Vet warns cat owners to take care

Vet Ron McKay fights a losing battle to save the life of a kitten that had been given a tick treatment only suitable for dogs.

Alistair Brightman

THE OWNERS of Paris, an adorable blue-eyed kitten, watched helplessly this week as their innocent mistake cost the kitten her life.

Concerned about a reported regional tick infestation they had given the kitten a flea and tick treatment.

Unfortunately they gave the tiny 12-week-old ragdoll-cross a treatment meant for a dog.

Local Vet Ron McKay said they had not been the only cat owners making the same fatal mistake.

“The wet weather is bringing out the ticks and fleas in droves and pet owners are not reading the dose packages carefully enough,” Dr McKay said.

“People are also not seeking advice and just grabbing the packets, usually off the supermarket shelves. Give a kitten or a cat a dose of preventative meant for a dog and it will fall very, very ill and even die.

“We had Paris in here in intensive care for two nights and a day but we couldn't save her.

“She was such a little thing, a lovely animal, but the dose she was accidentally given was for an adult dog.”

Paris' owners, who didn't want to be identified, were distraught, blaming themselves for what Dr McKay said was “absolutely not their fault”.

Hervey Bay's Deborah Day yesterday also warned of the dangers of giving cats the toxic preventative made up for dogs.

Fighting tears, she said she had recently lost Phoebe, her 11-year-old ragdoll-cat after mistakenly taking a tick and flea dose capsule meant for her dog Hugo and instead dosing her much-loved cat.

“I also dosed Rudi, our 11-year-old male ragdoll, but he survived because he is bigger than Phoebe was.

“I am writing to the manufacturers of these preventatives today to plead with them to differentiate between cats and dogs in their packaging.

“I actually bought dose packets for Hugo and for our cats but I transferred the cat dose into the opened dog dose packet.

“I was really busy when I decided to dose Phoebe and Rudi and just took the two capsules that first fell out of the packet.” Dr McKay said the dog tick preventative was “very nasty stuff”.

“The active ingredient is permethrin, a synthetic chemical, and it can kill a cat and especially a kitten.”

In 2008 a Sydney University survey uncovered more than 500 cases of tick and flea dose poisoning from which 130 animals died.