Cats and flea control

[poppiesinaline]

What do people use for flea control with their cats?

Up to very recently I used Frontline but it is so expensive and the vet won't just give more out over counter, I have to take cat in and then they charge a fee

Any other brill ways to kill and keep the buggers away?

Fleas that is, not the cat!!!

Buy it online? I don't know how much your vet charges, but \link{http://www.inhousepharmacy.co.uk/pet-care/frontline-plus-cat.html\these} guys sell it ...

NQC - YOU ARE BRILLIANT!!! I LOVE YOU!! :)

we use a Bob Martin thing that we got from sainsburys. You sort of squirt it on the back of the neck, it's worked for us so far. I think it's called Spot on or something like that.

Does it work in the same way as Frontline? Do you know what it does and how it is meant to work?

Thats what we use Peachygirl, it works just fine and is sooo much cheaper than frontline.

The website says you only need to use it every four weeks. But it talks about "repelling" fleas, which is odd.

you will find that the bob martin thing will work about as well as air freshener in the face of a real flea challenge (ie summer!)
poppiesonline-suggest you change your vet they are just ripping you off, only need to be an animal under their care, doesnt have to be seen every time. If we havent seen someones cat (ie new client) we make them a FREE appt before giving frontline, dont see how they have the cheek to charge you!
Dont forget to treat the house once a year

Yeh Miggy - ever feel like you are being ripped off from all corners! Feel like whereever I turn people are trying to take money off me which is why I refuse to go back and get frontline from them. Didn't realise it wasn't usual practice.

Just out of interest (and to compare prices) I rang my vet this morning regarding Frontline. They charge £31.37 for a pack of 6 and £25 consultation charge to see vet. Won't issue Frontline without seeing the animal first.

When I told them that I been doing some homework and they seemed to be the only vet to do this, they told me that it was against the law to sell the product without seeing the animal and I was putting my cat at risk by giving it without seeing a vet first. Said Id take the risk Can you believe the cheek.

So thanks NQC - will be getting off that website I think. You have saved me some money. :)

Poppies, I'm afraid that frontline is a prescription only medicine in this country (the website linked below supplies from the South Pacific to get round this). According to the new veterinary medicines act which came into force in october 2005, it is an offence for a veterinary surgeon to prescribe a prescription only medicine without making a full clinical assessment before prescribing. The government has brought this legislation in, it's not in fact (for a change) veterinary surgeons grubbing for extra money. They should therefore be seen before the first prescription, I'm not sure what the law says about how often you should have a review if on a regular repeat prescription. (If you receive a repeat prescription from a GP, they should review you annually, the principle is the same for animals, though I appreciate you don't pay for each GP consultation....yet!) I know fleas don't seem like a major problem, but they can cause some serious allergic skin disease and it's a welfare issue. Not all owners take good care of their cats, and vets should see the animals to ensure that they are being cared for appropriately (eg rather than popping a little frontline onto a badly diseased animal) IYKWIM.
This website also sells more 'serious' medicinces that can have potentially fatal side effects, by the way.
ps I'm not trying to sound smug or overbearing, I know vets are expensive!

i'm going to be the hippy in this situation and suggest tea tree oil. few drops on the back of the neck every day for a week or two did the trick for me. although you have to make sure to clean everything that the little b*ers can be living in, ie rugs carpets etc, as it repells them, not kills them.

Oh also, while we're on the subject of infestations, cat fleas act as an intermediary for tapeworms, so if you de-flea, you help reduce worm problems. Profender is a new cat wormer which is applied like frontline onto the skin, so easier than forcing tablets down their gobs! (expensive, naturally )
Reducing worms is a good idea in dogs too by the way as they can carry toxocara canis (a worm), which can cause blindness if contracted in childhood (55 cases of visual impariment with one blindness due to this annually in UK). (Can't use profender in dogs, though)

2Happy - interesting. I have spoken to some RL friends about this and they don't have to pay their vet a consultation fee to get Frontline. Their animal is checked free of charge on an annual basis. I refuse to pay my vet £25 every time I want a repeat prescription of Frontline. I have been with my vet since my cat was a kitten - she is now 10.

