Effin fleas

[CarmonEileen]

Hi everyone. Yesterday I noticed that the cat has fleas, 1st time, he is 2. On my sisters advice I gave him a warm bath just water to try and drown anything crawling and dried him off. Went and bought Frontline and put it on teatime ish. Today he is still scratching so I had a quick look and have just seen a flea
Please help and tell me what to do now. I feel so sorry for him.
thanks.

[thecatneuterer]

Firstly bathing isn't effective and most cats hate it.

It can take a couple of day for all the fleas to die after using the treatment, so give it a bit longer.

Frontline isn't that effective any more as fleas seemed to have built up some resistance to it (but it's still much better than nothing). If you are still noticing fleas in a week try getting Stronghold, Advantage or Advocate, but you don't want to overdose him so wait three weeks before using it.

Get a flea comb. That way you can see exactly what the situation it and can also use it to actually take fleas off him.

You may find that you also have fleas in the house in which case you will need a house spray too like Acclaim (I think that's what it's called).

[TheNunsOfGavarone]

With luck what you're seeing is the fleas' last stand - it takes a few hours for those back of the neck things to work. Also, have you treated the house with flea spray to get rid of any eggs, particularly where your cat likes to take a nap?

Really hope they go asap!

[CarmonEileen]

Thank you both for replying so quickly. I am lucky that he loves water so sat in the big plastic box almost laying down I suppose I am expecting a miracle and they would just die straight away. makes me sad that hes suffering like this. I need to buy some spray then as ive hoovered thoroughly but have just seen a blighter
He likes one corner of the living room rug in particular and on the landing upstairs too so im guessing there are going to be bloody fleas everywhere. Have stripped beds and about to wash now will 60? be ok? Thanks again.

[bzoo]

Hoover everything. Hoover Hoover and Hoover again. Regularly empty the Hoover straight into outside bin.

Tumble dry if you can any fabric items.

Then use diatomaceous earth. Sprinkle this around your home. Leave for a few days. (The hard part it looks ghastly!!) Hoover this up.

Leave the earth under large furniture and around the skirts baseboards etc.

Takes a couple of weeks of enduring the hardest of the chuffers but eventually you'll see the back of them!

[kylesmybaby]

Carmen - frontline has never worked on my cats. Not ever. I think it's total crap . I spent a fortune on it before coming to this conclusion. I now buy advantage which is £9.95 for four months supply from pet fleas.co.uk. No prescription thingy needed. Comes immediately and I have never even seen a flea since starting on this. We were overrun with them as my long haired thick coated beautiful black cat just attracts them. Good luck.

[Fluffycloudland77]

Get some indorex spray for the house, it's brilliant stuff but the price varies from which shop you get it from.

[SoupDragon]

Frontline is rubbish. We arrived home from holiday last summer to Fleamageddon because of Frontline.

Hoover everywhere, spray with Indorex and Advocat the cat.

[Lonecatwithkitten]

Firstly if the animal has a bath in the 48hours before or after applying frontline it prevents it working. So if you did them on the same day unfortunately the frontline won't do anything.
Secondly regular frontline only kills live fleas this is only 10% of the problem.
So from your vet get a product like Advocate or Stronghold that will be effective even if recently bathed. Also buy a household spray like Indorexx or Acclaim that kills adult fleas and has an insect growth regulator to prevent larvae hatching. Before spraying hover to wake as many fleas up as possible and then spray.

[thecatneuterer]

Will it be ok for her to use Advocate or Stronghold straight away after just using Frontline Lonecat?

[Lonecatwithkitten]

The frontline won't have adhered to skin due to bathing so yes should be fine.

[CarmonEileen]

Oh god Soup (wails) I've had one bugger on my toe, managed to squish it (was almost sick)
Thanks LoneCat all advice taken on board, off to the vets now.