RE: OT cat-safe roach control

[Chris]

Ditto to everything Jenn said…  I live in an apt in NY and no matter how clean or secure you keep your apt, you never know about neighbor’s, etc.  When you caulk, make sure you go where water pipes come in under sinks in kitchen & bath.  Oftentimes, there is a large gap between pipe & the wall.  Also, do not use contact paper on shelves as glue attracks them.. I don’t use any shelf liner in any cabinet so I can clean periodically.  I use ‘Roach Motel’ which are litte disks that I put all the way in back of cabinets, (particulary the ones I don’t open that often), under the sink, etc.  They’ve been pretty good and I can place them so cats can’t get to them & they don’t give off toxic fumes.  Biggest problem for me is night feeding of cats.  Basically, I try not to leave any food out at night but I go to bed late & they still  have their little night snack.   Chris [EMAIL PROTECTED] -----Original Message----- From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of [EMAIL PROTECTED] Sent: Monday, May 23, 2005 1:17 PM To: felvtalk@felineleukemia.org Subject: Re: OT cat-safe roach control   Ahh, yeah, I used to live in Arkansas, and had roaches in a house I rented. What I found HELPED the most was:   1. LOTS of scrubbing with strong bleach solution. Make it spotless. Make it a weekly thing. Empty all cabinets and pantries and scrub the insides, bottoms, sides, and under the shelves every week. 2. CAULK. Caulk everything. Get like 30 tubes of white silicone caulk, and caulk EVERY crack in your house. Crawl under the cabinets and caulk every seam INSIDE them, caulk the countertop where it meets the wall, caulk under the electrical covers and wall switch covers, caulk the baseboards to the walls, caulk EVERYTHING where it butts up to ANYTHING else. Those are the hiding spots they live in during the daytime. 3. Store everything in airtight plastic containers, preferably as much as possible in the freezer. Freeze your flour, sugar, bread, etc, everything that can be frozen. Store everything else in Tupperware or a similar storage container. 4. Don't keep an inside trash can. If you make trash, use one of the small plastic grocery bags as you make it (such as during meal prep time, then take the bag out to the outside trash as soon as you are done. Store the outside trash cans well away from your building if possible. (this of course, can't be done in an multi-family dwelling) 5. Sticky traps work well and are not poisonous. Place them where cats don't walk or rub up against. 6. Never leave food, crumbs, or anything edible anywhere. Vacuum everything daily, the cracks in the couch, everywhere crumbs might hide. It's a good idea to make the entire house except the kitchen a "non eating area", that way you do not get crumbs in the couch or bed. Vacuum the table after eating, then wash it with bleach. If you can, buy a bagless vacuum, and empty it in the outside trash after every use, then rinse it with bleach solution and dry before putting the dirt bin back on the vacuum. Don't leave used bags on the vacuum, that is a food source the roaches can smell.   What you are trying to do is make your NEIGHBOR's place a much better place for roaches to live than your place. If they can find an easy food source somewhere else, they will be less likely to hang out at your place.   Now, on to the Boric Acid (Borax)...   Cornell Vet on boric acid poisoning in cats: Borate, or boric acid is used as a homemade insecticide. It has a low oral toxicity. Signs: Vomiting, diarrhea, anorexia, CNS depression, muscle weakness, ataxia, and possible seizures. Treatment: The problem with this poisoning is that activated charcoal does not absorb it, the only way to get it out of the system is through dialysis. (taken from: http://www.ansci.cornell.edu/plants/toxcat/toxcat.html#pest ) Another online source on boric acid poisoning in cats: Sources    Borates and boric acid are contained in many products including roach killers, flea products, fertilizers, herbicides, antiseptics, disinfectants, and contact lens solutions. Sodium perborate is found in mouthwashes and denture cleansers. Other boron-containing compounds include sodium borate, sodium biborate, sodium pyroborate, sodium tetraborate, boric anhydride, boron oxide, boron