Flea problem?

Question

Hi I'm looking after the family's cats this week and one of them has teribble fleas. His quite an old cat and has been unwell recently and is a sieamies. The other cat we have is a moggy and doesn't seem to be affected by the fleas. I am using a flea comb on the both twice a day and they have both been treated with the drops for fleas and ticks that go on the back of their necks. However this is not working for my older cat.

Can any one surgest anything I can do to help him. We live in the middle of no where and can't take him to the vets until the rest of the family return. His specail old cat as he is my nan's.

Answer 1

stronghold from the vets but until you can get there, get some cotton wool and dilute one part vinegar to two parts water and rub on getting to the base of the coat, it doesn't smell good but might help afterwards coomb thro really well with flea coomb. wash their bedding and hoover everywhere including under furniture daily but you will need to get them to a vet as soon as is possible

Answer 2

What drops are you using? If they're from a pet shop I'm not a bit surprised they're not working.

Go to the vets to get some of their treatment - Frontline, Advantage and Stronghold/Revolution have all been suggested on here, and they're all good. Frontline is the one that particularly gets my vote, although I like Revolution too - soaks in much easier to is much easier to apply, and it treats tapeworms too, which can be caught from fleas.

If one cat has fleas, the other will too - and they will be in your environment. If you can deal with this current problem, use of Frontline Plus/Combo every 6 weeks on both cats will treat both them and the environment.

You don't need to take the cats in to the vets, you can just pop in and buy over the counter. If you're using Frontline drops, you just need to make sure you part the fur and get it all on the skin, and if it's regular Frontline you will need to spray the environment too to be flea-free.

NB Combing will not get rid of fleas, they'll just hop right back on unless you treat the environment and use a preventative treatment. Combing is really only for removal of dead fleas, and for proving to people that their cat has fleas!

Chalice

Answer 3

Not many people know that fleas dont actually live on cats they just jump on to feed then jump off again. What might be the best idea is to treat the house rather than the cat. The best treatment I have found is Virbac Indorex, this kills adult fleas and dontrols growth of eggs and larvae for up to a year while killing dust mites too. Go to www.vetuk.co.uk and a large can 500 ml that you spray carpets, beds (especially around the edges which is where they love the most) is only £10.99 and they will post it to you.

Answer 4

The best way to get rid of the fleas if they seem to be too many to do with the flea comb is using special flea shampoo you get from the vets.
(thats if u can manage to bath the adult cat.)

Where i live the vet shampoo isnt always available. so my vet tells me to use HEADLICE shampoo (from local pharmacy).. it seems to do the same job.

you bath and shampoo the cat with the headlice shampoo then wash out then make sure to wrap it in a towel.. and dry it well..

while wrapped up you may notice that a few fleas start crawling to the face as you dont wash the face..

try as much as you can to catch these by picking them off the cats face or head.. or else theyll just stay aroung that area or crawl back to the body and youve still got your flea problem..

Good luck.

Answer 5

I have 2 cats and a puppy and the heat and humidity of VA drives the fleas population up. I have been using Advantage for years and it works wonders. It works so well because when the feas bite the animal it kills the flea... it also works on the fleas that are in the home and where ever the animal hangs out. You will notice a dramatic difference in days.
The directions say to use the product monthly, but I have found that quarterly applications work in my home. (All animals are indoor/outdoor).
I have found that PetShed is a little cheaper on pet meds. NOTE: It is an Austrailian company and they use dollars, but you will see the exchange difference on your credit card. http://www.petshed.com/

Answer 6

Maybe it wasn't a strong enough dose Larger cats need more. Fleas can make the cat ill and if it isn't feeling good already and is old this can be serious.Phone the vet and see if somehow he can get a remedy through to you.. a.s.o.p.For a charge which isn't too much it might be worth asking the vet to visit you if it's going to save the cat from suffering.

Answer 7

You need to go to the vet and get him some Frontline Spray for flea and ticks. You spray it on the cat and it will kill ALL fleas on them and will repeal them for a month and (this is your problem) when you cat goes to lay in their favorite spot and they shed hair they will shed hair that has this spray on it, which will get down into the floor and kill the flea eggs. This means you don't have to go threw your entire house and wash all bedding and fabric, sweep floors and vaccum (and throw away the bag) and make sure there are no flea eggs. Try it, it is worth it.. Its $34 a bottle, which will last at least 6 months for one cat and it is easy to use. It is the only thing I would use on my cats.

Answer 8

Frontline really is the best treatment, but you need a prescription from the vet to get this. Until you can get to the vet I would suggest a good quality flea collar, it will kill any fleas that come in contact with it.

Answer 9

Adams flea spray works really well and can be used with the topical flea preventative. You can buy it a Pet Smart or on line.You did'nt specify which type of topical you use, but the store bought kind does not work. You will have to be sure to treat his bed and the house ( if he stays indoors ), or the flea eggs that have fallen from him will hatch and reinfest everything. Good Luck.

Answer 10

the only thing that will work is Advantage. HTe buy it in the store kind isn't strong enough. You can take the cat to the vet and get a perscription or order it online

http://www.1800petmeds.com/pselect.asp?LV=200&PG=Advantage&AFFID=OV&ID=19259484

Kill the fleas while you have the cat because once it's gone there will still be fleas in your house nad they're nearly impossible to get rid of. We had some hop into our split level place. We bomded it once and called Terminex twice.....they seemed to die out once it got cold....we're hoping that was it and there aren't a bunch of eggs in our carpet. So far os good.