Please talk to me about Flea treatments for our cat!

[Flightattendant12]

Have been on frontline for a good few months now, she is still very flea ridden

I have now realised that it only kills the ones that bite her, doesn't stop them reproducing...so they are laying eggs in the house and she's in trouble.

What should i get instead please? Mum uses Program, says it works well - does it stop the fleas breeding? Will it wipe them out eventually without my having to spray nasty chemicals all over the house?
Have also heard of Program Combi or something, that also has flea contraceptive. am confused, please help

(I do comb her but it's ghastly and quite hard to kill them once you have them iyswim)

Sorry that would be frontline combi. As opposed to the useless stuff we are currently using...

To be honest I think you have to treat the house first and the cat second. You will never be rid of them if they are in the carpets/cushions etc. You may have to bite the bullet and spray the house and then re-front line the cat.

Change to Frontline Combo and get a good household flea spray (Indorex, Acclaim or Staykil are ones I would recommend). I wouldn't touch a pet shop for flea treatments, TBH, because you want to get something which you know will work quickly!

Try to hot wash all bedding etc, and hoover the carpets thoroughly every day for a week or so after using the spray. If that fails, contact the council.

I agree about Frontline Combi ... pet shop treatments are rubbish you need something decent from the vet.

Thanks very much.

Just to be clear, we're not being bitten, but she is!

I will treat the house if I have to, just rather not. I wasn't sure if program or the combi thing would just kill and neuter all the ones already in the house iyswim, thus avoiding the need for further spraying?

I know it will take longer that way but mum said she hasn't seen a flea for years and her cat is just on program. I don't think she sprayed her house.

I was hoping to get program from the vets in the pet shop, but we're not registered there. I agree over the counter stuff unlikely to be great.

Program 6 monthly injections are very good, my old cat used to have them.

My current cat has Advantage spot-on for fleas once a month, and Profender spot-on for worms every three months. It is important to treat for worms as well, because flea and worm life-cycles are linked. Also spray the house.

It really is worth preventative treatment, especially as the fleas enjoy central heating and also hot summer weather. The eggs can live up to a year unhatched in your soft furnishings, so you need a spray that will penetrate the tough egg cases and prevent them hatching a few months on.

Ah thankyou very much Girlywhirly.

I had forgotten about Advantage, I knew there was another one! I went to three different vets, one wouldn't sell me anything as we're not registered there, the second wouldn't as although we're registered, we haven't used them within the last year and the third is one we've used in the last year, and sold me some Frontline Combo to try.

I've just realised I can't use it till march though as she's already had frontline this month. Never mind...

They had some 'acclaim' spray but it was £19 so will think about that...I didn't know the eggs could live for a year, yuck, that's horrible. Off to read lots of flea info leaflets...!

Will also try and get some Profender as I have giving her drontal. Thanks again x

Frontline combo or program will not kill anything in the environment - all they do is stop the fleas breeding (and frontline combo kills the fleas on the cat too) so they are not going to solve the problem as it stands, but in the long term both are effective products in a preventative capacity. As previous people have suggested a good household spray is the way to go. You should be able to get Indorex from the vet who you bought the frontline combo from.

Thanks Beautifulgirls. Can I ask a couple of things please? Firstly, do fleas live a long time? I'm wondering because surely if the frontline combo stops them breeding, it'll prevent more eggs being laid - therefore once all the residual eggs in the house have hatched, and jumped onto puss, and been killed, there won't be any more to hatch out? So within a year they should all be gone?

Or have I got it completely muddled?

The other thing is, how much of the house do I need to treat? She sleeps in various places - often on top of a pile of laundry, for instance, which I then re wash.

If I find flea stuff on a cushion I spray it and I do wash bedding.

I have a toddler so am reluctant to spray the whole house from top to bottom iyswim.

Flightattendant, don't be afraid of using the house spray. I had an infestation with my two cats when DS was a toddler, I just sprayed each room in turn, with him outside each room, and then we went out for a while to let the particles settle. You need to spray around room edges, carpets and floors, and upholstered furniture, and pet bedding. You don't need to spray up the walls though, eggs are more likely to be on horizontal surfaces: but they can lodge in cracks in hard floors and under skirtings. I think it's recommended to vacuum very thoroughly at some point after the treatment.

You could get someone to look after your toddler out of the house while you do the treatment, it shouldn't take longer than half an hour. We used Acclaim, it was well worth it in the long run as once we had the infestation wiped out and preventative treatments in place we never had to do it again.

My current cat has been treated prophylactically since a tiny kitten, and there has never been any evidence of fleas or worms.

Good luck! Trust me it will be worth the expense. You don't want an infestation to get so bad that the fleas bite you or the baby.

Sadly the eggs already laid are going to be a potential problem for about a year, so unless you spray the place you are likely to have ongoing issues sorry The eggs hatch in response to vibrations, warmth and moisture so not all will hatch at the same time. It is not unusual for people to go into a house or flat that previously had cats/dogs but has been totally empty for months and find they start getting bitten. Tis a horrible thought!
You can use the sprays room by room - so long as the rooms are well ventilated for a while before you use them again you should not worry. The cans come with instructions on them. Good luck.

beautifulgirls, that reminds me of a story DH told me of a work office that had been newly refurbished, and people complained of insect bites as soon as they had moved in. When someone actually saw a flea on their arm, pest control were summoned to spray! So even the redecoration, new carpet etc made no difference as soon as the heating was on and there were 'blood meals' available.

There was a friend (who had a cat) who set off from home to attend a job interview, and was mortified to see a flea jump off his suit onto the table during the interview! Unfortunately, the interviewer saw it too, despite his quick reaction to squash it with his finger. No surprise that he failed to get the job! Just shows that we can be unwitting transporters of fleas to other places as well as our pets, and if it happens to be an egg carrying female, hardly bears thinking about.

we use program (6 monthly jab for cats, 1 pill a month for dog) in conjunction with frontline spray (rather than spot on) and are flea free