Need an prescription flea treatment- can’t get the cat out of the house

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My cat has a horrible travelling anxiety. If she’s forced to leave the house, she defecates all over herself, cries, shakes and attacks us.

she hasn’t been to the vets in two years because when I try and get her out she has had an absolute panic to the point where we have missed the appointment.

she’s a house cat, on great food and no issues. Vet has said there isn’t a huge need for vaccs so I haven’t pushed the issue.

anyway- dog has come back from the groomer with fleas. She now also has fleas.

whilst prescribing my dog’s flea treatment as OTC isn’t shifting the issue, he said the cat needs her feline equivalent but he can’t prescribe without seeing her.

is there an online vet pharmacy who can do this online, and maybe watch me weigh the cat on the scales? She is in lovely condition and healthy.

Online vet service that can prescribe seem to exist, but I've never used one.

You could ask your vet for a small prescription of gabapentin to sedate her before taking her to the surgery. They will usually prescribe this before seeing the pet, as a what to make it possible. I'm surprised your vet hasn't suggested this?

Home visit vets exist but you pay a premium.

Just pay for a home visit.

We have mobile vets here that come to the house. Where are you

Ah, apparently the RCVS guidelines require a direct physical exam before prescribing any medication for parasites, including fleas. So no online option.

You can buy Advantage online from Viovet or Zooplus without prescription and in some pet shops I think. It contains Imidacloprid which is also in Advocate which is prescription only. It works on our cats which go outdoors but I know some people have found fleas might have developed immunity in some areas. Otherwise you could try combing if your cat doesn’t mind being groomed. Combine with Indorex defence spray on carpets otherwise you are just deferring the problem until later. It is the only carpet treatment that I have found works.

Could you find a vet that does home visits. Or one that will give you a dose of gabapebtin to calm them down so they can travel?

You can't buy online without a prescription. I wouldn't bother with Advantage. See if the vet can prescribe Gabapentin to calm her down.

You can buy advantage online without a vets prescription, it works very well

You can buy it online. It used to work well. It no longer does. Fleas have become resistant.

I echo the Gabapentin suggestion. It works well to calm my cat down.

Another vote for Gabapentin. Tobias is due bloods & a check up tomorrow, and he is NOT keen on being picked up let alone crated. I'll rephrase that - last (and only) time I tried to crate him a) on my own and b) without Gabapentin I splashed so much blood on the floor from bites and scratches that it took me forever to clean up the 50p sized splashy spots let alone the almost constant stream of blood linking them. He IS a very anxious ex-stray...

Tonight they will get a very reduced supper then I'll shut him into their bedroom with tasty Tuna laced with Gabapentin and no other food (he does have water, litter tray, a double bed, cat beds on that, scratching post, cat tree etc). In the morning I'll go in with more Gabapentin laced treats, then hopefully a couple of hours later he should be dopey enough so DSiS & I can trap & catch him.

Thanks all

they won’t prescribe a sedative without a physical either - so we are a bit stuck

Many other vets will. Gabapentin is a remarkably safe drug for cats. Your vets don’t sound terribly helpful.

Pay for a home visit.

I’d pay for a house visit. Our cat had gabapentin prescribed but it never worked very well, his anxiety would still make any examination extremely difficult.

A vet recommended this one for my cat recently, no prescription needed.
https://www.vetuk.co.uk/flea-treatments-for-dogs-and-cats-vectra-c-3_2477/vectra-felis-spot-on-for-cats-3-pack-p-42144

My dog had fleas, it seemed to work