It depends on what you are using it for, the age and weight of the cat. Like many drugs, when you use it on a cat it is used "off label" or for a purpose other than what the drug was originally desiged for. The Ivermectin or Normectin or other brands are used to kill worms in cattle. If I remember correctly the drug is found naturally in the enviorment in another country and they found through trial and error that it kills parasites by neurological dissorder. The same can happen to an animal that is given an overdose. If you plan to give it to a cat or dog you need to use the injectable type 1% type. It will absorb through the skin somewhat but not as well as giving it subque or just under the skin with an injection. Our vet gave us the .1 ml or cc dosage for our cats to kill and protect the rescue cats from ear mites, hook worms, and round worms. I do not think that it works nearly as well for fleas as Advantage or some of the other specific flea type treatments. It does work for mange as we had a cat diagnosed with mange and we were given the prescription from a cat specialist vet .1ml per week for 5 weeks. The dosage for heartworms is much much less than the dosage for ear mites and worms. We never dose kittens or young juvenile cats with Ivermectin. We dose with 1% undiluted injected anywhere subque, with .1 ml for adult cats, then repeat in exactly 15 days the same dosage. You can use the ivermectin topically in the ears which is the most absorbable place on a cat. It will kill the ear mites but may not absorb well enough for to take care of parasites such as roundworms or hookworms. If you use it topically the dosage can be around .2ml per ear.(i have used it at this dosage in the ears on adult cats without any adverse side effects) I don't like the idea of injecting this under the skin of a cat and if I had something that was more natural that "I" have found that would work I would use it. But for now this works and having ear mites may seem like a small thing but cats will self mutilate themselves scratching and can get hematomas of the ear and they will never look the same after one. Hook worms and round worms are bad stuff so IMHO it is far better to treat with what works than take a chance on what could happen to a cat. All that being said there are products that work such as revolution, but it also has a ivermectin typ product in it.

Congrats on finding more cats! Very exciting! I have 9 BST chrysalises in the aquarium tank and 9 cats in a container. I was convinced that these 18 would all be over-wintering because it is getting late here, but there is a chrysalis darkening today that is going to eclose tomorrow. From what I understand, even an earlier season chrysalis can decide to over-winter. It is likely that at least one or more of your cats will over-winter. It took me a couple years, but I figured out a way to do so successfully by putting them in a mesh sleeve that is hung on the side of the house.

agmss, I'm not going to complain about snow either, we've actually been very lucky in that regard. However, right now it's -7 and going down, they figure we'll have a record breaking cold night tonight and a high of 0 tomorrow, with wind. Elery and I were watering the stock today and he actually had an icicle on his nose, made Bud and Makayla laugh like crazy. I always put the feet into chicken stock, but I cook all the goodness out of them and then discard them, as I dislike the texture. I've been known to eat tongue, but I usually save all of mine for Peppi and her Dad, or grind them into the sausage, it's not my favorite. Annei

"one thing i really miss is the availability of a *comment* or *reply* box below each response, not a *catch all* one at the bottom ..." Not sure I understand completely what you are asking but since its inception GW has always used the current individual thread format. In thread format the comment box is always at the bottom of the discussion. We never had the ability to reply to each individual post. Most early participants voted against that format when Spike first created GW because it is difficult to follow, makes threads overly long and slow to load, and easily hijacked of topic. " how does this one box address the issues about which i asked???"" All the posted replies to your original question are directed specifically at the issue you asked. You need not reply to each individual but can if you wish just by including their name all within the same post. Perhaps you are thinking of another forum though forums using that old format are few and far between any more. Dave