Getting so fed up with fleas and the cost of getting rid of the little f*ckers!

[Marne]

In the past few week i have spent a fortune on flea treatments, have treated the rugs (we have no carpet), beds, sofa and everything else i could spray, have tried several treatments on the cat and dog and then bought frontline (which cost me £30+), i must of spent getting on for £100 to try and get rid of them and they are still here (not as many but the odd one or 2), i can't afford to buy anything else , if i get the stuff from the vets it will cost a fortune, i'm sure there are more living on the furniture than the animals (have only found the odd one or 2 on the animals). Anyone else having the same problem??

[stinkyfluffycat]

Frontline had no effect on our fleas at all, but Stonghold got rid of the more or less straight away (that and hoovering like a woman possessed).
It does cost an absolute fortune but we seem to get away with only using it during the summer months and not in winter, and if you order from vetuk.co.uk it's about half the price of getting it at the vet's, although you will have to pay the vet to write you a prescription.

I feel your pain - last year before discovering Stronghold I spent about £100 on drops & sprays and then had to spend another £100 on a new hoover as our old one blew up (rather spectacularly) through overuse!

Oh, and put a flea collar in your hoover bag, so that any fleas you hoover up die.

[sprinkles77]

Love the idea of the flea collar in the hoover bag: I'm going to copy that!

there is another flea spot on treatment called advantage. during the summer I alternate the frontline (which is cheaper) with the advantage (needs a prescription) buy on line as prev poster suggested. de flea every 3-4 weeks. In the winter I just use the frontline probably every 6-8 weeks.

I used indorex spray all over the house once about a year ago. keep cat indoors at night so she spends less time chasing flea ridden rats. Last year I got bitten to shreds and there were fleas in the curtains. This year hardly anything. good luck!

[Marne]

Thank you, i have been using indorex around the house which has reduced them, will use the flea coller trick .

[DecapitatedLegoman]

Do you not think if you'd got proper prescription stuff from the vets in the first place instead of wasting money on OTC stuff, you might have spent less overall?

Frontline Combo breaks the life cycle. Invest now in proper treatments and keep up prevention and it will clear the problem permanently. Also make sure you use a proper tapeworm treatment like Milbemax or Drontal Plus as fleas can lead to tapeworm infection.

[GloriaVanderbilt]

Frontline and frontline combo have failed for our cat.

We had an awful problem till the other week when we got some advocate from the vets. It was not cheap but it worked straight away and any remaining fleas in the house are hopping onto her and being killed.

I didn't even need to spray the house. next time we run out I will get a script from the vet and buy it online. Once your pet is effectively treated your house should follow suit - spraying will help it immediately but I didn't bother and there's no need if you don't mind the odd flea here and there for a few weeks while they search out your pet

[DecapitatedLegoman]

Do make sure you keep up treatment for a few months - at this time of year you may think you've got a handle on the infestation but then when the central heating kicks in in the Autumn all the eggs in your soft furnishings will hatch and start the problem over again.

[GloriaVanderbilt]

just to add I haven't seen any fleas since we treated her, well a couple of dead ones, but she no longer leaves loads of eggs or dirt where she sleeps - they've all just vanished. it's brilliant.

I was trying to save money by using the cheap stuff but honestly it's a false economy. Advocate is about £24 for a 6 pack online and £40 from the vet, but it works...adds up to about £80 a year if just bought from the vet.

Fipronil spot on from petmeds was crap. Think it's the same ingredient as frontline? Not sure but they are flogging it really cheaply at the moment and that might be because it's useless.

[GloriaVanderbilt]

Decapitated - is it not necessary to treat every month? Unless your cat never goes out or meets any other cats or hedgehogs etc, then it will pick up fleas from somewhere again and you'll have the same problem. I intend to treat regularly from now on. It isn't worth it, getting complacent and stopping for a few months just proved to me how many fleas a single cat can acquire!

[DecapitatedLegoman]

Yes, fipronil is Frontline's active ingredient and there is a lot of resistance to it now (whether Merial will admit it or not is another question!). But Frontline Combo has an ingredient which arrests the eggs' development so if you use it all the time it should provide good preventative cover.

[DecapitatedLegoman]

Yes, every month is ideal, but it seems the OP's keen to economise!

[m0nkeynuts]

I had a terrible flea infestation with my cat a few years back and the only thing that worked was Capstar tablets (have linked to a US site, but they are available in UK - just google). Instant relief - within about 10 mins, dead fleas were literally just dropping off her as she walked along!

[GloriaVanderbilt]

Thanks Decap

I also have been using program which I believe is meant to stop the eggs being viable but even with that and the fipronil/frontline the problem was getting insane...I combed her the day before getting the advocate and got about 20 fleas off her. She was in a state - licking and scratching all the time, really upset and spiky. (!) Poor old girl.

The day after, I got three fleas off her. Now there are none. It's working so well, it's such a relief.

V cross with merial for selling something they know isn't working.

[DecapitatedLegoman]

Oh it does work, sometimes. But some populations do appear to be developing resistance.

[Ephiny]

We use Advocate, about once a month, and have never seen a flea on our boy - not sure if we're just lucky, but it seems to be working! I think it's worth getting the prescription ones from the vet, I don't think most of the supermarket/pet shop ones are much good.