Cat Chat Feline Forum

Hi everyone, a couple of weeks ago I treated my two cats with spot-on flea treatment, a Frontline one.
However, they still seem very itchy, and are scratching so much they are leaving tufts of fur around. Their skin doesn't seem too sore, and I can't see any fleas - and I'm not being bitten myself. Has anyone else ever know Frontline not to work? Or is there something else I might be missing that I could do for them, before putting them through the trauma of the vet?

Thanks in advance.

I changed from Stronghold to Broadline earlier this year as the Broadline treated more types of worms as well as fleas, after a couple of months I went in and asked for more Stronghold as the cats were still scratching. Broadline and Frontline both use the same active ingredient for fleas, Stronghold uses a different one.

I have seen mention that there is some possibility that that specific insecticide isn't as effective as it once was, I mentioned it to my own vet when one of my cats was in for a booster and he said that some fleas did seem to be building a resistance to it, however when I went with my mother to have her cat vaccinated etc, the vet recommended Broadline and when I queried it totally denied any issues with it. I guess the jury is still out on that one.

My first suggestion would be to get a box of Stronghold from your vets (it is prescription only so it has to come from the vets), explain the problem and check how quickly you could apply another round of treatment, (you don't want to overdose your cats). Stronghold is very expensive but I have found it by far the most effective treatment around.

The only other thing I could think of, is there anything in the garden they have access to that might be irritating them.

I agree with Ruth B that the Frontline may have lost its efficacy. For whatever reason, using the same spot on treatment over and over again seems to eventually result in it working less effectively. Like Ruth, we switched to Stronghold and that did the job for quite some time. When that ceased working we switched to Advantage and that's where we're at now. Of course, you'll still need to wait until the end of the four weeks to try it, but it's definitely worth trying a different treatment.

There are other possible causes - some cats experience an allergic reaction to flea bites, for example. Feel all over the skin for any small bumps that might be indicative of an allergic reaction. Another possibility is dry skin. When you groom, is there flaking in the fur? If there is, it's worth looking at a food that has a higher meat content, as foods low in meat but high in cereals can easily trigger skin problems.