I am I being flea-ced?

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exlibris
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I am I being flea-ced?

Post by exlibris »

Sorry, terrible, terrible pun.
I had been let to believe that you had to be really careful with flea treatment and kittens. The vet agreed to supply the stuff if we gave accurate weight amounts for Winston and Whisper. We have a baby scale so we able to give an accurate reading of 2.3kg and 2.8kg. The vets have suggested for 3 pipettes of 2.5kg or lighter treatment, and 3 pipettes of 2.5kg-5kg treatment would come to a total of £63.35! I neglected to ask the brand, and this could be some super-dooper stuff, but I always used Effipro for Backy and Twitch and that was £9 for 4 pipettes.
I'm starting to think that all this emphasis on their weight is irrelevant (as they're both over 2kg) - I've just read the Effipro leaflet and it says 1kg is the minimum, so Winston and Whisper could have it no problem at all. The Effipro was prescribed for our previous cats, so it's not naff stuff from over the counter (....I think...).
Am I missing something? Why was the vet being so cautious?
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Re: I am I being flea-ced?

Post by booktigger »

I have to say while I was fostering, we'd use frontline spray until around 8 weeks and then frontline spot after that unless there was a really tiny kitten (can only remember 1 who wasn't close to 1 kg at 9 weeks), and never had any issues nor did the vets give any special treatment although I know other vets did, we got one litter handed in with kitten stronghold
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Mollycat
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Re: I am I being flea-ced?

Post by Mollycat »

Fleas do evolve resistance to some products though so new protocols are always going to appear and the old best stuff won't work so well any more.

Do they actually have fleas or is this precautionary?

And you can get any of the products a vet will sell you at a third to half price from internet places like VetUK or PetDrugsOnline, though if it's a prescription item you need a prescription which your vet will likely charge for.
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exlibris
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Re: I am I being flea-ced?

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Mollycat wrote: Thu Oct 03, 2019 8:44 pm Fleas do evolve resistance to some products though so new protocols are always going to appear and the old best stuff won't work so well any more.

Do they actually have fleas or is this precautionary?

And you can get any of the products a vet will sell you at a third to half price from internet places like VetUK or PetDrugsOnline, though if it's a prescription item you need a prescription which your vet will likely charge for.
They were apparently covered in fleas when we got them neutered - I big surprise because we'd only had the kittens 10 days! So the vet de-fleaed them, but they're back to scratching, so I'm guessing they've straight picked them up again from whatever they deposited the blighters in the house. I'm guessing the vet used something to deal with the immediate problem, but not dosed them for long term prevention.

The mark-up is horrific!

I'm tempted to just use the Effipro I have here. It's in date and the instructions say it should be safe to use. If these are new fleas, then hopefully they'll not be resistant. Worth a try, as we don't have £68 to throw around!
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Re: I am I being flea-ced?

Post by Mollycat »

If it's that bad you might be better treating the house not the cats. You can't eliminate fleas by only treating the cat, due to its life cycle.
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Re: I am I being flea-ced?

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As I said on the other thread, you need to find out what the vets gave them to make sure you aren't giving them too much. If it has been long enough, effipro should be fine. And yes, as others have said, you need to treat the house or you won't stop the cycle
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Re: I am I being flea-ced?

Post by fjm »

I would look for a product that is safe for kittens that size (most that have a Kittens and Small Cat formulation), and that not only kills fleas but stops them reproducing as well - that breaks the cycle over a couple of months, and gives you a good chance of getting clear of them. Fleas are increasingly resistant to the drugs in Frontline, but there are alternatives, although I have always found he prescription only flea treatments much more effective than over the counter. You may still have to treat the house though, if the nasty little bitey things are well established.
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Re: I am I being flea-ced?

Post by Ruth B »

That does sound similar to the price we pay for Stronghold from the vets, which we now is one of the more expensive ones but does seem very effective and deals with more than just fleas. While it does say to use it every month we normally get away with using it every 3 months or so, normally when we start noticing the cats scratching. I also know we could probably get a prescription and get it cheaper on line, but to be honest it is just simpler and easier to buy it from the vets. We have tried other things occasionally but they never seemed to work as well so we just kept going back to Stronghold.

If you have some treatment that is in date and you know works, and is suitable for the weights of the cats then I see no reason for not using it. Certain cheap pet shop brands are to be avoided but any good flea treatment should be fine as long as you check the details.
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Re: I am I being flea-ced?

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booktigger wrote: Fri Oct 04, 2019 7:11 am As I said on the other thread, you need to find out what the vets gave them to make sure you aren't giving them too much. If it has been long enough, effipro should be fine. And yes, as others have said, you need to treat the house or you won't stop the cycle
Sorry booktigger, I didn't know when you asked originally. I meant to reply sooner, but I forgot, sorry. I had to contact the RSPCA again, good grief was the volunteer I've been dealing with snotty at me! How DARE I suggest that my cat was infested with fleas that there was a good chance they were picked up at the shelter! Considering we got them on the 14th of September, to a house nuked from fleas but a few days before, to discover on the 24th how badly infected they were, there was a good chance it was them, and so should be warned. What backed this up was, once I'd teased the information from her, that they were last defleaed at their last injection....which turned out to be 25th July! They used Advocate, which is the usual 1 month application. So, unless the fosterer did it they were vulnerable for about a month and fleas can be trodden in by accident or picked up at the fosterer's house.
I'm going to have to retreat the house again. Grrr. It cost a fortune before, I got a fogger bomb for each room, vacuumed and washed practically everything. It was expensive and time consuming. I'm not looking forward to doing the whole thing again, but I guess I'll have to.
The vet is offering Stronghold. I'm not sure how much of a problem it will be if I use my last 2 sachets of Effipro on them, then start them on Stronghold the month after. I imagine no problem as I had to change Backy & Twitch to Effipro from Front Line with no gap (to my memory).
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Re: I am I being flea-ced?

Post by booktigger »

You should be fine, but as I said, it depends what the vet used when they were neutered
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Re: I am I being flea-ced?

Post by Mollycat »

We treated an entire 3 bedroom house with a single can of Indorex after the last resident cat died, went from seeing them hopping about to zero in one treatment. Never used bombs (though they sound like fun!) so can't compare.
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Re: I am I being flea-ced?

Post by exlibris »

Mollycat wrote: Sat Oct 05, 2019 10:00 am We treated an entire 3 bedroom house with a single can of Indorex after the last resident cat died, went from seeing them hopping about to zero in one treatment. Never used bombs (though they sound like fun!) so can't compare.
It was Johnson's veterinary dual action room fogger. Basically set it off, then run out of the room shutting the door while it continues to spray in the room.
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