Nagamori and Reichard 2015, ticks (which are technically arachnids, aka in the same classification as spiders) are an important but under recognized parasitic threat to cats in many areas of the United States. Feline tick-borne diseases reported in North America include anaplasmosis, cytaxuzoonosis, ehrlichiosis, tularemia, rickettsiosis, Lyme disease, Rocky Mountain spotted fever, relapsing fever, and tick paralysis. Though dangerous to both cats and dogs, a recent study in the United Kingdom found that cats were more likely to present to veterinarians with ticks than dogs (Tulloch et al., 2017).
There are a number of intestinal worms that can infect dogs and cats, for example tapeworms, roundworms, hookworms, and whipworms. One worm can produce more than 100,000 eggs per day, which are then passed in the pet’s feces and spread throughout the area the pet roams. Once in the environment, these eggs can remain infective and present a health risk for your pet and to humans for years.
Oh, by the way, your pets can be attacked by endoparasites (a parasite that lives inside its host) and ectoparasites (a parasite that lives on or in the skin but not within the body) at the same time. A 2014 study designed to understand the prevalence and risk factors of multiparasitism in owned cats found that – of the 1,500+ cats studied across 9 European countries -- 50.7% of cats resulted positive for at least one internal or one external parasite species.
Weeee!
Since we’re already coasting down the Slide of Despair, one more thing: deep freeze is one of Nature’s levers in curbing the terrifying expansion of pest population, but thanks to global warming and an increase in warmer winters, parasites are now a problem year-round in an increasing number of geographies around the world. (Fun fact: Parasites in pets weren’t as big a problem prior to the 1970s.)
There are a few other worrying factors contributing to the rise of parasites, but I think I’ve done enough damage to your mental well-being.
(By the way, not all types of parasites live in every region. Here’s a pest prevalence map for the US and Canada https://www.petsandparasites.org/parasite-prevalence-maps/#/)
Breathe, friends! There is hope.
You see, numerous clinical and laboratory research publications have confirmed that flea and tick control products are effective for blocking transmission of many of the agents. In fact, Thomas et al 2016, which analyzed ectoparasite prevalence in data from 673 cats, concludes with an emphatic note about “the importance of year-round use of ectoparasiticides with both insecticidal and acaricidal activity on domestic cats.”
Before you tie them running shoes and beeline for PetSmart, though, there is some drama, shall we say, in the pest control industry.
*Lifts curtain on Act II of The Flea Terrors*
Act II. Safety, Efficacy, and … Capitalism
[Scene: In the US, there are two regulatory bodies who are tasked with governing the safety and efficacy of pest control products, amongst their 175,234,343,288,432 other responsibilities: The EPA and the FDA. Who does what? Per the American Veterinary Medical Association (AVMA): “Spot-on prevention and treatment products that only treat external parasites (fleas, ticks, etc.) are regulated by the EPA. Spot-ons that treat external parasites AND internal parasites (intestinal worms, etc.) are considered animal drugs and are regulated by the FDA.”]
A timeline:
April 2009 - The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) issued an advisory concerning approximately 70 spot-on flea and tick control products because of an increase in the number of reports of adverse reactions to the products. How much of an increase? From 2007 to 2008, the numbers of adverse event incidents increased by 53%. Approximately 43,000 reports were reported for 2008. Reactions reported included skin irritation, skin burns, seizures, and death.
May 2009 - The EPA met with the manufacturers of the products to discuss the issue.
March 2010 - The EPA announced it was taking steps to increase the safety of spot-on pesticide products for flea and tick control for cats and dogs. These steps include reviewing labels to determine which ones need stronger and clearer labeling statements, and developing more stringent testing and evaluation requirements for existing and new products. (For info on the current pre-market testing requirements for pesticide products to be used in dogs and cats, see EPA's Guideline No. 870.7200, "Companion Animal Safety.")
To date - None of these products have been recalled.
(Omitted for the benefit of your blood pressure: For the products that have been deemed unsafe, the time frame by which companies have to stop manufacturing and marketing are years in the future. Years!)
Act III. Hope begins in the valley?
So. What’s a pet parent to do? On the one hand, we know we need to protect our furbabies from horrid pests and the diseases they carry. But on the other hand, the armors with which we have available to defend our furbabies are questionable.
In our household, we have tried a few different products on Junipurr over the past four years. At the recommendation of our first vet, we started with Frontline, but Juni had an immediate negative reaction, including vomiting and skin irritation that eventually led to balding at the site of application. Our current vet recommends Bravecto, but its known potential side effects include neurological damage like ataxia (the loss of full control of bodily movements), seizures, and tremors, a risk we are personally uncomfortable with. We have been using Advantage II, which Juni tolerates well, but we are uncomfortably aware that this product protects against a narrower range of pests than other leading brands.
Last week I was standing at my local pet store facing down a shelf of flea and tick prevention again … and feeling just as ignorant and helpless as ever in protecting my furbaby.
After ruminating over a few pints of ice cream, I reconnected to my Cat Mom Superpower: Research!
Fundamentally, what we pet parents want to know is: Are any pest prevention products safe and effective? (And by safe, we mean safe safe, not “may cause neurological damage” safe.) If so, which one(s)?
Along the way, foundational information we may need to know include:
What exactly is in flea and tick preventative treatments?
Since different brands use different active ingredients to do the deed, what are the advantages and disadvantages of each active ingredient – or are they more or less equal?
How are pest control veterinary products tested for safety and efficacy?
Is there anything else besides or in conjunction with applying pest preventatives we should do to prevent pests from our furbabies and homes?
Here’s my research process:
Cull all clinical and veterinary research on the subject I could find. Analyzed 6 clinical research studies, 5 veterinary articles, 5 pet parent advisory news stories, 3 pest research group’s studies, and 3 veterinary advice podcast episodes on pest prevention, synthesizing all notes into a 9 page annotated bibliography
Created a table to map out all the major products by ingredients, known side effects, pest types it is effective against, and application frequency.
Did a deep dive on the active ingredients through a safety lens, then consulted my Biochemist dad (shoutout to Juni’s grandpa!) on the chemical composition of each active ingredient.
Wanna know what I discovered?
Not to be a tease, but it is time for intermission …
Sign up for the Junipurr Studio newsletter to be notified when Part II is unveiled!
Not only will you get the five-act Flea Terror Chronicles in full when it comes out, you will also get access to my complete research notes (9-pages of annotated bibliography) and the comparative table that breaks down the major product brands.
Or, just join us next time for:
A breakdown of the types of flea, tick, and parasitic worm prevention products (over-the-counter v. prescription-required: is one better? Sprays, shampoos, collars, topical application, and more – what’s the evidence of safety and efficacy?)
A review of the pertinent factors you and your vet need to consider to select the right product for your furbaby
A checklist of the do’s & don’ts of pest prevention for your cat
All right, friends! Go get some water or wine :)
Note: This content is for education and community discussion purposes only. Please consult your veterinarian with any questions or concerns about parenting your cat. Thank you for reading!
