Fleas - give me some hope, please

[Thurlow]

Mainly as I'm hugely pregnant and still working f/t for the next few weeks so the thought of spending the last month before the baby comes hot washing everything soft, hoovering twice and day and spending hours out of the house after fumigating is just too depressing for words

Cat will be Frontlined tonight (though I'm now scared that Frontline doesn't work too well) and I can do one hoover tonight and then hoover and spray tomorrow with some stuff donated by the neighbours. I can hot wash and change the sheets tomorrow and hoover the mattress tries not to faint at the thought of all that heavy hoovering right now. I have the council booked for their first appt on Weds just in case.

But please tell me it's going to be alright? Everything online is just horror stories of it taking months and babies being bitten all the time. I just need someone to say that regular hoovering and a spray will sort the problem?

Stronghold from the vet, used every month, seems loads more effective than frontline. You should get away with just spraying and hot washing where cat spends most time, and shouldn't need to do it more than once

Frontline is crap. You need take the cat to the vet and get something more effective.

You also need a proper flea spray rather than one from the supermarket.

The spray from the vets plus hoovering lots and treating the cats should do the trick.

Actually we have Advantage, I just checked the box - is this one better?

(It's entirely my fault by missing an appt last month and so letting the cat's flea treatment lapse)

Advocate is really good, it's prescription only but it's the shizzle.

You can get flea injections for the cat that stops them breeding. So although you still need to treat the cat monthly any he brings home can't reproduce and infest the house.

It's £35 twice a year in our vets.

Indorex is a good spray but if the councils coming out you probably don't need it. It was £15 last time we bought some. Toxic stuff so let the cat out before you use it.

Advantage is fine. You just need to be regular with it.

How toxic? I need to work from home tomorrow and was planning on spraying downstairs and staying upstairs for a few hours, will that work? Our lovely neighbour has some that we can steal.

Thanks all!

I'm not sure about how long you need to keep the cats out for. It will tell you on the can.

I went to the vets for my cat fleas...

Given RIP flea spray for the house, which did the trick - haven't seen any inside for weeks, no more human bites etc.

Given Eliminall for the cat, was told it was effective but it didn't work. Poor cat had been banished to the shed, until I could retreat her with something else, so she didn't reinfest house!

Been to the vets again today who said the Eliminall I was prescribed, has the same active ingredient as Frontline, which she confirmed doesn't work and they shouldn't bother selling anymore...

Given a new product Bravecto, which is supposed to last three months. Going to try that tonight and cross my fingers it works. I move house soon and she's going to have to come back inside with us so she's knows her new house and fleas make my skin crawl!!! =(

You have to leave the house for an hour after spraying and then ventilate.

Mine were given Bravecto a few weeks ago. It seems to be working, unlike Frontline or Broadline.

Indorex is the one thing I don't get from the vet - I buy it considerably cheaper than £15, online, Fluffy.

Agree with all the advice above, plus a positive story! We have done what has been suggested on here including the injection to stop them breeding. Advocate on the cat, acclaim flea spray everywhere, washed everything possible on high. We are now flea free! The cat has killed off any remaining fleas that have hatched from the chrysalis stage (this is the stage that can't be killed) and any that now bite her are infertile anyway. And yes I was extremely stressed at the time! Good luck.

Thanks posie

Im in the same boat. Discovered fleas on the cat on Monday - am 35 weeks pregnant.

Had to go to Sainsburys on the way home from work (9.30pm) at night. Only had Bob Martin stuff so sprayed her with that and one for carpet etc. Advised by friend never to use BM.

Cat was off her tits all night.

Have been given Comfortis? From the vets and hoovered the house, threw a lot of stuff out.

Subsequent combs showed dying fleas. Today ive found a live one again.

I am so exhausted by it all. Have a vets appointment on Monday. To maje matters worse she has started weeing on the kitchen floor.

When we bought our house we didn't have pets, but the previous owners left us with a huge flea infestation. Environment health came out 5 times to spray and then I paid a company to come and spray too.

I was advised NOT to hoover, as the vibrations cause the eggs to hatch. Anyway, it took over 3 months to get rid of them.

However... (happy story coming),
We now have cats and both are indoor, and 2 years ago (before we got the kitten) big cat somehow got fleas. I had visions of it taking months again, but with a dose of advocate and spraying Indorex around the house we got rid of the fleas.

If you treat now hopefully they will start dying off soon and be completely gone by next month's treatment.

Congratulations by the way!

Sorry you're in the same boat, Wowser. Have you called your council to see if they can do an extermination?

I did read that the fleas will keep hatching for the next few weeks, but the house and pet treatments will kill them off - I think that's right?

I'd disagree with that advice on hoovering, Dont. I hoover like a Stepford Wife - especially on cracks in the floor (we have old polished floorboards) and in lesser-trodden places. Directly before spraying so if it causes them to move around /hatch, I reckon it's just flushing them out of hiding before the spray gets them.

It also has the effect of catching moth eggs if you have any lurking.

You can definitely get them under control, Thurlow, but I'm afraid that constant vigilance is required. You never know when another is going to be introduced to the household.

By the way - remember to worm cats regularly. The two things sometimes go hand in hand.

Definitely, we've learnt our lessons the hard way. She was barely overdue her treatment but we let it lapse a little - in the middle of a flea epidemic when we knew loads of people who were getting them! - and we're paying the price now.

I'm going to have a can of spray in the house permanently just in case.

Keep an eye on their treatment as well. Eg Frontline isn't working properly in various places - acquired flea immunity, I guess - so it might be time for a change.

Good luck.

I second Program to sterilise them, Indorex for furnishings and we also get Broadline for spot-on to mop up any new acquisitions as well as worms. Costs a ruddy fortune.

The buggers still bite me to shreds and I have to use Deet on my legs. Wish it would get colder!