Dr. Amaya Espada covers summer cat care: managing heat and airflow, protecting white or pink-skinned cats from sun damage, and controlling fleas and ticks. She discusses raw feeding benefits, parasite detection methods like flea dirt and traps, and treatment options from spot-on products to natural remedies like diatomaceous earth and neem oil.
Chapters
This is for you, Julianne.
And that's it.
So that's all we're allowed because of copyright. And, you know, I get the musicians to do their little thing for me and play their little intro. I should really just move to AI and get them to redo it, shouldn't I? But anyway, but I can only play so much before we have to pay. Pay with blood. Welcome everyone. Look, summer is coming. Honest, honest. It's been so wet over here. Have you had glorious weather? Tell me, Amaya, in Mallorca, you're probably just going, oh, this is just bliss. Uh, what's it been like?
Last weekend was really sunny and I went to the furthest, uh, beach possible in Mallorca to avoid all the tourists, and, uh, it was beautiful. And then on today we have like this weird day, so it's kind of crazy. It's not like the summer hasn't arrived yet, So I'm thankful, right? Because I know I'm going to die. No, it's normal. It's okay, you can live.
Good morning, Joey. Uh, nice to see you guys over on the stateside. So welcome to everybody. Good morning on this wonderful Feline Friday. Um, if you are joining us, uh, we're so thankful. Um, as you know, uh, we've got some news as to what's happening with Feline Fridays, which I'm really excited about for next month. And we're also going to be talking the various conferences coming up because RFVS has got some special offers and tickets available. So the wonderful Presidente that we have with us right there, he's going to go through some of those, what's on, what's there. I hope there's a little bit about feline stuff sneaking in.
It is. We have, of course. I mean, I, I just said at least one or two topics is about felines. I— there's one title left that, that we don't have, but the other one, it's a very interesting topic. It's about behavior. If the cat hunts, you know, the hunting, um, behavior.
Yeah.
If that— if eating raw affects the behavior hunting outside, that study that it's been going on.
Oh, great.
So yeah, We're going to have a discussion on that. And there was another one, but we don't have the title yet. But so two feline topics. And, and then there are very interesting ones as well, such as nutrient-based psychiatry. I love the Matthew Muir's titles. They're, they're so intriguing. Like, what are you talking about? But we know it's going to be amazing. And then we have stress. How stress affects, uh, stress and nutrition. Uh, we're gonna have— there are some of them that are combined, so it's, uh, the same thing, uh, for felines that, you know, canines. And we're gonna have— we're gonna talk about fecal microbiome transfer and behavior. Uh, ultra-processed foods, how it affects— this one is for dogs particularly. Then how you— how would nutrition will affect the training of a dog as well. So yeah, there's a very, very interesting topics that you shouldn't miss, and it's gonna be in Wales and in the summer. Finally we do it in the summer, so come on.
Rural parts of Wales in the farthest reaches. It's gonna be actually wonderful because it's near Aberystwyth University, which is taking intake of veterinary students for Royal Veterinary College. So it's a great time for anybody out there, you know, on the start of their veterinary career joining us at the RFVS and understanding a bit better about proper nutrition for animals, as we would say, rather than pre-constituted processed foods that, you know, have consequences anyway. So how polite, how polite I am today because I don't have two Oh darling, riling me into some rant. Oh, so tell me, uh, Julie— Julianne's, um, obviously taken a break from Feline Fridays. You've got so much going on, your practice is developing. I think you're doing a course with Dr. Judy on her site.
Is that right? How's that going?
3? Go on, tell us the 3 courses you've got going with Dr. Judy.
They are recorded, prerecorded courses. We have one of kidney disease, which is the most popular. It is always kidney disease is going like very well. And then we have transition to a different food. But in this case, we're going to talk, I mean, it's not about the steps of transition. It's more about the behavior behind the transition and what the difficulties and challenges you may find and how to address them, understand your cat's personality and all those things. And then I have the other one that it's becoming a master of cats, which is, you know, if I need to give a pill, put it in the carrier, have difficult experiences, how to manage those difficult experiences and the tools that you have at hand. So don't miss them. Actually, the shortest one is the kidney disease. The other ones are very long because I have a lot of things to say about how to clip their nails, how to take ticks off, how to look for fleas, how to you know, pill your cat, how to look at their eyes, how to look at their ears, how to put drops in their eyes or ears, grooming them. Yeah, all of this.
I love this.
Very practical. I love—
I think there's so many people will find them so useful. So yeah, do, do get on there. It's straight on Dr. Judy's site.
