Alternative to spot on flea treatments (less traumatic for kitty)

[paperrosefleur]

Does anyone have any recommendations for a flea treatment that is an alternative to the spot on type pipettes?
We use Advantage 40 at the moment but it's quite a traumatic experience for both me and my girl. She fights/hisses/bites and struggles so much when applying. Our younger cat doesn't bat an eyelid during or after the treatment and just gets on with playing right away. She's currently sulking under the table and growling every time me or our other cat walk past her (I've had to have a little cry about it which is a bit pathetic I know). She won't be my friend for a few days now, will hide under the bed a lot from me and won't even take her favorite treats from me.
It's just obviously a thoroughly unpleasant experience for both of us and I'd like to make it easier if possible.

Pic because she's a babe (when she's not angry)

I dont know. My neighbour says shes started to use tablets but i didnt know there was such a thing. I do my two in the afternoon when they are fast asleep.

There are tablets but there's been some negative reviews recently with cats who reacted really badly to them, I think one of the main brands is being investigated at the moment...

I've looked into this too as one of mine is really tricky to catch to treat with a spot-on but personally wouldn't risk using a tablet due to the many issues I've read about.

My vet offer an injection every 6 months, which sounds worse but atleast it would be less frequent? Could you check with yours?

But iirc, the injection doesn't kill existing fleas, just prevents them so she might need a final spot on in advance.

My cat would bolt as soon as she felt the liquid hit her skin, so I was worried that she wasnt' getting a full treatment. However the last 2 times I've put the little dropper in my pocket for an hour before hand so it warms to body temp. I then drop a few treats on the floor and have been able to put it on her without her seeming to notice!

We have had such flea problems this year, but please beware of tablets. Having tried the spot on treatments with no success, unlike other years, we gave my 15 year old cat a Johnsons' 4Fleas tablet a week ago, and there was no problem. I gave him another one on Saturday - a full week later - , as I spotted a flea in his tail. This was in line with instructions on the packet ( which seemed to suggest you could give one on any day you saw a flea). Within an hour I caught him standing awkwardly in the garden with his back extremely arched and unable to walk properly, obviously in considerable discomfort. I didn't obviously associate it with the flea tablet at that point. To cut a long story short, I took him to the vets, who initially thought he had a hernia, but under sedation found that the fat pouch he carries under his belly was extremely inflamed and hot to the touch. The poor cat was in so much pain he had his back arched to try and prevent any movement to his belly. Apparently this flea preparation goes into the cats fat and thus the fleas absorb it this way when they bite. I am glad to say after some hefty vets bills he is completely recovered, but the vet said he had never seen anything like it before and has filed an adverse effects form to the manufacturer this very morning. On the packet it said 1:10000 cats might have a severe adverse reaction. Mine was that one. I guess all these things are poison at the end of the day. I am just glad he is recovered. No more flea treatments for a good while for him.

Our late ragdoll was allergic to most of the spot ons and he had the injection from the vet with no ill effects . FWIW most , if not all otc flea treatments are ineffective so a waste of money, you need prescription strength treatment .

The injection only stops fleas breeding, I don’t think it kills them.

We get a 3 monthly spot on on prescription and have to wrap her in a towel, grabbing her when she's asleep. No chance otherwise and you only get one go. It's horrible, but not as grim as a houseful of fleas IMO. She's forgotten about it in a few days and is my friend again. I warm it up first in my hands. The cat carrier to the vet is life or death situations only as there will be blood (ours not hers).

Mine have the six monthly injection but we did spot-ons long term before that and have never had an infestation.

Flea collar?

We have started using Comfortis tablets from the vet, they had to order them in specially. My little cat used to get really distressed by the spot on.

@viccat which brand is being investigated? She’s due a dose next week so I hope it’s not the ones I’ve just spent £50 on!

@FlyingFlamingo it is Comfortis I read about, it was in an FB group and I can't find the post now but search Comfortis on Facebook and lots of posts come up... mostly about dogs but there was a case of a family's two cats dying shortly after taking it this year too.

That’s worrying! Thanks, I’ll take a look