Mamba Joe, manning up before his wrestling match with Tuxedo a few years ago
October 24, 2019 Update to Original Post:
Correction to July 7 update: I have not used flea meds on my cats since the summer of 2011, eight years ago. Instead, I have used colloidal silver in their water.
My cats are still flea-free.
Tuxedo has gone on now. Papa Joe and his son Mamba Joe weathered the loss of our friend well and have been enjoying the garden about once a day for a couple of hours, before coming inside to be safe from weather and any wildlife that may somehow get into our fenced and secure yard.
And now we three have a new delight, a June 2019 tabby kitten we call Rain. She’s feisty, intelligent, and about as pesky to the elder gentlemen as a baby sister of the human variety would be with older brothers. She, too, drinks water with colloidal silver.
Rain at about 3 1/2 months
I’m currently putting a dropperful (from the 2 oz. bottle)–the dropper only fills halfway–into a large soup bowl of water.
Many of my followers have written with questions about how to gauge amounts for other animals. I don’t know, really. I would go by body weight. Here’s a quote from my full article, below:
The directions on the label say that adults can take a teaspoon five times a day for long-term immune support.
Regardless, I like hearing from you about your animals and your hopes that colloidal silver will help them. See my original post below.
July 7, 2013 update to the original blog post:
Here it is nearly 18 months since I first started using colloidal silver in my cats’ water and we are still flea-free! This is the second summer we’ve had no flea problem. Initially I think I began putting colloidal silver drops in my cat’s water in March of 2012. It might have taken a month or so to take effect, but I have no way of knowing. I simply did not put Revolution on my kitties that spring or summer, and that first summer we didn’t have fleas. We still don’t!
I have standardized the dose to 5 drops in fresh water every morning. All three cats drink it. Mamba Joe hasn’t had an outbreak of dermatitis. Nobody has been to the vet since 2011 except for Tuxie’s checkup last September.
He continues in good health. His favorite exercise, if he’s not wrestling with the other cats, is racing from the back yard, across the patio, through the kitchen and dining room, and down the hall, putting on the brakes, nails scratching the hardwood for traction, and butting up against a table at the end of the hall; then whirling around and running pell-mell into the back yard again.
I used Revolution for years, hating it the whole time. Now I use nothing but the colloidal silver. If you decide to give it a try, I would appreciate hearing from you after a few months of use. Thanks for posting to my blog.
Here’s the original blog post from July 10, 2012:
In my household, colloidal silver has replaced flea meds.
There’re a couple of good reasons why. To begin with, I really dislike putting harsh, toxic chemicals on my pets, myself, or my plants. Secondly, one of my cats gets a mange-like reaction to fleas–flea allergy dermatitis (read more at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flea_allergy_dermatitis). Mamba Joe’s skin gets itchy, he jumps around like he has the Saint Vitas Dance, he bites and scratches, and then his hair disappears. Most people know fleas are downright dangerous to a cat’s health. So until this spring, I was forced to use prescription flea-prevention “medicine” on my three fur-balls–very, very reluctantly.
No more.
At my local health-food store, I fell upon a remedy this year that amazes me: I put 5-6 drops of colloidal silver in a large soup bowl of water daily. Initially I added the drops thinking to boost the immune system of my nearly-14-year-old male, Tuxedo, because he was recovering from a grave onset of Feline Immunodeficiency Virus (feline AIDS, which is not “catching” to humans) from a cat bite. Read more at Cornell U’s website: http://www.vet.cornell.edu/fhc/brochures/fiv.html
Digression here! Yep, Tuxie escaped one night and tangled with an HIV-carrier with teeth and claws; one of Mr. T’s feet was bitten clear through. That bite gave him HIV, the cat version.
Tuxie in March 2012
At the onset of the disease, the cat gets very, very ill and sometimes doesn’t make it. After some very expensive treatments to see if the Feline IV could be killed, we re-tested and found him to still carry the virus in his blood. So homecare was the next option. After six weeks of babying Tuxedo, giving him daily sub-cutaneous fluids, feeding him every two hours, etc., he gradually felt a little better and put on some weight.
Immediately I began to look for immune-builders. A child of the sixties, I’d heard something about the restorative properties of colloidal silver, which I found at my local health-food store and began to administer.
The directions on the label say that Adults can take a teaspoon five times a day for long-term immune support. So I guessed that 5 or 6 drops in the water would work for kitties. They’ve been on it for about four months, and…
No fleas! No allergies!
I’m thrilled to report I have not used any flea control meds since the summer of 2011.
The brand I’m using is Sovereign Silver Bio-Active Silver Hydrosol 10ppm (It’s 50mcg of silver in pharmaceutical grade purified water). It’s manufactured by Natural Immunogenics Corp., Pompano Beach, FL 33069 USA. 1-888-328-8840. http://www.n-icorp.com. It’s usually available at your local naturopathic retailer.
Papa Joe – a nap aces a wrestling match when the mercury is at 88
P.S: A piece of advice:
If you “think” your pet is not feeling well, you’re right. A quick visit to the vet can give you a diagnosis. That could lead to tremendous relief for the pet who can’t talk to tell you how lousy they’re feeling. The visit will also let you sleep at night knowing you did what you could to ease their suffering.
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P.S: A second piece of advice:
Most of the websites on pet health are put up by drug companies. Most of the remedies for flea problems are toxic-drug oriented. Do some searching. You will find veterinarians who practice traditional as well as holistic medicine. You will find natural remedies for common ailments. They are hiding but they are there. Seek them.
Resources & A Little More Advice
Go here to read an EPA labeling warning about flea meds:
http://www.environmentalhealthnews.org/ehs/news/pet-pesticides
Go here to read about the health problems and risks to animals from flea bites: http://www.drsfostersmith.com/Articles/flea_faq.cfm#answer_4
Totally off-topic but important: Do NOT give chocolate to your pets. It’s toxic: http://vetmedicine.about.com/od/toxicology/f/FAQ_choctox.htm
My two favorite vets in the Orange County, California, area are
1. The Cat Care Clinic in Tustin, CA. Dr Wexler is multi-published in cat-care books and has an excellent philosophic ethic about pet ownership and care. Mamba Joe and his dad, Papa Joe, were my foster fur-balls a few years ago, and The Cat Care Clinic, who really helps out the SPCA rescue efforts, cared for them initially. Their ability to humanely control and work on a wild feline is nothing short of miraculous. Their website: http://www.catcare.com/?gclid=CLLsstfJjbECFVJntgod9VawJg
2. Newport-Harbor Animal Hospital, an acclaimed teaching hospital, is located in Costa Mesa, CA. For serious-illness care as well as maintenance visits, Dr. Millian has been amazing over the years with my kitties. Dr. Carpenter is a dog man, but he stood outside on the porch with his arm around me as I said good bye to Tiger Kitty some 25 years ago, so he typifies the sensitivity of this vet practice. Like them, the other vets are excellent and the staff is caring and kind. You can find a $15 off coupon on their website: http://www.newportharborvets.com/
Vets who provide alternative medical care that caught my eye include:
A vet in Texas, who is multi-published, uses holistic medical practices, and is accessible by phone-appointment as well as online, is Dr. Shawn Messionnier of the Paws & Claws Veterinary Hospital: http://www.petcarenaturally.com/dr_shawn.php . I subscribe to a yahoo group that he contributes to: naturalpetcare@yahoogroups.com
I like the look of Dr. Ballard’s alternative-medicine vet’s website, too: http://www.alternativeveterinaryhospital.com/our_staff.htm
Spending a little time online or asking friends, you can find an holistic vet practice in your area.
Louella Nelson 