Yeah, yeah. Dr. Judy Yu. I think I said it right. Joey will correct us.
I'm sure he's on it. He's probably going to send a link right now into the comments. And we'll have to just post it up there at the bottom here. So we're hoping— this is me hoping he's still listening.
Or otherwise you can find it on my website as well, the link to Judy's, just in case.
So, and we've got quite a lot to talk about, but before we go there, we've got a new addition coming along. Sounds like we're parents. We've got the wonderful Colleen joining us from The Little Carnivore. She's joining us next month. I'm gonna join in the chat. She's got her master's in feline nutrition, as I understand it, and so she already has clinics and does a lot of advice. And she's kindly said that she's gonna come along. She might even drag us on Instagram, whatever that is. I'll feign ignorance.
I just need to—
yeah. And yeah, no, it's gonna be great actually just to have some fresh blood and a new aspect of what we can talk about. With somebody. And, uh, but for now, we're so— yeah, join us next month. Um, uh, and yeah, we'll work out the date because I still can't remember what it was.
Yeah, no, me neither. It's usually the end of the month, but I think it was the 26th.
Was that Friday the 26th?
Probably.
I'm hoping to get dislodged from my site because I'm down at, um, a regenerative farming conference in Hertfordshire. So I'm going to have to decamp and drive north and pray that I'm home within 4 hours. Otherwise, I'm going to be pitched off to the side and you'll see me in a car going, hello everybody, and then disappearing and showing up and disappearing.
Oh, I can see that. That sounds fun.
Brendan on a road trip. So we're going to talk today about springing into summer, so really preparing our cats to get from, you know, their wonderful 'I'm in a lovely warm home' to actually experiencing a lot more fresh air and actually that day length that up in the northern hemisphere here really kills us. Just because of how it changes our cats. How have you been coping? You're slightly further south, so it's possibly less influential than it is for us.
When you say the light, the light is that the daylight.
So, you know, ultimately, yeah, you know, yeah, dawn and dusk now has become like 10 o'clock at night. Oh, 10 o'clock at night.
It's normal here.
Well, and then dawn is coming in at what, probably 4 AM thereabouts.
Wow.
So we're sort of getting into that realm shortly. It'll be only getting dark just before midnight and then getting light by 3 AM. And yeah, the cats are going nuts. Are you not already having your kitty cats jumping up and down on the bed?
No. Well, they are waking up earlier.
Right.
Like at 5 or so. And then, but the thing is that it's not about me. It's about my neighbors because my Maine Coon goes like, wah! Like, it's 5 AM, my darling.
Is that like having a cockerel?
That's why her second name is Joplin because she goes like Janis Joplin. And I said, shh, shh. And she goes, wah!
You make it sound like you're in a small apartment, but you're not. You're in a rural village.
No, it's the pub. Anyway, I would love to live in a rural village.
She's a rural village in her little castle on the hill.
My castle, yeah. I get a corner apartment. So I can't complain.
And do you have one of those Juliet balconies, you know, that you open the doors and you get the fresh air in?
No.
And your cats are on the bars like, wow, wow.
No, they get, they get very, uh, crystal— there's no balcony, but then you get like very, uh, wide windows. So I have the nets, uh, you can put in, and the nets are or how do you call this, that you put in. So when I put them, they go like, oh, like, oh, we cannot go outside. But I found, I found an interesting thing from last year that it's the airflow of this house because, yeah, during the winter, the living room is the best place you can, you can be at. But during the summer in the mornings you die there. It's like if you want to cook something, you can cook it, just put it in the living room.
Just spread it out in front of the window.
So now what I'm doing is opening the windows of one side during the morning and closing the lids on the curtains on the living room. And then in the night I switch that. I managed without using any air conditioning or anything, just simply to have the airflow. The cats enjoy a lot more the sun because this is not just a little bit of sun, it's very intense. So they don't choose to be there. Actually, they spend most of the time in the bathroom during the summer because the bathroom has a window and it's on the side of the of the airflow. So they're not stupid, they know what, what it's best for them. But I, I understood that, so now it's strategically done. So I open the windows and they stay one side. I'm, you know, they have beddings everywhere so they can, you know, they can stay. Things you learn.