trioxide, boric oxide, boron sesquioxide, borax, sodium metaborate, and magnesium perborate. Mechanism of action    The lethal oral dose for boric acid for small mammals is 0.20 to 0.50 g/kg of body weight. Emesis usually occurs only after substantial amounts of borate have been ingested. Borates are readily absorbed from the GI tract. They are absorbed through abraded skin, but do not easily penetrate intact skin. Borates are excreted in the urine, with 40% to 60% of the dose excreted within 12 to 24 hours. Blood concentrations of borate above 50 mcg/mL are diagnostic for borate poisoning. The exact mechanism of action is not understood. Borates are generally cytotoxic to all cells. Because borates are concentrated by the kidney and excreted in the urine, the kidneys are often damaged more than other systems. The brain and liver are also known to be damaged by borates. Clinical signs   Signs include ptyalism, diarrhea, abdominal pain, rebound cranial abdominal tenderness, ataxia, hyperesthesia, tremors, muscle weakness, metabolic acidosis, seizures, coma, and death. Mild hyperthermia, shock, disseminated intravascular coagulation, and Cheyne-Stokes respiration occur. Treatment  Emesis or gastric lavage should be induced if ingestion occurred within 2 hours. Although borates are poorly adsorbed by activated charcoal, it is commonly recommended (in addition to adminstration of a cathartic). To be effective in removing borates from a patient, activated charcoal would have to be administered in dosages 5 to 10 times normal recommendations. This clinically impractical. The use of activated charcoal in patients known to have ingested borates is therefore not recommended. Persistent vomiting and seizures are controlled as needed. Hemodialysis is known to be effective in humans and should be considered in pets. Signs Salivation Diarrhea, possibly bloody Abdominal pain Rebound cranial abdominal tenderness Ataxia Hyperesthesia Tremors Muscle weakness Seizures Coma Mild hyperthermia Shock Disseminated intravascular coagulation Cheyne-Stokes respiration Death EMERGENCY TREATMENT Procedures 1.   Secure the airway and ventilate as necessary. 2.   Administer supplemental oxygen. 3.   Secure venous access. Collect blood and urine for laboratory testing. 4.   Control seizures. 5.   Treat hyperthermia if present. 6.   Administer crystalloids fluids to maintain perfusion and blood pressure. Decontaminate GI EXPOSURE (INGESTION) Induce emesis if recent ingestion and if signs are not present. Gastric lavage if signs are present after ingestion (p. 52). Administcr saline cathartic unless diarrhea already present. DERMAL EXPOSURE 1.  Wash thoroughly with warm, soapy water. Wear rubber gloves when bathing the patient; avoid chilling the patient. 2.  Administer antidotes and other supportive care 3.  Induce a brisk diuresis Administer fluids at 2 or 3 times maintenance dose. Monitor for signs of overhydration. 4.  Administer furosemide if the patient has normal renal function and is adequately hydrated. Enhancement of elimination Hemodialysis is effective. Peritoneal dialysis. Exchange transfusions. (taken from: http://maxshouse.com/Poisons.html#B ) I would either return the powdered poison, or throw it in the trash. Not worth the risk. If you have to poison your dwelling, rent a motel room for a week, bomb the house with aerosol bombs (use double the recommended amount per square foot), let it air out for 2 days, bring in heavy cleaning supplies and scrub everything to rid the residual poison (probably 2 days heavy cleaning job, all laundry, curtains, all surfaces, carpet cleaning, etc need to be cleaned of poison before bringing cats back in), then move back in after a week's time. In your case, I think the preventive measures I listed at the top of this email should suffice though. Jenn   ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ I collect KMR kitten formula labels for Bazil, a 3 yr old special needs cat who must live on a liquid diet for the rest of his life. Bazil's caretaker collects labels and sends them to KMR, where they add up until she earns a free can of formula! PLEASE save your KMR kitten formula labels for Bazil!   If you use KMR, even just one can, please ask me for the mailing address you can send them to, to help feed Bazil!