Hello.

I am in a real pickle at the moment with my two 5 month old boys!
A week after we got them, we were told by the vet that they both have fleas. We were gobsmacked!

So she gives them a spray, warns us about how fleas can cause worms, and off we go.

4 months later, and trying everything, and now i need advice!
=We tried sprays (being so young, no drops were suitable for their ages at the time nor flea collars)
-Sprayed, hoovered, treated, you name it, we did it to our flat.
-Comb them often with a flea comb. Admittedly not daily.
-Once they were old enough, we got some crappy Pets at home flea drops. No joy.
- Then we get some frontline. (Please excuse me, I am very ignorant with all of this flea business!)
- And then just this sunday gone, we took them to a professional pet groomers to have a flea bath.


I know I have to be patient with the frontline, they are due to have their 2nd lot of drops in 2 weeks.

We are so fed up for them, constantly scratching. No bald patches or anything extreme like that, but its not nice for them.

Please help! I am going to get some flea shampoo myself from Pets at home tomorrow, and try that again!

Another factor: They are currently house cats because we live on a crazy busy road.

Thank you in advance! Eep!

Are they 5 months old now or 9 months?

I don't have any experience of fleas but hopefully someone will be along with some advice soon.

__________________

If you're just using the regular Frontline try getting the vet to prescribe some Frontline Combo. It stops them breeding as well as killing the adult fleas. I know it doesn't work for everyone but our new boy brought home some pets of his own (yuck!) and since using the Combo spot-on the only fleas we've seen have been dead ones in his bed.

Avoid flea collars on your cat, although it can be useful to shove one in the vacuum cleaner bag (or chamber if it's bagless) to kill off any of the little buggers you hoover up.

While I'm fairly inexperienced in these matters I'd say if you're using Frontline it may be wise to lay off the bathing. Frontline works by concentrating in the sebaceous glands and then coats the hair alongside the cat's natural skin oil. It seems to me that too much bathing would be counter-intuitive as it would strip off this oil... I could be wrong, though!

__________________
Do not meddle in the affairs of cats, for they are subtle and will p*ss on your computer.

The Story So Far:
Spock (2010-2011), who began our love affair with kitties but whose grasp on the green cross code was sadly lacking.
Icarus (2011-...?), who loves noses more than anything else.
Mildred (2010-...?), who sings to the birds.

The twisted brainwrong of a one-off man mental.

We don't bother with Frontline (or any of the other things you've mentioned). It doesn't work for us.

Ask your vet if they're old enough for Stronghold. It's the same method as Frontline (spot on the back of the neck) and it always works for us in a single treatment.

__________________
Proud Mummy to:

Sam (born June 1999, found August 1999)
Milly (born May 1999, adopted September 1999)
Eva (born 2010, adopted us August 2011)

Oh dear doesn't sound nice at all for your fur balls and the house. We use advocate and also program (which you give orally mixed in with their food) - they do two sizes going by weight. Using both targets the flea cycle more effectively we found as I am extremely prone to bites and have an allergic reaction, however since we have been using the Program and topical, not a flea in sight. There is also an effective household spray which lasts for a year, made by a company Genitrix, hope the information might help and the problem gets sorted soon.

The last time I took mine to the vet we spoke about fleas, having always used frontline I noticed Vinny was itching and there were signs of fleas. She said I should change to Advocate as thats what they a recommending now. I always thought frontline was the best but obviously not anymore.

Totally know where you are coming from. The only thing I have found worked is program injections. With our old cats and when we lived in our old house were were registered at another vet in town and every 6 months they would have their flea jabs but then we moved house and moved to another vet who didn't do program injections so we had to rely on frontline combo which was crap and just didn't cut the mustard. We bought spray for the house you name it.

We just went round and round in a never ending cycle. It was very expensive and very frustrating especially constantly watching the cats scratch themselves silly.

The only way we got rid of the fleas in the end was when both cats passed away and got the pest control man in

We have now got new carpets, new cats and I am paranoid about getting fleas back in house. The good news is that our local vet now do program injections so yay for that!

Since the vast majority of fleas are in the environment it's extremely important to treat this as well. I used Stay-Kil from vets and found it to be very effective. Only required a few sprays in each room. Thorough vacuuming as well of all soft-furnishings-always dispose of bag contents straight away otherwise eggs etc will be incubating in there!

Hi guys.

Thank you all so so so much for all your wonderful advice!

I will definitely speak to my vet.

I did also think that washing would be no good alongside frontline treatment, but my boyfriend read somewhere that fleas drown in water??
I am also hoping that because the weather is cooling, it will be easier to control?!

Sorry - Re-read my opening post and can see the confusion! They are 5 months old, but but we got them at 9 weeks old.. and over the past 4 months we tried all those treatments etc!