Anyone have experience with cat with Flea Dermatitis?

[RightsaidFreud]

Hi everyone,

Pretty much what the title says, does anyone have any experience of this flea dermatitis, or how to treat it?

Our fluffy girl is suffering terribly with it at the moment, she's been to the vet who diagnosed it as FD, and gave her an injection, which has lasted about 4 weeks. She was much much calmer after having it, much less scratchy and generally a lot happier, but its flared up again, so we're going to take her back to the vet.

It's an absolute nightmare with fleas at the moment, all 3 of our cats are being treated regularly with frontline combo (tried effipro and it did nothing) and treating the house/carpets,vacuuming regularly, but we seem to be losing the battle. The thing is, when we brush them, we hardly ever find a flea on them, just lots of flea dirt, so we know that they are about.
Any advice, or any way to make fluffy girl more comfortable whilst we continue tackling these darn things?

[WestEast]

My cat had this. The only thing I could do was keep him flea free. I used advantage 80 as frontline was less than useless.
If he's suffering with a flare up he needs to go back to the vets, my boy had a nasty do once and needed steroids and antibiotics.
Hope he feels better soon

[Lonecatwithkitten]

Firstly I would move to a more modern product Broadline, Advocate or Activyl would be my products of choice. Apply to all cats religiously every 4 weeks.
Next on same day as application of fle product hover entire house and spray with either Acclaim or Indorex. Wash all items that the cats sleep on at 40 degrees on the same day. Empty hover if it has a bag place flea collar in bag, or if it is bagless in future empty after every time you hover.
If the cat has any areas of redness and or oozing I would be advising antibiotics as well.
If this does not improve the situation the cat needs further investigation as this is not all about fleas.
Hope that helps.

[RightsaidFreud]

Thanks, I will look into buying Advocate/Activyl, do you have to buy these at the vets, or online? No redness or oozing, just very scabby, and she very scratchy. Will get her to the vets asap to see if she needs another injection.

[Strawdolly]

I don't know if it's FD my cat has but she certainly has an allergy to flea bites. She is now on Comfortis to keep the fleas away and also has had the inevitable yearly steroid injection. I'm going to put it in the calendar to take her for that before she flares up next year.

Even if you are successful in keeping the fleas away they can be susceptible to berry bugs, if they're in your area, and other allergens like pollen. I've been told it can get worse the older they get.

[MrsGWay]

One of my cats had it but since having the programme injections never has fleas so it's no longer a problem.

[MedusaIsHavingaBadHairday]

Program injections helped no end with Morph. One flea bite and his entire back would be a mass of itchy scabs within a day and he had to have steroids to calm his skin. Advantage flea stuff helped too, but he was a bit sensitive to that as well!

[RightsaidFreud]

I've not heard of program injections, is this something the vet would know about? Planning on taking her on thursday.