How long does the vet supplied flea treament take to start working ?

[frumpety]

Took my cat to the vet last week and he had a back of the neck flea treatment , the vet had combed him and found some dirt but no fleas, he is still reacting as though he has a flea 4 days later . How long does it normally take to work ? I am wondering if he has an allergy to the bites and would benefit from an antihistamine or something ?

[viccat]

Within an hour or two usually - I've had ex-stray foster cats and seen the fleas literally drop dead after applying Advocate...

If there are fleas in the environment, they will still get onto the cat but will die. Have you treated the house as well; lots of hoovering, washing bedding and then spray Indorex?

[YeOldeTrout]

Problem is the ones in carpet / floor crevices hatch out, grow into mini-adults & still jump up to bite something, & they can go on hatching out for weeks. Vacuuming at least daily removes the larvae, eggs, and helps remove the adult-flea poo that the larvae live on (gross but worth knowing about the lifecycle).

[TheoriginalLEM]

The priducts usually work within about 48 hours on the adult fleas on your cat.

If you havent got rid of the eghs and larvae in the house then the problem will just continue. As grim as it sounds a good 70% of your flea problem is in the house. You need a household spray to break the life cycle

[Oldraver]

As others have said the flea treatment will only kill the fleas actually on him...not the crafty buggers hiding in the house his bedding.

Get some Indorex and spray the house. You can use a steam cleaner which will kill fleas in the carpets crevices etc, but give it another go a few days later in case it hatches any eggs

[frumpety]

Would we not be bitten if there were fleas ? I am usually bitten if any are around ?

[YeOldeTrout]

Cat fleas prefer to jump on cats.
You might get away without Indorex spray; but Indorex spray will make all the fleas die sooner.

[TheoriginalLEM]

Your cat has fleas - she doesn't drop them off at their house when she comes home. Your house IS their house. Fleas only jump on animals for their dinner! The rest of the time they are setting up camp in your carpets.

It is good that you are using a good quality flea product from your vet but you really need to treat the house in the first instance. Each adult flea will produce around 200 eggs - thats a lot of fleas. The eggs hatch into larvae - like little microscopic maggots and they live in the carpet, your bed, nooks and crannies until they jump on your cat and gorge on her blood. They prefer cats or dogs. Most dogs have cat fleas actually although there is a dog flea. Fleas are vectors for tapeworm if you touch your cat and pick up flea dirt and inadvertently ingest it you are going to have an alien invasion in your stomach. Most flea spot ons do kill roundworm but you need a separate wormer for tapeworm every six months or so.

Pets at home stock indorex its about £25 a tin. A tin will suffice for an average size house.

Once you have treated the house you can then continue with regular monthly spot on treatments and shouldnt need to spray again.

[frumpety]

No sorry I am not disputing the fact that he has had fleas, the flea treatment was a 3 month one ? so do I need to treat on top of that ? He is a very much mainly indoor cat , he goes outside perhaps 2-3 times a week for 5 minutes, he doesn't catch creatures and eat them, he just wanders around the garden and then has a quick wee and back indoors, we have a litter tray inside too.

So I treat the house with the indorex stuff , can you use it on soft furnishings and mattresses ? Wash all the bedding ? anything else ?

[TheoriginalLEM]

What was the name of the treatment? Most spot ons last a month (but you get 3 in a box)

I wouldn't use indorex on the matress, you can use a steam iron on it (but be wary of memory foam mattresses) if the cat regularly sleeps there. Althoigh i reckon the indorex should sort it.

[Brownbootscoldheart]

Don’t pay £25 at pets at home, it’s £8 on amazon for a large can.

[frumpety]

Not sure of the name ? didn't ask , just asked the vet which he thought was the best one and gave my number to the receptionist so she could text me when he was due again. Feel awful that he has fleas, as I said he hardly goes outdoors anymore so wasn't as diligent about it as I should have been, lesson learned.

Will have a look on Amazon for the indorex , he sleeps mainly under DD's bed next to the radiator or at the end of my bed as I am the first to rise in the morning, he is my alarm cat

[frumpety]

Just thought, next doors cat usually gains access to the house by taking time off from killing everything in a mile wide radius and being super cute, so DS lets her in through the patio door, she only stays to eat and then buggers off again, perhaps I should ask if I can get her treated too ?

[Lonecatwithkitten]

Bravecto is the one which lasts 3 months it kills all live fleas on the cat within 4 hours. So yes doing the house would be a good idea and any incontact pets.