cat has fleas.. help, its driving us all mad

[icandy]

my cat has acquired fleas over the last month and is climbing the walls scratching and shaking her ears.

i brought some of the Bob Martin flea spray and am trying to treat it as it is impossible to get her to take tablets or hide them in food (believe me, i have tried). My question is how often is it safe to use the spray ? I assumed it was once a week but I think it needs more than that... help, any cat lovers out there .. my poor cat is so miserable

[Mands]

Take your cat to the vet and get them to put Advocate on your cat. Then get a supply so that you can treat your cat monthly with it to keep the fleas at bay.

[fortified]

I think you'll need to get the hardcore stuff from the vet. (I'm assuming the treatment you mentioned was the stuff you can buy off the shelf in Sainso's.)

Good luck!

[butterflycakes]

advocate is fantastic you won't be disappointed with the results :)

[binary_star]

Bob Martin will not get rid of fleas no matter how much you use. Fleas are immune to that, only prescription stuff works these days.

[EDmummy]

And treat carpets, cat bedding and rugs. Otherwise you'll never get rid of them!

[KalamityKel]

Frontline Spot on works fine for our feline chums. Treatment on the back of the neck, much less stressful than spray or tablets/drops on food.

Once treated your cat shouldn't be experiencing the return of fleas so quickly. You'll have to consider treating your house/clothes/bags/under beds especially if you have carpet. There's various things you can try for the house.

[icandy]

thanks to everyone .. i am off to the vet today to get this thing sorted

[Siduhe]

Another option your vet can give you is a six monthly Program injection. Works really well and no need to reapply anything. Worth the additional cost if fleas are a real issue for you in my view.

[edcam]

As well as Frontline drops or similar, ask the vet for the spray that you use all over the floors and furniture. It works for months and is v effective. I can't remember the name but it really works. Forget anything made by Bob Martin.

[uncleglen]

If it's your cat that crapped in the middle of my grass yesterday , or half killed a bird in my garden last week then I hope the fleas suck every last drop out of it!

[binary_star]

Have been told by vets that frontline no longer works.

[KalamityKel]

That's not true at all. I think it likely a ploy to get you to spend more on other products.

[LadyDeliah]

Frontline stopped working on my dog and cat a couple of years ago. Advantage works though.

[binary_star]

KK we switched to Advantage a while ago but couldn't get any so went back to Frontline for a few treatments. To our surprise the fleas persisted (we had used this successfully for years). So we took the cats to the vet and got some other treatment - I think it was Advocate.

The vet confirmed that fleas had become immune to Frontline but said that Advantage would also work.

I have no reason to doubt this, there are threads all over the place (e.g. netmums) about Frontline no longer working.

[KalamityKel]

Works for us... *shrugs* perhaps we keep a closer eye on the biters/our feline chums don't get them too bad in the first place/we treat before it becomes an issue. Certainly not saying anything negative about other pet owners!

[LadyDeliah]

It depends on the area. The fleas in East Dulwich have apparently become immune. My cousin lives in Cambridge and it works on the fleas out there, so it depends on whether your animal has resistant fleas or not.

It worked for us, then it didn't. I hadn't become more blase about treatment, so there doesn't appear to be any other logical explanation for it's failure to work.

[emc]

I've been using Advocate on my cat for the last four months and have used the expensive vet prescribed spray all around the house that's supposed to last for 12 months. We're not getting bitten anymore and cat seems fine....but I can still see what I think is flea 'dirt' dropping off my cat (those black specks). Does this mean she still has fleas (although there's no evidence of them anywhere else)??? Driving me crazy!

[binary_star]

KalamityKel Wrote:

-------------------------------------------------------

> Works for us... *shrugs* perhaps we keep a closer eye on the biters/our feline chums don't get them too bad in the first place/we treat before it becomes an issue.

If you treat them regularly according to the schedule on the packet you should not need to 'keep an eye on the biters' as there should never be fleas 'in the first place' because treatments like Frontline are meant to kill AND prevent fleas.

It's only since Frontline stopped working that it became an issue for us.

We have not had a problem since we took our vet's advice and switched - I won't go back to Frontline, but then maybe I'm just being naive in thinking my vet isn't on one of those Advocate scams?

[pommie]

Bob Martin products are rubbish. Always get flea treatments from the vet

[the-e-dealer]

or buy them online 1/3 the price!

[binary_star]

the-e-dealer Wrote:

-------------------------------------------------------

> or buy them online 1/3 the price!

Do you know any sites that sell Advocate? We used to use Viovet which was great for Frontline but obviously no good for our cats any more.

I'm pretty sure Advocate is prescription only but would be good to find it online.

[aquarius moon]

Advocate is prescription only.

Advantage can be bought on-line. The difference being that Advocate protects against lungworm (from ingesting slugs/snails) and Advantage doesn't, although it still kills fleas.

[Mands]

I get advocate from www.vetuk.co.uk but I have to get the prescription from the vets.

[the-e-dealer]

http://www.vetuk.co.uk/pet-meds-prescription-only-advocate-for-dogs-c-21_701