I think that's a really, really useful lesson for everybody, is, you know, just be careful You know, if you're leaving the cats at home while you're going out, you know, it might be relatively overcast when you leave, but, you know, if you know that there's a hot day coming, just be thoughtful. Have you left the doors open internally so that the cats can move around, find their own spot, you know, to get away from any intense heat? Because some rooms will really heat up, you know, conservatories classically, those, you know, glass houses. Oh yeah, we stick on the side of the buildings. It can get super hot, you know, as hot as inside a car. And, you know, you don't want to be thinking, oh, I've left them, I've left them out in a nice tiled area, you know, it's almost like outside but not, they're protected from the rain, and then along comes the sunshine and before you know it you've got a little mini oven on the side of your house. If you haven't left access for them to get back in, get out of that heat, you know, that could be really dangerous. So, you know, make sure— and that's the same really for any room in the house. You know, as you just said, a lounge could get just as hot in certain environments. So be mindful, maybe have a little monitor of your internal temperatures in the individual rooms. There's lots of IT stuff that you can get these days to do those monitors of what's going on, not just cameras in the home. And, you know, just have a little look at making sure that they've got access, as you say, somewhere like a bathroom that, you know, there's maybe a sink of water or something like that. That really has, you know, somewhere that's cool in the house that they can escape to. Now, don't get me wrong, there are going to be cats out there that want to sit in the sunshine. Yeah, on their backs, roasting. Just rub a bit of cream here. But realistically, the majority will need the access to move around. That's a welfare thing. So please, yeah, just, just, you know, if you have that ability, give them that chance. It's a little bit like if they're outside, again, if you've not got a little bit of shadow, shade, yeah, give them some shade and, you know, a dust bath, you know, literally some earth that they can scrape to the side and it's cool underneath that superficial layer. That's some way that they can just shelter out of the heat.
And the same, the same I do with food because the food is, is not now in the living room. Now we have to find another feeding spot. So if your cat is picky and difficult to, you know, to change the place, you practice. What I do is always practice. Like, well, first of all, we have a full routine where I explain to them, yo, we're going to feed. Yay! And we make a full party out of it. So yes.
Yeah.
Every crazy cat lady with their cats. And I just move it around. I have my theory of 20 centimeters if your cat is very difficult. You just start moving things in, you know, just 20 centimeters every day. And they, you know, it's like, okay, there's not too much change. And I try to use the room next door so I don't have to go to a hallway because hallways are difficult sometimes for some cats. So, you know, just be mindful of that, especially if your feet roll. But otherwise, Everything normal.
Yeah, so I've been experimenting. So we had a relatively warm time last weekend, and, you know, I had a cat— we went away for a day, away with the dogs, and, you know, we were worried about, well, she usually would self-feed, she'd, you know, have a self-feeder and be able to cope with with raw, but it was going to be relatively warm. And so we tried this, these ones that you can put cool packs underneath so it keeps it almost refrigerated. And I topped it with ice so that the ice would then just melt. And yeah, sure enough, she was quite happy that that sort of protected that extra dish for evening food without any problems whatsoever. Don't forget, you know, they, you know, when they're raw fed and they're not on high-carb diets, the likelihood of things like fatty liver and stuff like that is much reduced. And fatty liver is where basically the carbohydrates are converted through an insulin pathway into excess fat deposition, triglycerides we call them, within the liver. And actually, if you then starve cats that have got that excessive levels of fats in the liver, that remobilization of the fat leads to inflammation and fragility of the liver structure and can cause all sorts of problems with their liver function. So that fatty liver disease, actually, it's another reason to not really look at high-processed, high-carb foods. But if you're feeding raw, they rarely would have a problem and they can cope quite often with self-limiting their foods and having a starve period without any consequences. And you can just make sure you've got bone broth or a liquid down for them to have, fulfill their thirst and they will cope quite happily. So lots of information there. Sorry if I've just—
No, no, but actually that's a good thing because during the summer sometimes people get worried that the fasting period becomes longer. And if they're being fed raw, you don't have a problem. I mean, even if my cat doesn't like that certain protein, I usually have 4 in the mix during the month. So there's, of course, there's their favorites that don't last a minute there. And there are others that they don't like too much. So if you leave them hungry and they are fasting for 12 hours, it's not a problem. And during the summer, this can happen. Normally. So don't, don't worry too much. And for me, it's best if you feed during as early as you can in the morning and as late at night, especially in places like Mallorca, which is like very hot. Well, not this year, but usually this year it's been good.
I love it.
It's good for you.
Good for you. Beach Madrid then, you know, because that must have been just hell for the summer months. I can't imagine.
No, that's awful. And, and the thing is that it here is humid. So you have more mosquitoes or, you know, flies and all of these vectorial diseases coming around. Uh, and then, but in Madrid is like, you're, it's dry. So it's, it's like you're dehydrating, like air-dried food in your skin.
