Fleas

IMPORTANT: If your cat is in any distress or discomfort, please consult your own vet as your first priority.
Post Reply
melshop
Frequent Cat Chatter
Posts: 29
Joined: Sat Nov 07, 2015 11:52 am
No. of cats in household: 1

Fleas

Post by melshop »

A little bit of advice needed, in the past one of my cats got fleas, I treated the house, treated him, and all was well, I moved into a new property with a flea infestation, treated it, and all was well. Fast forward a few years and recently after a visit to a new cat groomer my indoor house cat got fleas, he practically lives in my bedroom, not using many of the other rooms in the house. I stupidly was not using a flea prevention as he never goes out, lesson learned.

I have treated him with a treatment from the vets, who also sold me a spray to treat the house, I can no longer see any fleas on him and I groom him most days. I threw all his blankets away, and laundered all the bedlinen, I have 2 flea traps that are on 24 hours a day, the ones with a little lamp and a big sticky pad in, they both caught a few at first, now very little/nothing, I am hoovering every day and spray the hoover bag with the flea spray and immediately close the hoover, to kill any that may get sucked in. 10 days later and I am still getting bitten. Is this normal and was I just lucky on the other cases where my previous cat got them (he was an outdoor cat) and it cleared up quickly.

I am one of those people who react badly to bites, my husband is not getting bitten now, so it would seem it is just my bedroom that has the problem , how long am I looking at to get rid of them, am I just being impatient, I am planning on re-spraying the house this weekend.
User avatar
Mollycat
VIP Cat Chatter!
Posts: 2705
Joined: Mon Feb 25, 2019 10:58 am
No. of cats in household: 1
Location: UK

Re: Fleas

Post by Mollycat »

I think if my cat came home from a groomer's with fleas I would be pretty upset and making complaints. That said, they breed fast but not that fast, so to get a full-on infestation taking so long to clear, something seems wrong.

Check with the vet who sold you the spray if it's possible they have become resistant to those chemicals. Is it meant to just kill the adults, or break their breeding cycle, or both?

Also, where is the indoor cat while you're spraying the whole house with pesticides? Does the spray claim to be safe for use while the pet is in the house, or are you removing the cat when you treat the house?

Did the cat get a one off treatment or several regular ones?

I had two indoor cats, one brought a single flea back from the vets and I gave them each one treatment and did nothing to the house and that was the end of the story. I now have one indoor cat and a dog, the dog is treated about twice a year when we remember and we've never had a problem or found any flea dirt on the cat's white bed where it would really show up. My cat has had 3 doses of flea stuff in 8 years, and I'm not houseproud, I certainly don't vacuum every week. So yes I would say something is not quite right.
melshop
Frequent Cat Chatter
Posts: 29
Joined: Sat Nov 07, 2015 11:52 am
No. of cats in household: 1

Re: Fleas

Post by melshop »

Thanks for the reply.

He went to the groomers at the end of July, and 2 weeks later I assumed he had a skin problem as he had some dry skin near his tail, so booked him in at the vets, only for the car to break down, and have to put the appointment off for a week, as it seemed really minor I didn't think it would be a problem waiting. If the groomer had spotted fleas I sure they would have told me, so it was either from them or just plain old back luck. So all this happened rather quickly, but I put it down to the warm weather.

I have just re-sprayed the house again. The spray I am using is RIP fleas extra, which I have used in my old house, and the vet treatment for fleas Advocate. I make sure he is in a room not being treated, and air my bedroom before he is allowed back in as per the instructions, he does not wander around the house really and generally live in one room, apart from using his litter tray, so I am lucky there.

Looking at the flea spray site, it says
" if you are still seeing fleas and/or getting bitten this is more than likely due to the pupal window effect. No environmental flea spray is effective against pupae, so new adult fleas will continue to emerge from the pupae into the environment after spraying. Once the adult fleas emerge, they will be killed by both R.I.P. Fleas Extra and the product you have applied to your pet. Depending on the severity of the infestation, it can take several months to fully resolve"

My other problem is I am highly allergic to insect bites anyway, I end up with terrible rashes and react far worse than normal, I get hospitalized when bitten by wasps. Fingers crossed this will stop soon, I will be calling the vet early next week if I am still getting badly bitten.
Rainbowroad90
New Cat Chatter
Posts: 2
Joined: Wed Sep 29, 2021 9:01 pm

Re: Fleas

Post by Rainbowroad90 »

Hi! Just wondering how you got on with the fleas? I've been tackling them for 2.5 weeks now. Treated the cats with Broadline from the vets which they recommended (wish I didn't as I don't think it worked), constantly hoovering and also sprayed the house with 3 different sprays over this period of time. I'm still finding fleas on them maybe 2 or 3 a day but they're due to go into the cattery a week today and I really want them to be gone. Obviously if they still had fleas I wouldn't leave them in but I'm wondering if I used a capstar tablet the day before and that day if they would be OK to leave in? I gave ordered advantage and planned to use it on Monday 3 weeks after the broadline treatment, one vet said no and another said yes so I don't know what to do!
Post Reply