Are there any effective non prescription flea treatments?

[Fleahelpneeded]

Gah! Both the cat and the dog have fleas and the vet can’t see them to prescribe anything until next Friday! New regulations are apparently in force from 1/09/23 that the vet has to see the pet to prescribe and then can prescribe for 12 months without seeing them again.

clearly I have no one to blame for this but myself, I’ve been very cavalier in my flea treatment routine… but waiting over a week to get flea treatment seems like forever!

can anyone recommend something effective I can buy without seeing the vet? I know a lot of over the counter treatments aren’t very good…

just waiting on my Amazon order (first one arrived yesterday and my neighbour took it in and promptly went away for the weekend!! So I’ve re-ordered.)

I’ve gone for the Beaphar one for cats and dogs. Fingers crossed it works, I feel pretty disgusting about it all…)

Fipronil based products like frontline arrived on 1989 and their kill time for fleas and ticks of 24-48hrs was revolutionary and seemed fabulous. Over the last 34 years the way our pets live in our houses has changed and peoples tolerance to seeing an live fleas has decreased. So the kill time of up to 48 hours is perceived as it not working.
The really modern products have 6 hour kill time, advantage is around 18 hours hence why they are preferred.

Yes!! I had to use the frontline spray, isn’t cheap but you can see the fleas jump off 😂 it’s the only thing that worked. Then Indorex all round the house and furnishings

Advantage is supposed to be good for treating fleas and doesn't need a prescription. It doesn't treat any worms though so you'd need a separate wormer.

Advocate which is combined flea/wormer is prescription only and has the same Flea killing ingredient as Advantage.

I use stronghold plus from the vet and again it is a combined flea/wormer and prescription only. I take my cats for annual vaccinations and then I'm ok to get monthly treatments as the cats have been seen within the year