Just thinking about it makes me thirsty.
Yeah, me too.
So, um, that's— so when we're talking, you know, that, that warm, dry, you know, the blue skies sort of hitting you, um, we've been discussing over the last few weeks on the canine side and, and the human side about, you know, sun damage to skin. You know, uh, the really important thing for cats, we know, especially white cats No, white cats. White cats. Yeah, get the right way.
Somewhere in my house. Oh, there she is.
The issues that can occur with chronic sunburn and what's going on with their nose, their ear tips particularly, that actually you can get a condition called squamous cell carcinoma occurring. Now, really interesting, there's lots talked about in the human field that it's more to do with the sun creams that we're putting on as to why we're getting certain tumors, um, more than it ever was about the sun levels. But we know that cats generally don't have sun cream put on, okay, in the majority of cases. Um, so what is your thoughts on protection? Do you use a sun cream at any point? Do you use any sort of covering, or or do you just provide them with shelter in the hot sun?
Well, for them, I don't use— there is one product actually developed here by a very natural lab, and yeah, it's pretty good for white cats. But in my case, I just bring them shelter because I do believe that they're not stupid. So if they don't have any shade to have you know, some, some cover, then of course you have no choice. But if you give them several points, let's say if they go outside, just make sure you have enough, you know, places where they can hide from the sun. And the other thing is that this is my hypothesis, but I've noticed that nutrition has something to do with this as well, because if they are prone to inflammation, I do believe that you have better chances You know, because this, this is something also that I experienced myself, like getting more tan since I've lived here, is that if you practice, if you have a really good practice with, you know, tanning, like going at normal hours or having some cover, even sometimes you get even tan just by being in the shade, right? So just exposing yourself outside and not just this is especially for indoor cats, they should have a little bit of access to the sun and every day. And this, it's kind of that the body gets used to. But if you're prone to inflammation, you probably will get more sensitive skin.
So this is really interesting because on the human side, there are peptides that we have circulating the body, so things like melanotan and Okay, so there's a melanotan 1, which actually, if you produce enough of it, helps you to start pigmenting your skin more readily. So you will get a much richer, deeper tan if you've got enough of this peptide, this very small protein being produced within your body. Now, you can get artificial supplements that, that give you that extra peptide. And it's one of the reasons why people like you tan so easily, and then people in the far north of Europe tend to tan less easily because of the relative levels that they get. And it's going to be the same, you know, our white cats are going to have less pigment within their skins, okay, regardless of what you do. They're going to be like Northern Europeans.
Yeah.
So if you then transport them into a really hot area of the country or continent, then of course they're going to be more at risk than, you know, some other darker colored cats that you've got down in your area. And so you've got to think about relative protection. And you're right, you know, if you want to know about some of the toxic chemicals that are put in normal sunscreens and what to avoid, there is a post that we've put on Raw Pet Medics which gives you insight into that and you know, that you can look at the back of the label and know what to avoid at the very least. So there is the possibility of applying, you know, kids' ones which are safe if they do consume them, you know, across the nose and on the ear tips. But I would absolutely say that if you've got a white cat or, you know, cat that's going to be predisposed to burning, then firstly give them plenty of shade. If they still are determined because they're a cold cat I was going to say a cool cat. Okay. And they really love to sunbathe regardless of what you do, then realistically you need to consider what do you do after as well as much. You know, if you catch them and they've got bright red ears on an evening, it's like watching that archetypal British tourist who's decided to go and lie on the sun and the beach all day, fall asleep You know, pretending to read a book. Okay. Stereo in.
So they're red and white with a book.
How fast to sleep with a book mate on you. Oops. So from a—
There is another thing about the skin because this happened to me a lot in Argentina. That it's not only white cats, but if their skin is white, it's white or pink or, you know, very light, then they are also prone. It doesn't matter if the fur, it's darker, but I've seen cats getting this— I can't pronounce this— squamous cell carcinoma. It's like, this is very Spanish word, whatever. Um, and, and I've seen several cases of that, and sometimes you, you think, oh, oh my, cat is darker, I don't care. Just look at, at the skin color, not the fur.