Mmmm. now I dont know what to do. :(

The point of the legislation I think is that the vet should do a consultation full stop; it's up to the vet themself to decide if they're going to charge for the consultation. If you can find a vet who'll do an annual check free of charge I'd go with it - it should show that they're pretty hot on animal welfare (though it may of course only be a ruse to get cat owners through the doors so that they can try and get them to buy all sorts of expensive produts! )
If you know your cat is well treated, and your vet is trying to charge £25 a go just to consult and you don't want to pay it, then it's up to you if you do the internet company or not, there's nothing to prevent it, that's how the interent company can do it legally. I can freely spout on this subject and sound nice and smug because dh half-inches all our frontline from work so we get it free. (should I really admit that?!) If not, I guess I'd be pretty tempted by the internet company too. The point I think I was labouring over is that your vet isn't actually wrong to insist on a consultation prior to prescribing the frontline.

I agree with the consultation thing. That makes sense for the well being of the cat. BUT to make such a ridiculous charge just to look at the cat and go, yeh fine, heres some Frontline, I feel is daylight robbery. I think I will ring round other local vets and move vets.

Lucky you getting it free - good for you. I think this country rips us off as it is (dont get me started!) so anything free is great I say - no problem in that at all.

Don't tell dh, but I think vets make astronomical charges all the time. And there are a lot of very crooked vet companies (naming no names, but if they have a "4" in their name, I'd steer clear) who do things like, see the pet (£consultation), prescribe a treatment like a course of tablets (£tablets), see it for review (£consultation) then say bring it back for a jab (£consultation AND £jab) etc whereas they could have seen, jabbed and given tablets in a oner and just said to come back if no better. Small animal vets, particularly in cities, can just about make whatever salary they like. (And I don't have to whisper that as dh is a large animal vet in a rural area, so much more moral )
It should, ideally, come down to a question of animal welfare, not the vets next skiing holiday. Vets aren't NHS, you're a customer not a patient, so definitely shop around to get a service that's right for you. Or use tea tree oil like Eve says (but really don't tell dh I said that!! )

Thanks for all the advice. Does Tea Tree Oil work then?

worked for my cat, doused him for a few weeks and he's never had them since. we don't have carpets though so it was quite easy to de-flea the house and thats very important or they'll keep coming back

If the cat has fleas will Tea Tree get rid of them or does it just keep them away and how often do you need to apply and how much?

i did it every night for a few weeks. just put a few drops on the back of the neck where they can't lick it off, preferably right before they go out so the fleas don't jump off in the house. mine has never had them since and he hangs around with alot of strays but i don't know is that just good luck or does it have some lasting protection

2happy,
hmmmm,
I don't really want to make this into a debate of good vets= rural, bad vets= city vets, but i do think you are oversimplifying it somewhat.
I have worked in a big city for 15yrs and agree with some of what you are saying however i do think that as ever, it isn't good form to tar everyone with the same brush.
The overheads are significantly higher in the city i am sure, and wages are higher etc.
I wonder where you go on holiday too?
I do agree that it is not particularly good to charge a full cons fee for a flea consult and would hesitate to do so. But I do find it a bit insulting to suggest that small animal town vets rip people off full stop.
there are plenty of good hard working vets out there who do have animal welfare at heart and it seems a shame that this sort of comment just feeds the "all private vets are just in it for the money" culture.
sorry, but just had to object a bit

Oh, and i would suggest that you treat the house, poppies as 90% of the flea lifecycle is spent in your carpet, on the sofa atc.
The adult flea jumps mon the cat to feed and mate, then lays eggs which drop off the cat and then these hatch into larvae. The larvae will pupate and stay protected from any flea treatment for 3 weeks to a year! Then the the adult flea comes out.
It is a long and tricky lifecycle, all of the alternative treatments may well make it less likely your cat will hvae fleas on it, but they will not deal with the household problem.
You should use Acclaim plus, or indorex imo, and you can get these from the vet without a consulatation as they are not for putting on the animal
Any flea treatment must be used regualry to make sure that as many of the new adults are killed as soon as they jump on you pet.
sorry it is such a long post, just felt compelled to answer!

FRONTLINE is dangerous if you have more than 1 cat

They will wash it off each others necks

Use STONGHOLD and separate them for a few hours

RTK,
this isn't the case.
I remember this being said on another thread so i talked with a good few colleagues and actually spoke to the manufacturers.
It can taste pretty horrible if the other cats lick it off, and very rarely any drug can cause a reaction in any animal.
But it is not as big a problem as it was made out to be by a number of posters on the other thread.
somebody said it causes liver damage IIRC, which just does nopt seem to be the case.
I have seen a couple fo cats that have licked it off and have salivated alot and been distressed, but no more problem than that tbh.

and was just wondering how your caat is today actually...still itching??

But would agree that if you were worried then seperating the cats isn't a bad idea.

It was the Vet that told us but will believe you

Itching has gone now thanks {grin]