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I have a cat that is ultra sensative to fleas. I have used both advantage and frontline on him and he has fleas within 2-4 days again! He constantly scratches and licks. He is almost white, I have always had dark cats and never had this problem with any of them. Any suggestions would be great.
Well, I used to have the same problem. I had a cocker spaniel and two shorthaired cats at the time. It has nothing to do with colour. My cats were black (not really black more of a really dark reddish brown that only showed in the sunlight.) and a ginger tabby. The cocker was blond.
Is your cat an outdoor cat? It is really strange that you use both frontline and advantage. I don’t know what to tell you. Unless, the fleas are now resistant to both those chemicals. But, remember fleas don’t spend that much time on your cat. I used to tell my clients that had fleas if you find one on your pet there will be 99 in your carpet! Ewww…
What we used to do is this, we would take the pets to a groomer or a vet for a flea dip. While they were there we would treat the house. Vaccuum everything. Then throw out the vaccuum bag if it’s bagged, if it’s not then throw the dirt outside. Then treat everything. Baseboards, carpet (especially carpet, that’s where they’ll lay the eggs), etc. Or get a professional to do it.
I hope this helps. I find outdoor pets get them really bad. If I think of anything else I’ll let you know.
For indoors, I recommend sprinkling borax on the carpet. You can find it as ’20 Mule Team’ among the laundry soaps in your local grocery store. It dries out out the fleas. Leave it a couple of days, then vacuum. Repeat as needed. I suggested it to a friend and she said it helped.
For the cat, try a smidge of garlic powder in her food every few weeks. Fleas don’t like garlic flavored blood. Just remember that too much garlic is bad them. So you might feel better finding cat treats that have garlic in them or try a homemade treat recipe (lots on the web).
Also, if your cat doesn’t mind baths (yea, I know, that’s a long shot), if you can keep the body submerged for 10-15 mins, the fleas drown.
The biggest thing to remember is to continually repeat whatever measures you take. Fleas can lie dormant for a long time, so you can never assume that you got rid of them.
I’m sorry I have to disagree with garlic. Here is why:
There is substantial research suggesting that garlic, in dogs and cats, can cause serious problems, even death in some animals. First, garlic has been demonstrated to cause anemia in some dogs and cats. This is a serious blood illness, and it’s just not worth the risk to get rid of fleas. Second, garlic is extremely bad for your pet if it happens to be diabetic. Yes, many pets are diabetic – just like with humans, only their diet often keeps it from being a problem. Garlic, however, will aggravate insulin problems and may well kill your dog or cat if it happens to be one with a hidden diabetes problem. This is just too dangerous to do as a remedy without consulting your vet. At any rate, the risk from chemicals in a flea powder is far lower than that of garlic.
Stollen from: http://www.fleascontrol.com/how-to-kill-fleas.htm
I have researched alot of things to do with pet diet and health, and I’ve found garlic is not a great additive for pets. (Maybe your pet won’t be harmed but, is it worth the risk?)
Whatever you do be carefull about adding things to a pets food. Research, ask vets etc first. It might save your pets life! Plus my Grandmas dog was always on garlic and he had fleas from the first to the last day of his life!
You can also try a different flea preventive brand. We use Revolution on our cats and it covers a little more than frontline and advantage, since those two stopped working on our cats after a while too.
You can get it from your Vet as long as they carry it.I was going to suggest a different flea med, too. There is a shot out there now, right? You can ask your vet about it… I dont remember the name…fleas are not such a problem over here… only ticks. I think it lasts a few months.
I hate using chemicals if I can avoid it.
DE works really well. I’ve used it before. Just use a mask while applying it, and then run the vacuum (still wearing a mask) and you’ll be great. After application and a vacuum it sticks in your carpet (it’s tiny so static is at work here) so it won’t ‘poof’ up like dust. It can last a year before you need to replace it. Can’t say that about flea meds! Best part is that it kills all bugs, not just fleas. Just make sure you get food grade DE, not the stuff they sell at pool supply stores.http://www.ghorganics.com/DiatomaceousEarth.html
Like any product, do your research and find out if it is the best solution for you or not. 🙂
By the way, every one of you reading this has eaten food grade DE. They put it in flours, grains, and legumes of human food to kill any pests or grain weevils. 😉
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My art: featherdust.comThanks for the info on DE. I’ll have to look into that. Here in Florida, flea control is a year round battle.
