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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

Cat has fleas. AIBU?

54 replies

springboardflower · 16/01/2019 17:32

I have a strictly indoors pedigree cat. She has never been outdoors, unless going on visits to the vets etc.

I took her to the vet on Monday for a general health check, and the vet found flea dirt in her fur. No actual fleas, just one bit of flea dirt. She informed me that my cat had fleas and sold me a treatment and spray for the house (totalling £90!)

I asked her how the cat had managed to get fleas as she has never been outside, and only had contact with other cats when she was very little. The vet told me that fleas:

  • Will jump on humans clothes and be carried inside
  • Will jump into open windows and infest the cat
  • If the cat goes near any outside doors she can pick up fleas
  • Hoovering can reactivate dormant fleas
  • Even if you don't have animals, fleas will still enter and live in your home (?!)

I have never seen fleas in my house. Never had any bites. Never seen the cat scratching excessively. I hoover and clean multiple times a day due to having small children.

AIBU to think it seems insane to spray my house with chemicals, then repurchase all these chemicals for the duration of the cats life, if its an inevitability (according to the vet) that there will be fleas?! It just seems insane!!

OP posts:
VictoriaBun · 16/01/2019 17:33

I also have a housecat. I've given mine fleas.

Original poster
springboardflower · 16/01/2019 17:35

VictoriaBun I understand giving the cats fleas, what I think seems insane is that according to the vet, everyone's house has fleas. Fleas are inevitable, they will jump in windows and through doors and on my clothes. So what the hell is the point in fumigating my house?!

OP posts:
OutPinked · 16/01/2019 17:36

My cat used to be a house cat and he got fleas a couple of years ago. He’d also never been outside aside from in his carrier to the vets. They can sadly travel in on people’s clothing which is how we think ours happened. Equally they can survive through the winter in people’s carpets and furnishings, pretty grim. My house was riddled for a good month or two, it was horrendous.

Now I give him regular flea treatments to avoid it. So yes, house cats can and do get fleas and yes, they still need to be treated to prevent fleas.

Confusedbeetle · 16/01/2019 17:37

You really do need to do this. If you have carpets, flea eggs can hang around to 2 years and can be a nightmare to get rid of once they get established. Give the house blast, and put drops on the cat's neck every few months, It's not arduous. It really isnt a hard thing but you do have to be proactive. We once had a house full of fleas and had no cat. Now my outdoor cats catch mice so we are on it

wineandcatsandlego · 16/01/2019 17:38

Don't pay it! I'm presuming the house spray is Indorex, it is brilliant stuff but you can buy it online for about £12, our vets wanted to charge £40! Also the supposedly brilliant Frontline from Pets At Home was useless we found, instead we get a 3 monthly treatment done at the vets for a tiny bit more than the monthly at home one was. Touch wood we see no more!

Confusedbeetle · 16/01/2019 17:38

Buy future treatments online, cheaper, same makes

TheWitchwithNoName · 16/01/2019 17:39

I have an indoor cat and was told by my vet that I still had to treat him for fleas (about £9 a month). Also worming tablets but only every 3 months. I would hope that spray worked you would only need the monthly tablet?

Original poster
springboardflower · 16/01/2019 17:39

I do the treatment on the cat every month. She still had flea dirt. I have never seen fleas in my home... I will use the spray, but I am guessing I have to do this spray every month as well in that case?

OP posts:
wonderstuff · 16/01/2019 17:39

The odd flea isn’t an issue, but if they infest it’s grim. Having said that you may find you only need to treat the cat.

Endofrelationship · 16/01/2019 17:39

Treat it now before you see the fleas. They are a bugger to get rid of once they hatch and can lie dormant in your carpet for weeks, waiting for the warmer weather. They are deeper than the hoover can reach.

wonderstuff · 16/01/2019 17:40

Some spot on flea treatments are better than others.

minkies11 · 16/01/2019 17:42

I would treat the cat with advocat or similar and hold off on the house treatment if you haven't been bitten. Like other posters have said Indorex from amazon is brilliant. You could spray the cats favourite areas but bit of a pain to do the whole house!

Original poster
springboardflower · 16/01/2019 17:42

I have always used a prescribed one from the vets. Not frontline or branded ones Sad

If I spray the house now, surely I will have to spray it all the time though?! If the vet is saying they jump in windows, doors, onto people... I would have to keep treating the house as well?

OP posts:
yunalis · 16/01/2019 17:42

What were you using before? Frontline doesn't work anymore.

Original poster
springboardflower · 16/01/2019 17:43

I have boil washed all of her soft furnishings like the cat bed etc.

OP posts:
yunalis · 16/01/2019 17:43

Could it be broadline? That also doesn't work.

Original poster
springboardflower · 16/01/2019 17:44

I have just checked, it's called 'stronghold plus'. We've used this from her being a kitten.

OP posts:
bellabasset · 16/01/2019 17:46

I have a 3 month flea treatment for my cat, which I do myself.I think it's important to change the treatment regularly. My vets do an annual check, flea, worming and annual injection for around £10 a month.

Indorex is about £12 at Pets at Home. If you don't want to spray your house then try using a steam cleaner.

Duchessgummybuns · 16/01/2019 17:47

The flea treatment the vet prescribed to my cats didn’t work and was so expensive, we use Advantage now which seems to do the trick.

PottyPotterer · 16/01/2019 17:49

No the indorex spray lasts 12 months so only once a year. It's not common for indoor cats to get fleas but it does happen, you can carry the eggs in on your shoes. Personally I'd buy a flea comb and check your cat regularly, if no fleas or dirt found I'd not bother with the monthly treatment after you've used the pack you've bought.

ThatThingYouDo · 16/01/2019 17:49

House cats will and do get fleas all the time. They come in on your clothes or shoes and it only takes one flea to lay millions of eggs in the environment.

They're a bit more common in winter, as people whack the heating up and dormant eggs hatch. If you've not been in your house for too long then it could be from a previous tenant or owners pets.

You don't have to treat your cat if you don't want to, but you then have to accept they will probably at some point get fleas again.

Try Advocate. It treats fleas, worms and other ectoparasites. Fleas are getting resistant to some of the older treatments.

Regular boil washing of soft furnishings will help, as will regular hoovering. But unless the pet is treated as well, it's a bit of a losing battle just doing those alone.

dementedpixie · 16/01/2019 17:50

But if you treat the cat any fleas that come in will be killed when they jump on the cat. Stronghold plus is what I get from the vet too. It would be OTT to treat the house every month

ZogTheOrangeDragon · 16/01/2019 17:51

Cat fleas like cats and will actively seek them out so if they jump in through the window or are reactivated due to the presence of cat in the house, they will choose to jump on the cat. If the cat is adequately treated (Stronghold is a good treatment) then they will bite the cat and die without needing the rest of the house to be treated (infestations aside).

ThatThingYouDo · 16/01/2019 17:52

Also, make sure you treat for roundworms, the flea is the secondary host for the roundworm, so where there are fleas, there are worms, even if you don't see them!

DaysOfCurlySpencer · 16/01/2019 17:52

My cat came back from the vet after a short stay, with fleas, she didn't have them when she went.

However if there really was flea dirt then your cat would have been scratching for a while. I spray the house with Indorex or Acclaim, bought online as it is much cheaper than from the vet. Diatomaceous earth sprinkled on to the cat and brushed through will deal with any fleas on the cat, and if they fall off then the spray will get them.

My first flat was alive with fleas when I moved in, the treatment in those days was to cover the floor in Fullers Earth powder. That was fun. It worked though.