Flea advice please - cat

[titchbec 10]

Hello

 

I have a cat and having a problem with fleas. I use frontline regular and looking through her fur I can see she has fleas. There's not loads only a few when I'm looking through her fur but that's not the point I don't want any!! She's a white cat so I can clearly see them. I bathed her yesterday and used a flea comb and found approx 7.

 

She also has a flea collar on. I don't want to keep using frontline as it doesn't seem to be working, what advise do people have? What products do people use that seem to work?

 

Thanks x

[medusa 16]

I'd advise changing from the agent in Frontline and getting Advocate or Stronghold and seeing if that gets to the little blighters.

 

It's also worth looking at how she's picking them up. Where does she sleep? Do you vacuum, wash, treat her bed when you eradicate the fleas on her? How about when she's outside?

 

Eradicating in your home may be necessary too. It's not a very pleasant thing to do mostly because the home sprays and treatments tend to still contain organophosphates, which are pretty unfriendly chemicals, but sometimes it's necessary.

[titchbec 10]

She doesn't have a bed, tried never used it. The only carpet in the house is on the stairs, she mainly sleeps on the leather sofa or on the dining room chair which is also leather. It's so frustrating and making me feel dirty and my poor cat! She does have an outdoor cat box which at night she sometimes sleeps in, I put towels etc in there to try and keep her warm. X

 

---------- Post added 09-02-2014 at 18:24 ----------

 

I also have a 6 month old and a little worried about doing the whole house x

Edited February 9, 2014 by titchbec
Spelling

[hagrid 10]

Try Vet UK they have some 99p offers for cat and dog flea treatment. It

is called Flevox.

 

Worth a punt at that price.

 

Best get the cat & house done as baby will not like being bitten by fleas.

 

 

Flevox Large Dog Flea Treatment

[medusa 16]

What is your flooring? How about down the seams in your leather suite? The joins in the flooring and the gaps between flooring and skirting board? They're all perfect spots for flea eggs to hang about until she comes past again for reinfecting her.

 

Does she go outside? Where does she hang around out there? A lot of cats tend to occupy little nooks which are shared between animals, not just cats but also hedgehogs and other animals, which is a really good way of sharing fleas around.

[titchbec 10]

Thanks for your advice. I never thought about all those little places. I best get looking into getting something to get rid!! X

[midgecat 10]

a lot of people i've talked to recently are saying that frontline doesn't seem to be working any more. like moonbird says - try one of the others like advantage or stronghold. the really cheap stuff isn't worth it - not only is it not effective it can also be harmful to the cats. i've heard awful stuff about bob martins recently. and flea collars can also be dangerous: http://www.thebugsquad.com/fleas/flea-collar-on-pets/

 

one site though does suggest that flea collars can be useful if you cut them up and put them inside the vaccuum cleaner - otherwise you can hoover them up but they live in the cleaner.

 

if you swap to another spot on i'd suggest you don't buy lots until you've tried it. one of my cats was allergic or sensitive (i'm not sure the correct word) to one of them - i think it was effipro and it burnt her skin where i'd put it on.

[BeckyLou 10]

A lot of people seem to think products aren't working properly - 99% of the time they're just not being used right. The instructions on the packet should be followed to the letter (i.e. application, bathing etc), and the house treated too as fleas live in the environment and generally only hop onto a host to feed. It will be more expensive but it's worth buying products from the vets, they're 'POM', so stronger than pet shop products, this goes for home treatment products too. For example Frontline is different to Frontline Combo - which contains an extra ingredient to steralise fleas after biting, so any eggs laid between then and when they die will be infertile. There's many other things available too, such as Comfortis which is in tablet form and kills fleas in upto 4 hours.

 

Also bear in mind it can take while to get rid of fleas from your house completely, as they can lie in a pupae state for many months.

[hodgepig66 10]

I don't know why but some people seem to think they only have to treat theis pet,be it cat or dog...

The house pet bedding etc also needs to be treated if not only half the job is been done and its a complete waste of time...

Hedgehog fleas are host specific so cats and dogs shouldn't get them...

It really is a vicious circle if not done properly...