Okay, so, and certainly, yeah, if they've got pink noses but, you know, tortoiseshell coloring, you still got to protect that pink skin. Yeah, so it's worth, it's worth looking at that. And I would definitely say, look, So there are options, you know, aloe veras and things like that that will help with the skin, and coconut oil. All of those mixed together can be really healing, you know, considering things like cantharis and that side of things can be useful if they've taken too much sun. But try and avoid, you know, avoidance is far better than trying to then treat the after-effects. Um, wherever we can. So that sort of deals with our excess sun in summertime. Um, we've talked a little bit about diet and feeding things, so be aware, you know, dusk and dawn is going to be really contracted if you're away from the equator, um, and you need to be thinking about that. And welcome to all of those viewers who are in Australia right now on the back of summer thinking, well, we're coming into winter, what are you talking about? Yeah, we do apologize, you'll just have to pause this for 6 months and then rewatch it.
Exactly. Same goes for Argentina.
Do apologize.
This is kind of hemisphere-wise. Yeah.
So I think the other things that we probably want to talk about is exercise, going out, things that they might pick up. The creepy crawlies. You know, let's go into the creepy crawly world. You know, sorry if you're breakfast time over in America. Really sorry. We're going to talk creepy crawlies for a moment. And if you start itching behind the ear, okay, don't blame me. Do you know what? I reckon there's more cats watch this than actually owners. Understand us better. Um, so, uh, tell me, what's your favorite thing to advise owners about fleas? Give me the lowdown. As a product or as, uh, well, just a general advice, and then, yeah, no, general advice. Yeah, products come into that, but, you know, give us a rundown.
Well, first of all, if you have long hair like, like my cat, for example, it depends. I'm just kidding. All right, I'm jealous. Well, it depends because I don't like to using, you know, the general recommendation is to use every month a spot-on medication, and for me it is not completely necessary, but you have to be sure of where are you. I mean, because for example, when I was living in Madrid, I didn't need to use anything ever, all right, because the dryness, there is no, no fleas want to actually survive with that heat. But here you have that weather that it's changing, it's not the same during the midday you have very hot sun, but once that sun goes down, then you get all the mosquitoes, all the fleas, everything coming out. So, and then you find since it's more rural area, you get more fleas or different things. So my cat is a perfect place to be. She's a long hair, so they love to be in it. But for example, my other cat doesn't get any. So my recommendation is that don't just go with a protocol every month. I had to use a spot-on on my cat, on the long-haired one, but I was watching the other one and see what happened. So if I don't have an issue, a very big issue with that, because I live in an apartment, they're indoor cats, I tend to go with diatomaceous earth.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
And then if I need to, you know, make it a little bit stronger, I go with coconut oil on the areas that are humid, let's say. Like, okay, yeah, yeah, you know, because I don't like putting many things with smell on cats. I try to avoid everything as much as possible.
Interesting, interesting.
Because it's a stressful thing for them. I know there are natural spot-ons, but they smell awful. And I've seen my cat running away, like disappearing in the air, just because I opened a citronella or whatever kind of thing there. So if you have a hot issue, make sure first of all to keep your house clean and out of fleas because that smell, it's going to wash away once you open your windows. So it's easier for them. And then I try to use things when they are necessary and in, in the place. So let's say the— where, where the flea is gonna feel more comfortable, where in places that they are warmer, you know. So all these areas, I just use coconut oil, and I may use a drop of neem mixed with that, which neem, be careful with that, it's not the best, uh, I mean, it is the best for as a repellent, but not— I mean, higher doses for cats is not the best option, right? So just put one drop in all the coconut oil you're gonna use and it's gonna be enough. So don't go crazy with it. And then to support them, I use this diatomaceous earth with valerian root. So they just simply, you know, go on top of them, they roll over that.
They do it, they self-medicate.
Yeah, they self-medicate.
They're just going nuts for valerian. And I just, you know, and they're coming out with goggle eyes like, I'm high as a kite.
Oh, so those are my favorites.
So now all I can imagine is that you've created, you know, this wonderful slightly oily, um, to the coat, and then they've gone and coated themselves in diatomaceous earth, so they end up like a clay pack.
No, I don't use them both altogether.
That's a note that we need to say to all the viewers out there: please don't use the two together. It will create a very interesting conundrum of how to get it out of the coat.
No, no, no, no. Just— and, and the thing is, this is, um, this won't last long, but, uh, cats don't hate the smell of coconut. Usually they don't. Um, and you're not putting too much smell, you're not putting anything extra on there. And, and I don't go on top of their fur specifically because that, you know, it tends to become oily and then they would they will just rub it off, groom it off. And my favorite thing is, well, if you can keep it under control, I try to keep the environment under control a lot more and use them the least possible on them. And sometimes once a year, for now it's been since I've been in Mallorca, I have to use a spot-on medication that lasts one month.