Make sure that you are treating your entire house! Frontline and Advantage will kill the fleas that get onto the pet, but does nothing for the ones in the carpet, which are probably one ones reinfesting your kitty.
Vacuum thoroughly. In corners, under things, couches and chairs where kitty sleeps, etc. Wash (and dry!! Drying in the dryer is important here!) all bedding. Kitty’s bedding, your bedding, blankets, etc. that kitty may have come into contact with.
Treat your house. Call an exterminator, or Frontline comes in a spray bottle that you can use as a house treatment. It’s healthier than flea bombs, and you don’t have to leave the house while you use it. It might be a little more expensive, but it’s worth it.
Make sure Kitty is not getting a bath 48 hours before or 48 hours after an application of Frontline or Advantage. The skin and hair needs time to dry and replenish the oils that spot on products use to spread over the skin.
For a quick, better-than-a-dip treatment for adult fleas, ask your vet for a six day course of Capstar (6 pills). One pill, once a day, will kill all adult fleas on kitty. It starts to work within 30 minutes.
Make sure you’re getting Frontline Plus (Topspot has been shown to have some resistant fleas). As a last ditch effort, Revolution is another alternative, and so is Sentinel or Program. Sentinel is Interceptor (a heartworm preventative) and Program in one tablet. It *does* have a feline dose!
You still have several options left, but do make certain you have thoroughly treated your house, or you will continue to have problems.
Where I live you have to have a dog or cat on heartworm preventative year round and I use Sentinel – it is a prescription drug – it also contains a flea preventative. I have had my chow on the doggie version since he was 9 months old and he has never had a flea.
Nambroth wrote:I hate using chemicals if I can avoid it.
DE works really well. I’ve used it before. Just use a mask while applying it, and then run the vacuum (still wearing a mask) and you’ll be great. After application and a vacuum it sticks in your carpet (it’s tiny so static is at work here) so it won’t ‘poof’ up like dust. It can last a year before you need to replace it. Can’t say that about flea meds! Best part is that it kills all bugs, not just fleas. Just make sure you get food grade DE, not the stuff they sell at pool supply stores.http://www.ghorganics.com/DiatomaceousEarth.html
Like any product, do your research and find out if it is the best solution for you or not. 🙂
By the way, every one of you reading this has eaten food grade DE. They put it in flours, grains, and legumes of human food to kill any pests or grain weevils. 😉
WOW!! I have not heard of DE in years since I left the pool industy!! I remember hearing it too back then.
DE actually rips up the insides of the bugs when they try to eat it so I was toldI actually have a friend who is having problems with fleas in her house so I passed this information along to her as well. Hope your flea problem is going away wolflodge100!
DE does work; I believe it acts as a dessicant. Flea larvae are tiny little caterpillar-like creatures; they live in carpets, stuffed furniture, dirt (especially dirt), and leaf litter, and eat organic debris . . . especially adult flea poo. But because the larvae are soft-bodied, they need humidity. DE sucks up the water in the carpet, leaving it too dry to support the larvae. In the desert, the only time of year we had to worry about fleas was in the summer, when everyone used their swamp coolers. The swamps added enough humidity to the air to allow the flea larvae to survive.
I think Borax slices up the larvae (bwahaha 😈 ). And I’m sure that if the larvae eat DE or Borax, then it would be very hard on their innards.
Flea control: I grew up in San Diego, flea capital of the state. For a bad flea problem (meaning either lots of fleas, or a pet that is very sensitive like your kitty), a three-pronged attack is best.
First part is Advantage or Frontline, which kills about 95 to 98% of the fleas that actually bite your pet. It doesn’t stop the biting, which means that your pet is still scratching. And some of the adults survive long enough to lay eggs. We need to go after those eggs!
Second part is Program. It can be used with Advantage, no problem; not sure about Frontline, but your vet will know. Program causes the fleas that bite your pet to lay eggs with damaged shells, most of which don’t hatch. It does nothing to the adult fleas, but it cuts way back on flea larvae.
Third part is environmental control, which would be DE, Borax, or even good old Pest Control. This is to wipe out any surviving larvae that are living in your home. Have a Pest Control flea consultant come out and check your home and yard over: they can point out where the flea larvae are able to live, so that you can target those areas.Remember that flea eggs can live for a long time in a dormant state. Also, it’s critical to treat ALL pets in the home! Otherwise, the fleas will continue to survive with their “safe” food source. Truly eliminating fleas (as opposed to just cutting their population back) takes a long time and can be really frustrating, but it’s worth it. Hang in there!
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