Hi there, new to this site.

At the end of my, and the wife's tether, our small torteshell is plaugued with fleas. we use Frontline (advised by the vet at 2 weekly periods) and had the vet give her steroid injections (I think as its usually the wife that takes her) plus something else that I can't remember. Also spray the house and hoover regularly.

Please, any help as she's scratching herself silly.

Are you absolutely sure the scratching if due to fleas since flea-allergy is generally very responsive to steroids and it resolves fairly quickly? I assume you're using the Frontline Combi though there have been reports that this too, like the non-prescription one are proving ineffective. Also using it at two weekly intervals is a bit excessive to me!

Constant scratching can also be caused by stress, environmental and food allergies. Which areas are affected?

May I suggest that you ask your vet about a very good flea repellant called Advocate. It is a spot on that also prevents ear-mites and most types of worms.

I too was struggling with the fleas on my cats last year and no amount of Frontline or house spraying made any difference.

I tried the above mentioned product in March this year and had the best flea-free summer in years!!! It also treats the environment where the cats frequent in the house so there is no need to spray the house either.

It also only needs to be applied every 4-5 weeks.

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My girl developed a flea allergy a couple of years ago and my vet prescribes Stronghold. Providing you apply it monthly without fail, I find it works much better than Frontline/Frontline combi. My girl was also given an injection to reduce the itch, so if this was covered in the steriods it might be worth asking about, as sometimes and itch scrach cycle continues as skin becomes itchy as it dries.

You also need to limit her access to fleas. Obviously you wouldn't want to stop her going out (there won't be so many outside now anyway) but if you haven't treated the house that definitely needs doing. We obviously had fleas in the carpets a few years ago which would jump up and bite our ankles and after getting a couple of flea bombs and putting flea spray around the edges of the rooms our cats spent a lot of time, this the problem stopped.

Thanks for those ideas, I'll look into them; she goes out very rarely, the boys do but they don't seem to have the same problem.

Poor Scarlet has lots of scabs where she's scratching.

I have the same problem with my indoor cat- his brother spends most of the day outside but Oskar doesn't use the cat flap so he's in most of the time. He is the one who has the worst problem with fleas and he even got a sore mouth from washing and biting himself. I wondered if the fleas are more comfortable on him as he is nice and warm in the house and always near the carpet perhaps.
I sprayed the house with RIP and that seemed to help a lot though

A good way to check if there are fleas in the home, is to get a large tray with soapy water in it, the more soap the better, place it on the floor where you cat goes for a few hours and see if any fleas jump in. The soap prevents them from jumping back out, you could also add a tealight to the tray as this seems to attract them.

I tried this a few years ago when my two had fleas and it does work.

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It's all about the bobski

i agree with all the above frontline has been used for our lot for years but weve also had to change it seems to be less effective!!!