Stronghold - are fleas gaining resistance?

[KimCheesePickle]

We have a flea problem. We have two cats and a 7 month old puppy. We treated the pets with Stronghold at the beginning of the month (after a long hiatus). The problem was getting quite bad... I was finding so much flea dirt on the light coloured cat, and DH and I each have well over 20 angry red bites on us.

For the first couple of days, I was finding a few dead fleas on the animals, but still continuously finding live ones when brushing and checking them for the past 3 weeks. Last night I bought a flea comb - it was a revelation, I've probably combed out at least 30 live fleas from each cat. Surely the Stronghold should be working by now? Why am I still finding so many adult live fleas? I spent the best part of £200 for the three of them for six months' supply and I'll be gutted if I've wasted money on a product that's going the way of Frontline.

[thecatneuterer]

It's still working well as far as I know. Is the house itself infested? Have you used a house spray such as Indorex or Acclaim?

[viccat]

Stronghold is considered one of the good ones by the charity where I volunteer as well.

Nothing stops adult fleas from getting onto your pets though - they need to get onto the pet to die. Sounds like there might be a lot of fleas in the environment and you need to treat the house. Indorex and lots of hoovering...

[ozymandiusking]

As far as I am aware Stronghold is still working. I would agree with the comments above. Looks like you have a bad infestation of the house. The answer is to do the animals once a month regularly. Our vet said last week, that they are expecting a bad flea epidemic this September due to the very hot weather wev'e had, and the humidity.

[KimCheesePickle]

Thanks TheCatNeuterer and Viccat, it's good (well, ) to hear that it's at the level of the house rather than the treatment losing efficacy.

So it's the case that the Stronghold has been killing the ones on the animals, and all the fresh live ones I've found have hopped on from the environment?

We have been hoovering and steam-cleaning (have hard floors here - floorboards, stone & tile), but will up the game on that front. I'm a bit of a waverer on insecticide sprays... but the more bites I get, the closer I'm to cracking and ordering the Indorex.

DH has said he's not had any new bites today, so I think the flea comb has opened up a triumphal new front in the war.

[viccat]

There's also another spray, called Flee, which is totally non-toxic and works by coating fleas and flea eggs in a silicone coating that stops them developing. I find it makes floors slippery though and is best for carpet/fabric areas.

Indorex is safe as long as you follow the instructions, though.

[Vinorosso74]

Flee sounds like the headlice treatment I used on my DD!! Made for a treacherous bathroom after washing it out her hair
I digress but I also think Stronghold is still ok. Our vets recommend that or Advocate.