Itchy cat! Fleas? Please help!!

[DressAndGo]

What can I do! I'm going to spray the house again tomorrow. The poor thing has scabs round her tail and scabs round her back legs.

There's no sign of any flea dirt. I've been reading up about the flea cycle, but can anyone please help? How did you get rid of them??? I think she gets bitten outside as well - she was much better in the cold, but now it's warmer, she's got worse again.

What do I do now (we've done all the usual - spot on, flea spray round the house)

[Emma198]

She might have an allergy - steroid injection at the vets will help and then keeping up regular de-fleaing and spraying the house to try and keep on top of it.

Mine has flea allergy and dust mite allergy. Nightmare!

[DressAndGo]

She's had a steroid injection and tha really helped, but as I wears off, it all comes back.

The vet thinks it's definitely fleas due to the pattern of the scanning. I keep hoovering.

How much do I need to spray INTO all cupboards and under beds etc?

[Emma198]

I've never bothered with inside of cupboards etc but sounds like you might have a real problem. When my nanna passed away my mum had to take the cat, get her that treatment at vet where they dip them, and got someone to flea bomb the house. My boy has steroid tablets now, I also took him for allergy testing and he's got artuvetrin which I inject him with at home, it's a specific vaccine for him. Fish oils work too, and I use something called allerderm. He had his allergies when I got him so it's not covered in insurance - he costs me a bloody fortune!

[viccat]

Are you spraying with Indorex? Most of the other sprays are pretty much useless...

[viccat]

(Just to be absolutely clear, I mean spray Indorex in the house, never spray the cat of course, it's very toxic!)

[lljkk]

Which spot on are you using? Fipronil stopped working for us about 6 months ago, suddenly, very annoying. I have to get the prescription ones, now. Get vet to write you a 1 yr prescription & buy online to get good price.

[lljkk]

OH AND, you need the right dose for your size of cat. Most OTC spot-ons are for cats < 4kg; many cats are larger than that.

[DressAndGo]

I've checked the spot on and it's definitely right for her size. I've just spoken to the vet and he recommends reapplying a little early so that there's no chance of a gap. I've sprayed the whole house with Indorex (last time I did it was August (I checked my Amazon account), so to be fair it was probably due even though it says 12 months cover). That could explain why it's suddenly started to get worse again.

Fingers crossed this works. Is there anything else I should do? I read about vacuuming every day to get eggs to hatch. How long should I do that for?

[lljkk]

After spraying, You need to leave the Indorex to settle in for 3-4 days (advice I had from a pest-control guy). Don't just vacuum it all up right away. Is your spot on fipronil?

[DressAndGo]

Oops. I left it down for a couple of hours, then vacuumed. I suppose I could repeat in a week or so? How do you leave it down, though? Won't the cat get it on to her paws?

[DressAndGo]

Thank you for your advice! I'm a bit clueless. I think the spot on is Advocate (the one with the wormer in as well). He said I needed to give a tapeworm tablet alongside.

[lljkk]

Advocate is not fipronil, anyway. The pest control guy said 3-4 days to leave the Indorex after spraying. Well yeah I guess cat can get a dose, but it is supposed to be safe even at the very first initial dose.