Is there a less stressful way to treat for fleas?

[floorchid]

Mr Potato is a rescue and a bit skittish. Over time he has settled down and trusts us enough to come and sit with us for cuddles, but as soon as anyone makes a sudden move, he's out the door and over the horizon. He is also the most flea-prone cat I've ever had, so regular flea treatments are a must. The trouble is he HATES the treatment. It's a spot on the back of the neck - I don't know if it stings, or he doesn't like the smell, or what he hates. But I feel like we spend all this time creating a safe, nice place for him to relax only to betray him every 4 weeks.

I tried distracting him with one of those tubes of treaty mush and did the treatment, and now if he sees a treaty tube, he runs away. Another time he was on his favourite blanket when I did it, and now he doesn't trust blanket and won't sit on it.

It has to be done. but I feel so bad for him. Any advice or ideas?

I'm not keen to experiment with different brands because we found other brands were less good and he still had fleas. We've had to flea bomb twice since he moved in.

It is very difficult. I have 2 cats, one is fine with the treatment, the other hears me opening the packet and is off like a shot! I wondered if it hurts, but since one is ok, it can't surely?

Have you tried the cat calming diffusers? I think you can also get supplements to help relax them but you'd need to research this.
Also, cats love valerian, like it's better than catnip, so maybe distract with something like that on a small toy (in tiny amounts).

Regarding actually giving the treatment I would just make it as quick as possible, followed up by a really tasty treat.

Oh, huge sympathies as my former semi-feral is exactly the same. I nearly changed to Bravecto which is 3-monthly but didn't want to risk a reaction as she has had transient neuro reactions to some spot ons.

I know it doesn't actually hurt her as once (out of the 48 times I've now done it) she didn't realise I'd done it and didn't react. But every other time it's a right palaver with a day of looking at me from afar with intense disappointment, followed by a day or 2 of jumping away every time I go near her neck or go to pick up something small when she's with me.

I had tablets that I could put in food. However my girl just doesn’t clear her dish so drops it is for her. She hates it and I hate doing it.

Sorry I don’t have any advice because my cat is similar and unfortunately we just have to grab her to do it.. she is fairly forgiving though
I know you don’t want to switch brands but I have got one from the vet which is flea and worm in one and it lasts 3 months.. at least it might cut down on the stress?

I wish I could bribe or distract mine but she isn't foody at all, Feliway had no effect, and she's immune to catnip and the like. She doesn't make things easy!

Ahh okay, so it's no unusual. That's good to know.
Our other cats in the past have never felt particularly strongly about the treatment. None of them especially liked it, but it wasn't a drama.

And lol, yes! The hurt looking from afar with disappointment!!

More helpfully, I get the tube ready and open and leave it on my bedside table, at an opportune moment I gather up dcat and plop her on the bed, and apply while holding her as best I can as she goes full on honey badger.

If your cat can't have the spot on neck treatments and tablets are hard to get down, other options are a 6 monthly 'Programme' Injection (about £90 from larger vets) or credelio (monthly tablet which must taste good as my fussy cat will eat it by choice in a bowl of cat biscuits).

Thank you for this.
Visiting the vet is FAR more stressful than anything else, so that's out. But I'll do some research on the tablets. Might be an option if they're effective.

Get the 3 month version from the vet

I have a phial of the 3 months one but am hesitant because my cat obviously feels dreadful after a spot on. Hence trying it - vet suggested she'd probably still feel horrible but it's less frequent!
Do you find your cat is ok with it?

Sorry no advice, but I just had to say that Mr. Potato is one of the best names for a cat I've ever heard! 👏👏👏

Years ago used to use food grade diatomaceous earth sprinkled frequently on beds, carpets and a little on back of tail where fleas hide
Not loads and meant to wear a mask but I had mine in a little flour shaker and didn't bother. Probs bad
I used to leave it and hoover it up day or two later
Helped me kindof prolong it out so wasn't treating all the time and stressing dcat out

Have you tried using Zylkene to make Mr Potato a bit more relaxed? I used it on my grumpy and quite frankly evil tortie and she became (dare I say it) positively mellow?

@Scampuss I think you made the right decision not changing to Bravecto: it triggered some sort of horrible reaction in our cat, but apparently only after it had built up in his system so we didn‘t work out the cause for over two years. In the meantime he groomed his entire stomach raw because it must have hurt him so much. I had tests done and got a behaviourist in, put him in an exclusion diet, all no good. Changing from bravecto was the last option, even though the vet said it couldn‘t be that. But it was, and now his fur has grown back again. I would take any other spot-on over Bravecto now. We‘re currently on Felpreva (not in the UK), which is also a flea/worm combi every 3 months.

Your poor cat glad you worked out what it was. To be fair, though, it does work fine for most cats. Mine is fine with Advantage for fleas, so I'm sticking to that! And she has a worming tablet.

The spot on flea treatment tastes horrible.
Yep, from skin to mouth in seconds.

And yes, I discovered this myself through a bungled attempt when one of mine went full honey-badger. Love this term, thank you @Scampuss !

My poor lad cowers if I even open the cupboard where the drops live - so I don’t keep anything I use a lot in there (the things we do for our cats!).

You just have to do the thing, sorry.

The spot on flea treatment tastes horrible.
Yep, from skin to mouth in seconds.

It does indeed taste horrible, as I found out (more than once, fool that I am) when I took the lid off with my mouth as I was holding the honey badger, hence why I now take the lid off in advance!

You do just have to be really quick and assertive, and hope some of the stuff goes in the right place.

Bravecto lasts for three months and is available on prescription from your vet, but your vet will insist on seeing the cat twice a year for a health check.

I'm enrolled in a health plan that covers the Bravecto, Drontal wormer, and health checks.

We have Felpreva in the UK too 😊

Credelio tablets will be your new best friend. Pop it on the floor with a couple of dreamies and watch it magically disappear. I have given it to three strays so far, plus DD has given it regularly to her own cat.

Do they still make flee collars? My childhood cat had one and seemed to accept it. Sorted the flee problem.

He came with the name. We planned to change it because it seemed a bit of a joke name... perhaps a little disrespectful? But it suits him perfectly and once we got to know him, it would have felt rude to change it! I think people just become their names and vice versa.