When I picked Lucy up from the vet on Thursday, they told me that they’d found fleas and had to give her a dose of Advantage before her surgery. This bums me out for three reasons - 1) I hate fleas, 2) I use Frontline and I was barely due for her next application and it seems a little harsh that she ALREADY has fleas and 3) (the reason that has the most relevance to this story) it means I’d have to get some kind of flea stuff for Slinky too. I asked the tech if the application of Advantage was the same for cats as it was for dogs (i.e. between the shoulder blades) and she confirmed it was. Great, I’ll take a single dose. I get home, get Lucy’s dopey, medicated self squared away and turn my attention to the cat. Easy breazy, right between the shoulder blades, he’s purring on my lap none the wiser. I start watchin’ tv, notice Slinky eats some food, goes for the water dish and then I hear a noise - it’s like a cough and a hiss - what the hell is that? Holy crap, Slinky’s in the corner foaming at the mouth. He glares at me, shakes his head and slings spit across the floor. After I catch him, I realize he’s not in convulsions or anything, just salivating like mad. The vet’s office is already closed, so I google Advantage (on a side note, you’d think it would be easier to find application FAQs for a brand as well known as that, but even just now while looking for the link for this post, FIVE different Google searches. Anyway.). It turns out that the application for cats IS a little different than dogs, so while I hadn’t killed my cat, I had severely pissed him off.

“Do not get this product in your pet’s eyes or mouth. The product is bitter tasting and salivation may occur for a short time if the cat licks the product immediately after treatment. Treatment at the base of the skull will minimize the opportunity for the cat to lick the product.”

AWESOME. Not only did the vet tech not say anything about the base of the skull application, but the one-sheeter they throw in w/ the single dose didn’t mention it either. Slinky tried at least one other time to lick that stuff off a few hours later w/ the same results. Poor bugger. In hindsight… it does make me wonder if the water incident on Saturday was less ‘accident’ and more ‘payback.’