Flea treatment not working

[Blerg]

Hello, we have three two month olds kittens, no other pets.

At their vet registration I was horrified to find they had fleas, and that I hadn’t noticed.

We gave them Advantage from the vets, followed the instructions. 2.5 weeks later I’ve found more live (though possibly quite sluggish) fleas on them.

Not sure what to do next - spray the house or flea bomb? Lots of hoovering obviously.

Feeling really anxious about the whole thing.

Sorry meant to say, I have Ben liking this up online but it’s all quite baffling.

Been looking this up even!

To get rid of fleas you need to hoover the entire house & Any soft furnishings every day until they're gone. This kills off the larvae & breaks the breeding cycle.

The only flea treatment that worked on mine was bravecto from the vets. We used that then the indorex spray. They were all dead in 2 days.

We've noticed some problems with Advantage recently. I think fleas are becoming immune to it just as they did with Frontline. Endectrid works pretty well. I think there is a kitten one. Stronghold kitten is another good one.

If you don't de-flea the house then the fleas will continue their lifecycles and keep going on the kittens, the fleas may not live long when they're on the kittens though as Advantage is pretty reliable. But you do need to spray the house.

@thecatneuterer

We've noticed some problems with Advantage recently. I think fleas are becoming immune to it just as they did with Frontline. Endectrid works pretty well. I think there is a kitten one. Stronghold kitten is another good one.

Oh really? Bugger. I've used Advantage for years as it's always worked and is cheap.

@WorstXmasEver yikes that feels borderline impossible. Do you know how long that might be for? And does that mean dusting and changing beds too?

Spray indorex
Ask vet for a treatment that's effective in your area

Interesting, thank you @thecatneuterer that’s a shame. Should I just raise with my vets that it didn’t work?

Yes I would mention it. I suppose it's helpful if people report it.

And it can take quite a while for all.fleas to die as there will be eggs in the carpets, etc that will hatch and then need contact with the cat to be killed. Advantage may be working but has to deal with new fleas as the eggs hatch. That's why indorex will help as it will treat the fleas that aren't on the cat

The house needs treating too. Eggs are laid by the adult fleas on the animal, then fall off into the environment where they go through the larval stages then pupate. By the time you noticed and treated the fleas on your kittens, there were likely to be larval and pupal stages in your house.

When I worked in the vet industry, none of the house sprays available could penetrate the pupa to kill the developing flea, but could tackle the various larval stages. You need to treat your house with a spray and then vacuum daily (as a PP said). The heat and vibration (and the CO2 you breathe out while hoovering) prompts the adult flea to emerge from the pupa where it will either be killed by the residual environmental spray, or if it gets onto your kittens, by the treatment on them.

We used to recommend daily hoovering for 10 days IIRC, but it is ages ago (last century!!)

Indorex is the best tip I have ever had off MN. I have to get Avocat from the vets as no ‘over the couter’ flea treatment has ever worked.

Also sorry for so many questions, what is the ideal order -treat pet and then spray house immediately?

I’ve never had to do much hoovering with indorex - it’s a little bit alarming how effective it is, also does for carpet moths.

@NancyDrawed ok I am cope with 10 days + but months on end would be very hard! Thank you.

I tend to leave a couple of days in between spraying the house and treating the cats. I checked with a vet once and she said that it might be a good idea so as not to overwhelm the cats with flea treatments 🤷🏻‍♀️ Don’t know how scientific that is tho!

It's all to do with how long it takes an adult flea to develop in the pupa. In perfect conditions it can be very short, but I seem to remember (as I said earlier it was a long time ago) that adult fleas could stay in the pupa and still be viable 12 months later, which is why it is recommended to hoover regularly early on, while the adulticide in the house spray is still active (the larval killer stays active for a lot longer than the adult flea killer).

Also at this time of year a lot of people have central heating on which is good for the fleas which is why it is a year round problem rather than seasonal and why the vets recommend treating year round.

In theory, just treating your pets would eventually get rid of the problem, by the adult fleas dying before they could lay eggs, but it would take a long time to get rid of the environmental problem that way - which is why people treat environment and animal.

Indorex and Acclaim were the best sellers when I was working. Whatever you choose needs to have an adulticide (eg permethrin) and an insect growth regulator (IGR) in it to tackle both adults and pre adult stages.

I hope you get it sorted soon

Spray Indorex everywhere after hoovering all the soft furnishings. If they aren't going outside you could invest in Seresto collars (about £25 but last 9 months, not quick release though) Bravecto spot on (vet only) has the same active ingredient I think and lasts 3 months. Advantage stopped working for us too.

Thanks everyone, we await the arrival of Indorex!

I raised it to the vet and they said it was just us not treating the house, but see this and other posts on Advantage I am not convinced.