Any vets online?

[MyneighbourisTotoro]

Hi!

My mum has lived in her current home for 7 years and never had any issue with fleas but suddenly her (indoor only) cats seem to have an infestation.

She went out to buy flea treatment but accidentally bought a repellent instead of a treatment that kills them.

We phoned the company to ask how long we have to wait before giving them the proper treatment, they advised us to phone the vet and give them the ingredient list and they should be able to give us treatment options. Unfortunately the vet said as they don’t deal with the product she used they can’t advise us.

The ingredients of the repellent are:

Ethyl Butylacetylaminopropionate 9.8% W/w, Margosa Extract 3.0% W/w, Lavandin Oil 0.5% W/w

Would it be safe to give them a proper flea treatment now or do we need to wait 4 weeks?

Thank you!

That is alcohol and some essential oils no actual flea killing drugs. If I had examined the cat and was happy it was otherwise healthy I would be happy to use certain prescription flea treatments immediately.
But all of that is on the basis of a clinical examination meaning the cat is under my care.

I agree with @Lonecatwithkitten

OP you should book in with a vet or vet nurse to have a proper appointment, get a prescription flea product and also some treatment for the house. It'll be hooching with eggs and they'll just hatch out and jump back onto the cat if you don't manage that too.

I've seen some cats with dangerous levels of anaemia because of uncontrolled flea infestations and usually the owner tells me at the same time they're buying this repellent crap. It's such a waste of money for the poor owner who then has to seek proper treatment. I wish trading standards would just ban them to be honest xx

This has useful info

icatcare.org/advice/fleas-and-flea-control-in-cats/

@nowaynotnownotever I agree! I wished she’d given me a chance to help her buy the correct treatment, I let her know to pop to the vets.
Thank you both!

Oh and she is testing the house, we have flea furniture and carpet treatment plus she is using a steamer on everything to kill any eggs and she is doing it daily.

*not using the treatment daily, I meant she is using the steamer daily!

Great hope you get it sorted! They are little buggers to get rid of, just me persistent!

Heat encourages them to breed?

Did she put repellent on the cats or in her home?