Fleas, help needed!

[Rainbowroad90]

Hi everyone. It's my first time posting and I really need some help.

Monday 2 weeks ago I noticed the cats had fleas, treated them with broadline from the vets which they recommended but it hasn't worked. I'm still finding fleas now maybe 2 or 3 a day, I am hoovering 3-4 times a day, constantly putting on washes and I have sprayed the house with 3 different sprays. I feel like I am at a loss.

The cats are due to go into a cattery next Wednesday night and i really need the fleas to be gone otherwise we can't put them in. What would the advice be on giving the cats advantage on Monday (3 weeks after their broadline treatment) the giving them a capstar tablet on Tuesday and another Wednesday? Aswell as this I plan another big clean on Monday with indorex.

One vet said 3 weeks would be fine to administer the advantage spot on and she checked the ingredients of both to make sure but another said 4 weeks.

What would you do in my case reg treatment before cattery stay??

[Mollycat]

When you say you "noticed" they had fleas, sorry to say if you saw live adult fleas then they've had fleas for a long time and a lot of them. Unless you're lucky and see the first flea before it burrows into the depths of the fur, by the time you see adult fleas or humans start to get bitten, you have a well established infestation. It's going to take weeks and several rounds of treatment with prescription products to shift, or even fumigate.

Fleas aren't some great evil that proves our failure as pet owners. Fleas are a natural part of a cat or dog's life that can be kept well under control even in outdoor going and socialising cats and more easily eliminated in indoor only cats, but only if we're vigilant and get there early. To check for signs of fleas, have your cat sit on a white sheet of paper and comb a small section of fur from the root, parting the fur and looking in the roots, or ruffle the fur but it must be down to the skin. You should get at least some small particles, some might look black. A lot of this is probably dust, crumbs and general debris, but some could be flea poop. To test it, drop a little water on each black bit, give it a poke with a toothpick or needle, and if it weeps red, that's flea poop and your cat has fleas.

Anyway, that doesn't help you for a cattery next week, but that raises another question - why do your cats have to be flea-free for a cattery stay? Is it a condition of the cattery? I last had a cat stay in a cattery quarter of a century ago so I don't know, back then they wanted the cat to be vaccinated against the usual common transmissible nasties but nobody mentioned fleas, or expected cats to be completely clinically flea-free, for that matter. In fact I believe (I could be wrong) that a cattery stay is one of the most common places for cats to pick up fleas from their neighbours.

[Ruth B]

While no use for the cattery issue, there are a couple of things I want to mention.

While I would never put a flea collar on a cat, one tip i have heard is to put half of one in your hoover bag or cylinder, that way any flea eggs that get hoovered up and remain in the bag or even in the cylinder after you empty it, will be killed by the chemicals in the collar. Not a final solution but it can help get prevent anything getting out of the hoover.
The other one which might be more relevant, is that there is some alleged anecdotal evidence that some fleas are becoming resistant to the insecticide in Frontline and Broadline, we found it wasn't particularly effective when we tried Broadline and mentioned it to our vets and they said they had heard similar stories from other uses, however another vet entirely denied the whole thing as nonsense, either way it might be worth trying another flea treatment as soon as it is safe to do so.

[fjm]

My vet has stopped recommending Frontline for just that reason, Ruth. It is a pain, because you still have to wait 4 weeks after using a fipronil based product before you can use something more effective.