Wow, okay, so look, I think I'm going to do a quick roundup of that and add in a few of my points to it. And that is that, look, everybody should realize 90% of the flea life cycle is off your cat, okay? That is going to be in the environment, it's going to be in your carpets, your soft furnishings, your bedding, your outdoor shed, your yard, whatever, okay? That's where the majority of flea larvae, eggs, you know, nymphs, all of that's going to be at that level before we even deal with adult fleas. So then you've got that small proportion of cats that won't ever have a flea problem because just as some people can sit out in the most midge-ridden or mosquito-ridden area and never get bitten, there's going to be some cats that just don't have the blood type that those animals are going to be attracted to. So, you know, you're going to be really lucky. So treat them as individuals.
Exactly.
And the thing is, test then treat. So I'd always say groom. And if you're wondering, oh, my cat hates grooming, the one area to look at is that little triangle over the tail base. So just from the tail forward over the pelvis comb through that area, okay? It's often the area that you see when they have fleas starts to lose hair because they're licking so much over that area. But if you groom through that base of the back, back to the tail, um, that's often where we see a lot of fleas, um, gathering if they're—
and also here, she, she always gets it here because as a Maine Coon she has a lot Yeah, this is the 5-star hotel. This is my luxury.
Do you backbrush her too? Does she? All this talk of hair is making me feel really uncomfortable, you know. It's just like, why can't you see my flowing locks? So from a point of view of, you know, these are areas, comb through, and this is a little test. If you see live things, okay, then put them into a little food bag, you know, the Ziploc bags that you're supposed to take through security with your fluids in, okay. Put the stuff in there because it can be really useful for your vet to determine what sort of fleas they are because I have actually had a number of patients coming in and the owners are racking their brains where they're getting these fleas from. And they're hedgehog fleas or they're rabbit fleas, they're not cat fleas, okay? They're not dog fleas. They are literally just coming from, you know, critters in the garden that are hopping on for a ride. They're not going to be living on your cat. They're very species-specific. Dogs and cat fleas will be interchangeable, but pretty much the other vermin, they don't sort of stay on for very long. Might bite once or twice but then jump off. So it's useful just to— and then even if you don't know what a flea looks like, if you take it into your vet and your vet says, oh, that's not a flea, then you know, you know, at least there's a bug what you're dealing with. Yeah, it's a weevil.
And also you can see that it's more, uh, small dots, uh, that not moving in, in the fur, which that also indicates that there has been.
Yeah. So then we want to say is, look, Flea eggs are not going to be on your pet. So many people think, oh, those little white bits, the dandruff, is flea eggs. No, okay? These are not nits, these are not lice, okay? That's when you can sometimes see those white bits that are stuck to the hairs. That is not flea eggs, that's lice, okay? Totally different insect. So fleas will produce feces from your pet's blood, okay? And they'll come out like little comma shapes when you brush through. If you don't see any live fleas but you see little flea dirt, we call it, okay? Yeah, but then you're thinking, my cat, my cat goes under the hedge, so I think it might just be dirt. Well, tap that out onto a white tissue, okay? You know, literally grab yourself a white tissue, okay, lay that down, okay, sprinkle on the hair that you've got off with a little bit of dirt, take some water, sprinkle the water, okay, onto that tissue, fold the tissue over and just leave it on the side, okay, while you continue grooming and then come back and if you see that on the tissue you've got leached out little red streaks like that You know when you used to do the ink blot and then sprinkle? Yeah, then you'll see the blood. So if it's red as it comes out, you know it's your pet's blood, not the flea's blood, your pet's blood, okay, that's been digested by the fleas, and you need to do something, okay?
Yeah.
If it just looks like a muddy brown color, it's from under the hedge, don't worry, okay?
Oh, that's a, that's an amazing trick.
Okay, so think about that's your test. If you want to know about flea dirt, just do that. Sprinkle it with water, let it leach out, see what happens. If it definitely is flea dirt, yes, you need to do one of the things. And I would say the next thing is environment. Check your home. So you can actually get flea traps. They are effectively flypaper, okay, that you can put inside almost like a matchbox on the bottom, cut the ends off, stick the matchbox underneath the couch or somewhere, you know, that's got a lot of shade, that's out of the way, and actually just see if it starts catching as you've vacuumed up, whether the fleas hatch out. You can actually get— some of them have a little red LED to attract the fleas. Towards them. I think it's red, might be blue, can't remember. And they basically, they sit there under the couch. You pull them out, and if you see these little dots, you know, attracted to that flypaper, don't blame me if you get some big critter like a cockroach stuck in the flypaper. That's not my fault, okay? Open the matchbox. Somebody from South Africa will be saying, I did that once and out came a scorpion. But from a point of view of it's a way that you can find, because that's where the flea larvae, and then they pupate and then they wait to hatch out, they come out into those sort of dark areas. So you can capture those in the environment and it's then treating the environment.
