Flea spray for home?

[cakedup]

Took my cat to the vets today, he has fleas! I'm very surprised as both of my cats are 100% indoor cats, no shoes are allowed in the house, I have no carpets, and rarely any visitors!

Anyway, aside from flea treatment, the vet suggested using flea spray around the home. The vet was charging £13 for a massive can so I decided to have a look online to see if I could find anything cheaper. The prices range quite a bit, Bob Martin seems to be cheapest but the vet told me not to bother with that brand as it just doesn't work (although she was specifically talking about the flea treatment).

Any recommendations? And is spraying my home essential as won't the cats now be protected with the flea treatment, so won't the fleas just die off?

[cozietoesie]

Stuff called Indorex. You can buy it online.

[SuburbanRhonda]

Or Acclaim. Anything but Bob Martins. Sorry, Bob

[Undertheboredwalk]

Definitely need indorex, £13 for big can from vet is about what we paid for it last time we needed some. It seems expensive but it works. Anything cheaper you'll end up spending more overall repeating treatments.

[cozietoesie]

Just lost a long post.

Have you wormed them as well, caked?

[cozietoesie]

PS - you did flea both cats didn't you?

[Lonecatwithkitten]

Indorexx or Acclaim are the only ones with an insect growth regulator as well as an adultcide.

[cakedup]

Thank you for your suggestions. Yes, I flead both cats! However, they haven't been wormed in a long while. I have been given the impression by some people that fleaing and worming treatments were not really necessary for indoor cats (which also coincided with my being skint, admittedly). I've always flead and wormed my previous cats who were outdoor cats.

Thing is, I am beginning to have serious doubts about the vet's diagnosis of fleas. I was at the PDSA vet hospital, and it's very busy there - the vets seem overworked.

The reason I bought my cat there is because there was blood in his urine which turned out to be due to cystitis. The vet was just about to usher him back into his basket when I pointed out the bit of dandruff on his back. She then noticed that on the scales, which he had just walked off of, there was some brown specks. She had a closer look and claimed it was flea poo (or eggs? can't remember which!).

I'm wondering if these fleas actually belonged to a previous animal, due to these reasons:

1. Unlikelihood of getting fleas as an indoor animal
   

1. Cats have not been grooming or scratching themselves any more than usual
   

1. I have never seen these brown flecks in my house yet there was a whole load of them on the scale counter where my cat had only been for less than a minute! He sleeps on my bed with white bedding all night long, I have very pale wooden floors, cream sofas etc. and never seen these brown flecks before!

[Undertheboredwalk]

I don't know if your cat definitely has fleas, but indoor cats definitely can and do get them and need flea and worm treatments just the same as other cats. This really needs to be done regularly for them all I'm afraid. If I were in your shoes I think I'd treat the house just to be on the safe side and for peace of mind.
Then keep up the monthly treatment so I could be sure it will never happen.

Bloody hate fleas in the house, itchy bitey little jumpy feckers

[cozietoesie]

My understanding is that the flea life cycle mean that they can live - in one of their various stages - longer than the protection lasts, caked. You might also have them come into the house via yourself, visitors etc at any point. Outdoor cats are more prone to fleas and worms, sure, but I'd still treat indoor cats for them myself. Maybe not as frequently as for an outside-going cat but I'd still be treating.

(I had an indoor cat who had a flea once - well it may have been more than one but I wan't hanging around to find out the precise number. )

A decent spray would hopefully cater for any strays that dropped from somewhere onto your surfaces and stop the cycle. And continue to hoover very assiduously as well.

[HeteronormativeHaybales]

Our 100% indoor cats, in our carpetless, shoes-off, rarely-visited house, had fleas. We think we brought them back from a visit to relatives with multiple cats, but one could just as easily have hopped onto one of our coats or trouser legs while out and about.

We flea-bombed the place and sprayed specific areas a few times with an Indorex-type spray thereafter. I was still getting the odd bite for a couple of months, but most went straight away. We treat the cats with Frontline or Advocate (known as Advantage here, but I think it's the same stuff) monthly.

Don't forget to air out properly after spraying and keep the cats and any dc out until you've aired.

[cakedup]

Right. Have ordered some Indorex even though I am still in denial that my cat has fleas. Even if he didn't have fleas he would have caught them from his visit to the vets with their weighing scales full of flea poo.

And I'll continue to flea them from now on. As HeteronormativeHaybales confirms, even our no shoeless, carpetless and visitorless homes are not safe.

As for worming - I used to buy worming tablets from the vet but can't remember what they were called. Are there any reliable worming tablets I can buy online obviously not Bob Martin ?

[cozietoesie]

I'm a bit of a bust on worming tablets, I'm afraid - my own boy being pill-phobic, I use the spot-on wormer, Profender, which I get from the vet. (That does for tapeworms as well - not all of them do. )