Cat flea allergy help please!

[smartmars]

Any Vets, VNs or people with experience of this? Three cats and two dogs in household. Two of the cats are littermates and suffer with FA. We have gone from FL spot on monthly, advocate monthly and now FL spray monthly, as well as treating the house (which I hate doing) 6 monthly. All the animals are treated, again I hate this as I feel as if I am poisoning them with all these chemicals (and it is is costing a fortune!). The problem is that one cat just doens't seem to be getting any better; he got quite bad I admit, over a weekend when he made himself quite sore and hot. I took him to the vets for a steroid inj which helped calm him but the fur is not growing back, if anything he is getting balder (though not sore/scabby). I have been under a vet throughout tretament btw (iyswim!), so slightly lost faith at all the differnt (failed) treatments we've been using. Sorry so long. Thanks.

I had a long haired cat who was allergic to flea bites who would get crusts of skin with bits of fur missing around the bites. We used to spray her with dilute tea tree oil (fleas don't like it and it's antiseptic/antibacterial) and this seemed to help. But the real thing is to cure the fleas. Which means getting the house properly treated. We paid an exterminator to treat the entire house (it cost about £50 and the council referred us to a contractor) but so long as there are fleas hatching out and biting before they die, the cat will continue to react.

However are you sure it's the flea bites that are causing the problem- some cats scratch and make themselves sure for other reasons (mostly stress related).

My long haired cat over grooms, no one is quite sure why but she has ended up on a low dose hormones which has stopped her doing it.

we had a rescue cat with a severe flea allergy.
We were told by various vets that various flea sprays would work (advocate was the best)
diet was important, (fish based dried or wet and dry)
homeopathy could work...
in the end the only thing that worked was the steroid injection.
do you cats go outside?

I agree with Whomovedmychocolate, does the cat still have flea dirt on it? If not the chances are it's a stress issue, poss bought on by the fact that it had a flea problem.

Oh, I think you are right about the stress. He is quite a worrier, poor thing, and the only one who hasn't really coped with ds' (18mths) arrival. MY dh has suggested this and I keep denying it, probably because I don't want it to be true. They use a cat flap but he goes out least. Spends a lot of time asleep and emerges when ds is at childminders or in bed. Very sad as he is so sociable and cuddly. I manage ds always around the animals and he is very good but this cat just legs it when he approaches. Thank you all of you, I actually think fleas are not the prblem as he has no scabs/soreness on him, and others are all fine. Will get friend feline behaviourist round (handy!). Funny, I kind of knew this but sometimes you are too close to the problem to see it aren't you? Thanks again.

Oh, I think you are right about the stress. He is quite a worrier, poor thing, and the only one who hasn't really coped with ds' (18mths) arrival. MY dh has suggested this and I keep denying it, probably because I don't want it to be true. They use a cat flap but he goes out least. Spends a lot of time asleep and emerges when ds is at childminders or in bed. Very sad as he is so sociable and cuddly. I manage ds always around the animals and he is very good but this cat just legs it when he approaches. Thank you all of you, I actually think fleas are not the prblem as he has no scabs/soreness on him, and others are all fine. Will get friend feline behaviourist round (handy!). Funny, I kind of knew this but sometimes you are too close to the problem to see it aren't you? Thanks again.

sorry!

May I suggest you add some garlic to his diet (garlic chicken is a particular favourite) and fleas hate the smell of a garlicky cat so that'll stop them coming back.

If he is nervous, give him a bolt hole and make it very safe, dark and quiet. One of ours had a cardboard tunnel I made under the bed (right under in the middle) with a fleecy blanket in it. She spent much of her life in there but wasn't so stressed because of the fact she had somewhere she felt safe IYSWIM?

Thank you, thats a great idea. I can easily do that. I don't want to compromise his welfare if he is unhappy here so need to think hard about the best thing. i think he gets slightly terrorised by neighbouring cats too (not badly but he does lack confidence. The other two cats are fine with him and all others) Thank you for your help x