Okay, yeah, the environment is the most important. Yeah, otherwise you will never control it.
Yeah, and I would then say, absolutely agree with you, cats are super sensitive, uh, to the odors. We've said this a thousand times, I'm gonna say a thousand more. You know, you always test any aromatherapy oils for your pets by putting them on a handkerchief, sticking them into their favorite bed if they all of a sudden it's no longer their favorite bed, they won't go anywhere near it, do not put it on your cat. Okay, that is not fair. Not on, no way. Okay, doesn't matter how great the reviews are online, you know, test whether your cat will tolerate it first. There's nothing worse than giving them cystitis and all sorts of other stress-related disorders because you've decided that it smells nice and it should be fine. Whether it's lavender and rosemary, whether it's cedarwood, whether it's neem, whether it's witch hazel, whether it's— you know, there's so many out there. Rose geranium, you know, all of these can be great repellents for insects. But for some cats, they will only like one of all of the above, okay? And you need to find that one.
In my experience, usually it's neem. That's why, uh, because lavender, geranium, all those are very strong, uh, have very strong smell, scent. Or, uh, so it's— they usually don't pick them up. So it's like, okay, no.
Yeah, you have to do that and then dilute that drop into warm water, always whisk it with a comb, and then you can comb it through if they're coping it.
Okay, if your cat likes combing. Yeah, that's, that's an issue.
Mine loves it.
No, the one that doesn't— to the point that they go— no, she, she sees it and just runs away. No, she doesn't like it. She's a wild— she likes her hair wild. It's just like me. What can I say?
Wonderful.
So anyway, about fleas, there's another thing about fleas. If you have fleas, then you have to test for internal worms.
Of course, we forgot about tapeworms. So dipylidium, okay, which is a type of—
that is how it's pronounced.
So that's the other thing. Yeah, you just didn't want to say it, did you? So from a point of view of, you know, if you're sat on the sofa one day and your cat's doing the typical groom groom groom, and then all of a sudden they stop, uh, and you think that everything's fine, and then you look across and out, you're seeing this little white rice grain creeping across the sofa towards you like it's, you know, uh, it— that is a segment of the Diapolidium. So they will desegment and effectively they have a little bit of movement, and that allows then the egg packet, which is that segment, to fall down and dry out. And it'll look like little rice grains.
Yeah, it looks like rice.
Now what then happens is that's the, the halfway, um, part for the diploidium, because as that breaks apart the eggs are released, and alongside the flea dirt, the nymphs of the larval stages of the fleas will eat both that flea feces— that is effectively pre-digested food for the larvae— okay, alongside those eggs, and they'll become reinfected to infect the next cat that grooms them off. So yeah, so tapeworm, yeah, you do need to be looking fecal egg counts regularly through the summertime would be worthwhile just in case they're picking those up.
Yeah, yeah.
So if you haven't done fecal egg counts before, we'll do a little post as to where you can send them to. Your vet should be able to do them for you if, you know, if they're not blind and just carry on treating with wormers every month, which they shouldn't do these days. They should be able to do a worm egg count for you. There are companies online, if you just look up wormcount.com in the UK, VetLab, they also do it in the UK. There will be places around the world which will do— you just basically post off a bit of poo to them having purchased the test and they will run that test for you, can give you a result. And if you're getting over 20 eggs per gram, I would definitely say you need to think about doing something. That could be herbal, that could be a change in the environmental stuff that you're doing, change in diet and food. There's lots of options out there before you even start to reach for worming product.
Yeah.
Okay. So well reminded. Yes, absolutely, that's really important when it comes to fleas. What else do you have summertime? What other— do you suffer from ticks in Mallorca? Is that a thing over there?
Yeah, well, not too much in cats, but I've seen it. I've seen it on, for example, cat colonies because we have like those feral cats that, you know, we have in colonies, and I've seen it. And then there is, there is kind of an increase in numbers of diseases caused by ticks. So we have to assume, even though you don't see them, so suddenly you have a little bit of Babesia and Anaplasma, all those things.
