Fleas!!!!!!!!I?

Question

I have 5 cats at the moment. 1 is an out side cat the rest stay inside (due to their ages). The out side cat has gone and got fleas and given them to the rest of the cats! I have put spot on stuff on the older cats and flea collars on the younger 3, but it doesnt seem to be working.

any ideas on what to try next??

Answer 1

This is so complicated.

PART ONE - Treat your cats:
Advantage and Frontline spot treatments both work well, but each works only on a certain type of flea. All the other flea collars out there are useless or dangerous. Call your vet to find out which works best in your area.

You need to bathe your cats first. Shampoo them with Dawn dishwashing liquid and leave the soapy lather on for 5-7 minutes. Be careful not to get it in your cats' eyes. Rinse them thoroughly. When they are dry apply the drops.

Even after you have treated your home (PART TWO below), you'll have to comb your cats out every day with a flea comb, as new fleas will continue to hatch out for a month from your rugs. Your set-up will be: the flea comb, a zip lock baggie, a lint roller. As you comb out each cat, stick the hair, dirt and fleas to sheets of the lint roller. When you catch a flea, quickly behead him with the flea comb, so he cannot wiggle free. Dispose of the lint sheets in the ziplock bag, and to be safe put it into a second ziplock baggie. Go on to the next cat. You'll know it when your cats are becoming cleaner. At the worst phase you'll need to do this every day or twice a day for each cat.

PART TWO - Treat your home: Do not call a pest control service. They put down some chemicals, and spray some, mostly without any consideration for the safety of you and your pets. You do not want any chemical residue left in your home, do you?
Go to Home Depot and get "foggers" or "fog bombs" of the strongest type you can. You're going to have to fog your home at least twice. But one fogger for each 1000 square feet of your home - for each session. So if you have 3000 square feet, buy 6 foggers. Be prepared to evacuate all animals and people from the house for the duration of the fogger plus 2 hours. Prepare carefully, according to instructions (cover food prep areas, put food away, turn off electricity and pilot lights, etc.) Everyone out, set up your foggers and set them off according to a plan, which will leave the door you exit from last. When the time is up, you'll need to come back in the house to open all the windows, and put on the fan, to let the air out of the house. Ventillate for 1-2 hours this way. Don't let anyone in before this has finished. Fog again in 2 weeks. (You are lucky if you can do this during the summer months!)

PART THREE - more house preparation: If you have a fair amount of carpet, this is not going to be enough to get rid of your fleas. All carpet must be washed thoroughly and vacuumed. If you have orientals, send them out for cleaning. (Don't forget the cat tree!)

Even after the carpets have been washed thoroughly and professionally, fleas may still hatch out. You'll need to vacuum the entire carpeted area of the house every day. Each day, immediately after the vacuuming is finished - remove your vacuum bag, seal it in double layer of plastic ziplock bags, and put in a new bag.

If you can buy (either on the Internet or at your vet) some spray Frontline or Advantage, put a tiny bit on a sponge and lightly rub it into some problem carpet areas. Also, you can treat a room that is isolated with carpet, by rubbing a mixture of table salt and Borax (1:1) into it, waiting 7-10 days, then vacuuming it up thoroughly.

I'm sorry to tell you all this, but you'll probably have excellent controll of all fleas within a month. You're going to think "My life is fleas!" But, this will pass and your cats will be flea-free and healthy.

PART FOUR - avoiding reinfestation: Make sure your cats get their treatment every month. We use Frontline and it is very expensive, but if we had 5 cats I would definitely use the spray (one squirt to the back of the neck skin) to save money. Comb your cats at least once a week after the fleas have passed, and keep a close eye on the situation.

