I have treated my cat 3 times for fleas! And he still has them! Now what?

Question

We have 2 indoor cats, that we have had for years. Now, all of a sudden, one of them has fleas! The other one doesnt, just the one cat named T.J. I dont know where T.J. is getting the fleas from. I have spent about 200 bucks in the last month on flea treatments.

First, i took him to the vet and bought Frontline flea treatment for him. (I put it on the other cat too just in case). Well, that only worked for about 1 week.

Then i took him back to the vet, and they gave him a flea dip bath. That lasted for about 2 days!

Then, we tried a different brand of flea treatment called Advantage. That didnt work at all.

Then we went back to the vet, and bought this powder that you sprinkle all over the carpets, and then vacuum up. That didnt work.

My poor cat has fleas and i dont know what else to do. I'm going broke buying the flea treamtents (they are pretty expensive). He seems to only have fleas on his face/head area and neck. What else can i do to get rid ot these dang fleas!?

Answer 1

i had this same problem awhile back in an appartment i was living in near the woods. i had 2 kittens (about a year old at the time), who didn't get fleas until we moved into our appartment. frontline and advantage are meant to kill and prevent flea infestation, so if your cat is already infested, it will kill off any live fleas who bite your cat. it does nothing for eggs that are in their fur. thats why they recommend you reapply once a month. these products are doing their job. i can guarantee it. if you've never dealt with fleas before, then you really dont' know what to expect. the reason you are still noticing fleas is because they aren't just on your cat...they're in your house, and on your other cat too! there is no way that 1 cat will have fleas and another one wont if they're both living in the same house. you need to bomb your house with flea bombs. i got mine at home depot (i bought a box of 6...depending on how large your house is will determine how many you need. it says it on the back of the box). this is the only way to get fleas out of your carpet, upolstrey, furniture, etc. they infest your house too, not just your cat.

Answer 2

It probably depends on where you live. Like if you live near the beaches in Florida there will be sand fleas. Like if you live in an apartment then perhaps animals from other tenants are bringing the fleas to you. And now with it being hot outdoors (more than usual) there will be lots more fleas than in cooler climates (or winter cold at times). I heard that dipping shortens the life of a pet so I don't do it. What I did a couple of times (not on my present pets yet) was to use Avon's "skin so soft". I can understand that pets do scratch from their tender skin drying out, and surely drying out after so many dippings. However if it's just the one cat then I would check that one cat for a nutritional deficiency or worms, have it's blood checked. You didn't say the age of the cat so I can't tell if it's age related or not but it may be that the fleas have gotten inside your pet (the cat will eat them) and (even though I've heard people say it can't happen, I know it can) could have eaten the fleas and they have had eggs inside the pet, and that will shorten your pet's life tremendously. There might be bacteria in the ears that the fleas are coming after. Or the fleas may be drawn to the dip as this cat may smell differently to the fleas (all cats have their own fragrance). Or, check your pet's teeth as there may be a problem there.

That having been said, if you have a house then get the pest control out there to spray your yard. Then you fog with Raid inside your house. Living on a first floor can be a problem and living around a lot of high grass (where you can bring the fleas indoors) can be a problem. I used to have a friend for many years who would have high grass around his place and his car sat in the middle of the high grass. Every time he arrived at my place I'd have problems with fleas. They would get into his car and into the pantlegs of his slacks and he'd bring in the fleas. seriously.

I have to add a PS...Once I bought a box of food at the grocery store. Because of the warehousing and heat of the summer ALL of their boxes of food had gotten moldy and had attracted some kind of bugs who were feeding off of the mold and larvae. I didn't know it and I put out the food for my pet. She kept swatting at her face and I didn't know what the problem was.....so check the box of food.

Another thing is that my new cat would continue to knock over her water bowl (she didn't like the tap water..since then the tap water had had an attitive and she's fine with that) but the water would get into her food....and, for whatever reason it would attract ants. I didn't notice. She kept swatting at her face and I thought she had fleas. Finally I noticed and all I had to do was to clean out the food bowl and dry it well and the ants went away. No more ants on the pet.

Answer 3

I'm surprised that Advantage didn't work! That's the best stuff. Works well for ours.

You could try fogging your house. There are products at the pet store for that. Follow directions closely. You and your cats will not be permitted back for a period of time. Also, I've used Zodiac Carpet and Upholestry Pump Spray (there's aersol too). You spray the stuff when your pets aren't on that floor or in the house. Then after get yourself out quickly before you ingest too much of the fumes and stay out it says for an hour but it's still damp after an hour so we stay out 2 hours.

Hope that helps.

Answer 4

He keeps going back to where ever he got the fleas from, and gets reinfested. You'll have to do the work, to find out where he is picking them up from. He's evidently going somewhere that the other cat isn't.
I've never heard of fleas only around one area of the body, did the vet see the cat? If not, you may want to take him in and make sure that you're treating the correct thing...
Good luck.

Answer 5

Put garlic in his food or grate some garlic and get a .99 spray bottle from wal-mart and fill it with the garlic and water and spray it on him. if he dosent like the spray, spray it into your hand and rub it into his coat