And do you have 4DX as a test out there? Do you do the SNAP tests or anything?
Well, no, I actually, we We just take it to the lab.
Okay, so they do it.
Yeah, they do it.
Well, you need to take a sample.
Yeah, yeah, that's for sure.
So it's a blood test. So you can test, uh, we were talking to Karen Becker about this, um, now that she's working a little bit more up in Canada, and she was talking about testing for Lyme, but obviously it tests for all of the tick-borne diseases. And although We often think of that in dogs. Yeah, cats can pick this up just as much, as you were saying, and it's really important that we think, depending on your area, you know, talk to your local vet. But there is a slight change option, I believe. Zoetis have brought out a similar one to the IDEXX 4Dx test where they've actually exchanged the the heartworm test into— for Europe, they've actually put one of the other— so it's Anaplasma, Ehrlichia, Lyme, and heartworm is the 4DX test normally. But they've taken out the heartworm and put in Babesia as the 4DX for Europe as I understand it. So those tests are available. They are actually available to run as a lateral flow within practices or at home. So they are options, but you'll need to draw blood. So it's going to be in the practice. There's no way that you can do that yourself.
The thing is that the frequency you find it, so it's having those tests have to, you know, yeah, and that will depend on where you are.
Okay, and literally, so if you're in the mid-central massif of France, then there's far higher risk of some of those tick-borne diseases, okay, than if you're on a coast in Northumberland in the UK— really unlikely. Okay, so again, having that local veterinary knowledge of risk is there. Having somebody to research that risk is there. So it was interesting that in Canada, in Nova Scotia, they were finding up to 80% of dogs actually having exposure to Lyme disease. Now that's exposure, that's not necessarily coming down with illness, okay, but it's exposure nevertheless. So without looking, you're not necessarily going to see those levels. So It would literally be a situation to consider, is it appropriate for testing? Test in the spring. If they're negative, then when you retest in the autumn and they're positive, you know they're at an early enough stage of infection that you can give them immune support and treatment and they're less likely to come down with significant disease. They're still in an early stage of infection. If you miss it year on year and it becomes a chronic inflammatory process, then it's really hard to unravel. So it's worth thinking about that test. But there's always a cost to these things.
No, but when I get my— because I'm actually working on a project to have a practice here, so I will consider that in your routine health plan. Yes.
You know, holistic health plans test, test, don't just blindly treat. Okay, so that's the best thing for health plans that are out there at the moment. So wonderful. I think we've gone through loads there. I mean, we're piling on, you know, 15 minutes in and we should really— we usually get kicked off at some point because I think Dr. Judy has something planned for 9. So We'll be like, sorry. So we're going to give you an update. I think that's a great— hopefully you've got lots of information from today. If you've got any questions that you want answering by us on the feline side, please do post them here. I'll be checking through some of these. Thank you for everyone that shared. Thank you, Joey, for sharing the link to get to Dr. Amaya's course. Through Dr. Judy's site. Thank you for those that are sharing some of the essential flea products that are available over in the States. We've obviously got to mention Dr. Nick's wife's product, which is called Insect, okay, and DermaDog. So, you know, that's a great combination. I'd always say test it on some material first let your cat sniff it. Don't just put it straight on your, your—
and then for those Spanish speakers, Doris also has a course about herbal, you know, prevents, to prevent or to help out with, with any kind of parasites.
Great, great. So that's brilliant. So, uh, yeah, you share that.
I, I think, I think I have it somewhere. I'll I'll post it.
Yeah, just stick it in the comments under here and, uh, the guys will be able to see it. Brilliant. Uh, and, uh, look forward to seeing you next month. We'll maybe talk a little bit more, um, uh, about food next time rather than just all of the other health stuff, um, especially with Colleen on board. Um, we'll absolutely— I think I'm pretty sure it's the 26th 26th?
Yeah, probably.
Yeah, so I can— I guess we can look at it same time, same place, right here in your living room. Yeah, okay, or kitchen, or car, or wherever you're watching us right now.
Uh, okay, it has to be 28 because 26 is Wednesday.
Oh, right, okay, 28, probably. It was an even number.
Just make sure it's a Friday.
Yeah, of course. Well, it's Feline Fridays, you won't find it anywhere else. So, um, you know, remember, of course, you can share this with your friends, you can catch up anytime. These videos are free for you to watch, okay? And please share them as much as you can. That's really helpful to us to get the message out there to pet parents. So great to see you. See you again next month. Uh, thank you, Amaya.
Thank you.
Take care. Bye-bye.
