Flees

[Happybodybunny12]

Cat had lots of flees on her last night! Treated her immediate with spot on. Put her out for the night.

Washed all bedding ours and theirs at 60' last night.

First thing went to vet, treated other cat and sprayed and vaccumed house.

It's pouring with rain now had shes looking very very miserable outside.

Dd wants to let her in.

Anyone know if it's safe? she's our baby. Spoilt rotten.

[Happybodybunny12]

Flea powder in the vaccume bag? Ingenious.

Thanks for all the advice mumsnetters.

Oh and the spelling lesson Bear

[yoshipoppet]

I have put flea powder in the hoover bag before now, to kill any fleas which get sucked into it.
Indorex is supposed to be very good.

[sharonthewaspandthewineywall]

I'm really laughing at putting advocat on the cat

[Happybodybunny12]

Beau yes I see it's Broadline and the spray is indeed indorex so here's hoping. Scratching continually! Me not cats.

Thanks unlucky great advice and will do.

[Fluffycloudland77]

I'd use Advocate, a program injection, indorex off Asda pharmacy.

I couldn't put my cat out overnight. It's the worst time for rta and the fleas will be in the house anyway. They need to jump on her and bite to get killed by the Advocate.

[BeaufortBelle]

Any one else had a really good scratch in the last five minutes?

[BeaufortBelle]

My vet has sold me Broadline >>>preens

[unlucky83]

Another one who had a bad infestation - it took years to get rid of it -but I think I finally have.
I was using Frontline - it worked for 18 mths and then stopped and I didn't realise straight away... when I did she was badly infested - I combed 30 fleas off her in one go ...
Glad to see that some vets are now admitting they become resistant - at the time my vet insisted I hadn't been using it properly etc ...I even got them to apply it for me before I stopped wasting my money.
Anyway I steamed and washed carpets, hoovered manically and I was still finding lots of fleas on her (had very small DC so didn't want to use powder) ....I used shop bought flea collars (I kept switching between ones with two different pesticides) for a year or so - I found that if one collar stopped working the new one with the same pesticide didn't work well either...I still found the odd flea but it was more under control.
In the end I took to just daily flea combing and regular (daily at first) hoovering...didn't worry too much about getting into all the crevices - so it didn't take long and concentrated on areas where she slept or under where she jumped up and eg the doormat. Some research said vacuuming gets something like 94% of adult fleas.
I now flea comb and hoover at least weekly. When I didn't get round to combing her for a few weeks I did find a few on her so she gave her one of the 4fleas tablets - that kill the fleas just on the cat - and did that every time I flea combed her for about a month.
A couple of things I became aware of ...
I realised I had them outside too - (gave her a flea comb, let her out and combed again when she came back and she had a few immature adults on her) - not sure what you can do about that except treat/comb the cat -so they aren't allowed to breed and wait till they go dormant in winter...
Adult fleas stay on the cat - the eggs and flea dirt (black specks - dried semi digested blood - flea poo) are 'designed' to fall off as they move around -especially jump. The eggs hatch and the larvae eat the flea dirt that has fallen off near them - that is enough food for them to grow and pupate. They then develop in the pupae and wait to be disturbed before emerging as the fleas you see jumping around. The hoovering also gets the flea dirt, eggs and larvae but not the pupae.
And one of the worst things ...they can lie dormant as pupae (for years apparently.) I had a plastic tub full of baby toys (wood and plastic) that for a while didn't have a lid on. It was under a window sill where cat jumped up waiting for me to sort out - for a year few months . When I eventually got round to sorting them I noticed a one jump - then another - at least 15 in there...just waiting to be disturbed . And no amount of spraying or powder would have got them .
Good luck - my biggest advice would be not to depend on pesticides/treatments alone - ever. Check your cat with a decent flea comb regularly...at least monthly. I did before frontline when she had a collar - but because it worked so well I stopped ...I wish I hadn't...

[EponasWildDaughter]

Yes let the cat in.

The vet said you should let a treated cat have a good roam around all the rooms in the house, like the kids bedrooms, so that it can attract any stray fleas onto it to feed and thus get a dose of the flea treatment.

Fleas can live for weeks without feeding if necessary, so will just hang around with no treated animal host to kill it. They may even bite the human occupants if needs be.

[SoupDragon]

Definitely get some Indorex for the carpets. I got mine from Animeds during the Fleamageddon of 2012...

[VivaLeBeaver]

And yes let her in.

There will be flea eggs everywhere so letting the cat in makes no difference. Keep hoovering. And spray the house again in a coup,e of weeks.

[VivaLeBeaver]

I would have to flee the house.




Sorry. Indorax spray is what you need. Cheaper on Amazon.

[Happybodybunny12]

Putting her our was hideous and according to my dds I am cruella the wotsit! Can't attempt to spell that bugger

Have brought her multi pack of dreamies to make up.

[Uhplistrailer]

We used a flea bomb and an electronic flea comb (zaps the little buggers).

Worked a treat. And hoovering a lot.

[EponasWildDaughter]

I had the one and only flea infestation i have ever had to deal with last summer. That's in 20 years of keeping cats. Spot on and manic hoovering didn't help at all. It was awful.

In the end i took them both to the vet and paid £££ for a Frontline Combo 3 month course of treatment.

After googling later that day I also sprinkled normal TABLE SALT liberally all around the carpets, skirting boards and in the creases of the stair risers, around the legs of immovable furniture, deep creases in soft furnishings, etc. Left it for 24 hours and hoovered it up again. These areas are supposedly the places where most flea eggs will be lying dormant, deep within the fibers and the salt is meant to make a longlasting hostile/deadly environment for them (even after hovering some saltiness is left). Dries them out before they can hatch apparently.

Not toxic if you have little ones crawling about.

The cats stopped scratching within hours and we saw no fleas ever again

[thecatneuterer]

There is no need to put a cat out after treating it for fleas. The treating it is enough (as long as you haven't used an 'off the shelf' spot on - they don't work but may just kill your cat). And if the cat get rained on (poor cat!) that may stop the treatment being effective.

And generally speaking putting cats out at night is not recommended.

[TheoriginalLEM]

Program has been around a while, it doesn't kill the fleas as far as i remember but prevents them from reproducing so it takes a while to work but once its working, so long as you keep it up its pretty effective.

Frontline is less effective as the fleas have become resistant to it, this is actually area dependent so will work in some places but not in others. I woudlnt waste my money on it.

Advocate is what is generally recommended now.

[Sparklingbrook]

You used to be able to get an injection called Program. Our vets don't like to give it any more. the needle is really thick.

[Pippa12]

I think you can get a injection to prevent fleas in cats now? I give my dog a tablet I get from the vets, £30 but lasts 3 months. I asked about the injection but vet said just for cats xxx

[Sparklingbrook]

You don't put cats 'out for the night'.

[TheoriginalLEM]

Well its a bit cuntish to leave the cat outside just because its got flees, you need to be careful she doesn't Flee!! If she has got properly wet then you ahve just wasted your money as the spot on wont work.

[BlackeyedSusan]

well I would be fleeing if the cat had fleas....

pot calling the kettle black and all that

good luck OP. these things are never pleasant.

[Staywithme]

ExitPursuedByABear is this you?

[Happybodybunny12]

Bollock off Exit
Thanks everyone

[butterflyballs]

To be fair, my cat legs it out the cat flap as soon as I've put his stuff on, we have to barricade him into one room to treat him (and its a two person/several plasters job) as he recognises the packet even if I do it sneakily. I think he must smell it. He then sits in the garden glaring/sulking until he caves in and comes back in for food.

Please let your cat back in.