Answer 2

I don't know about all those other chemicals. I do know that bathing a pet with dish soap instead of regular shampoo kills fleas. This would mean that you would have to give each cat a dish soap bath; rinse, towel dry. Then you would need to use a flea comb on their faces, around the eyes and around the ears. After one to two weeks you would need to repeat this process, because the dish soap only kills living fleas, but not the eggs. During this time the eggs will hatch. The subsequent bath will kill the newly hatched fleas. If the other things have not helped, try this. When I used a flea bath on one of my cats many years ago, there were live fleas jumping off the cat. When I used the dish soap more recently, the fleas died. An added benefit is that this is safe for kittens. Clean all kitty beds in hot water and detergent.

Answer 3

I had a HUGE flea problem last year, I tried just about everything, twice....I fumigated, collars, sprays, EVERYTHING. Then I broke down and got the expensive stuff from the vet "Advantage" I think it's called. The fleas were gone within 24 hours. Literally. Dead fleas everywhere. Wish I'd done it sooner. I think you end up saving money in the end. And you don't have to spray or anything, you just have to treat the cats. Maybe after that, just treat the cat that goes outside regularly, because the fleas will die as soon as they jump on him and he may not bring any more in to the other cats. A few may get through.

Answer 4

capstar? Is a tablet from vet that kills fleas DEAD within 7 hours. great quick fix but as soon as they go out they will pick up more. Advantage is a product that goes on once a month. It works by ....the flea in the egg is unable to form the horn it needs to open the egg. this way it never hatches. Flea treatment isnt a quick fix, to do it properly costs money. You can get vaccinations now every 6 months for your cat (program) from your vet. I recommend this but you will still need to use advantage. Their beds are an infestation. Advantage will rub off them onto their beds. helping to control the fleas. Frontline is also very good. If you have lots, you may need to bomb the house first. But there is no point doing half a job, you must have some other regular flea treatment.
Bomb house first, wash all bedding and use Advantage for ALL the cats monthly. Its the best system i have found. But who am i kidding .My cat lives on the North Shore. Hes way to stuck up to have fleas.

Answer 5

I wouldn't recommend flea collars - if the cats manage to chew them they can harm themselves. The spot stuff (Frontline) is good, but it does take a little while to kill all the fleas if you have a bad infestation. You might need to kill fleas and their eggs in the house too - use a good spray (from the vets) where the cats sleep, vacuum thoroughly, especially the bits that can get missed, such as alongside skirting boards, under cushions etc. If you can, find where the outdoor cat has picked them up (a shed, perhaps?) and treat that too. Good luck.

Answer 6

Flea collars are not the best option. You need to treat all the cats, with the spot on treatment. You haven't specified how old the younger cats are. I they are under 3 months it is best to obtain their treatment from the vet.

I have a multi-cat household and have found flea treatment can be expensive. I but mine from Wilkinson's Store for £2.99 a pack of 2 tubes and I find it works.

Good Luck

Answer 7

1. Don't ut flea collars on the young ones, and spot on ampoules are not for kittens either. they also don't work so well when there is an infestation, but as a precaution.
2. Get Frontline SPRAY (not the ampoules) , and spray all the cats according to the instructions. Don't overdose them and don't let them lick themselves or each other when they are still wet. Frontline spray can be used even at 2 days old kittens.

Answer 8

you need to treat the cats with a good quality flea control Frontline or Advantage are good. then you need to treat bedding as fleas lay their eggs off the cat. There is a spray you can get called Indorex from a vet which last for a year. spray it around furniture and bedding also by skirting boards and behind doors.
that should do the trick.. advantage lasts for a month at a time, plus if they have fleas then they will also have worms dose them with Milbemax or drontal every three months . hope that helps.

Answer 9

What kind of top spot did you put on the cats? I have found Advantage and Frontline to be the most reliable forms of flea treatment. You also may want to treat your house, and yard. If your house and yard are infested it won't matter what you put on your cats the fleas will keep coming back.

Answer 10

Get spot treatment for all the cats, then you have to spray your entire home with flea spray...wait awhile(couple of hours) then vacuum thoroughly and throw the bag away immediately. Repeat that process in 3 weeks as any eggs that you might have missed will hatch and you will be right back where you started. Also any bedding etc. must be washed and dried on hot.
Been There, Done That.
Good Luck.