Flea remedy on cats?

Question

Alright...I have been reading around and this sounds weird. Some people advise to bathe your cat in dawn dish soap. This won't hurt the cat?? My cat has fleas and honestly I have tried way too many things and nothing has worked. I have tried Frontline, Advantage, Zodiac, and also some baths.

I know that they clean oily birds off with dawn, so I guess it won't kill them, but is this alright to do for my cat? Does it have to be dawn or can it be this Seventh Generation dish soap I have that is all natural?

Answer 1

I tried FLEA AWAY for my cat and it is effective, you can buy it in any animal stores. cats should sleep in a clean place.

Answer 2

Advantage WILL work, but maybe someone didn't tell you some things about it, like you cannot bathe your cat (or dog) for several days before or after using Advantage, because it needs the oils on their skin to spread and be effective. Honestly, it is the best thing for fleas (Advantage or Frontline) and I have never heard of it not working, aside from people who put it on right after a bath when their pet's skin was dry.

Fleas have a way of all running to the cat's head when you bathe the cat, so I doubt bathing her will get rid of the fleas, even if it doesn't harm her skin. And you can't put your cat's head underwater or she will drown, so I strongly recommend Advantage again. Make sure you apply it correctly, DIRECTLY on the skin on the back of her head/neck, where she can't lick it off. I've had lots of cats and Advantage has always killed fleas within hours of being applied. Get the big cat one and make sure you put the whole tube of it on her.

Answer 3

It shouldn't hurt, but it won't help. Bathing before applying Frontline or Advantage will also inactivate the stuff.

You will be OK with Frontline OR Advantage, so long as you're doing the following things:

1) getting the treatment on the skin of the animal, not the fur
2) Treating the house as well - this is very important, 95% of the fleas are living here!!
3) don't get your flea treatments online, often they're not the real thing
4) Baths don't work. and as I said, will deactivate which ever spot-on you've used if you bath within 48 hours before or after applying the spot-on

Chalice

Answer 4

No 7th Generation soap, use original Dawn only. I religiously use it on kittens I've rescued, too young to use Advantage, but fleas on a kitten are seriously dangerous to them. Can cause anemia and even death. Don't get Dawn in eyes, and try to leave it on as long as possible. I've tried all the top line flea products and the only one I use now is Advantage. Seems to last the longest. Frontline actually only lasted about 2 weeks for my cats.
Also after you bath them, get a fine tooth comb and comb out kitten and dunk comb in water dish with drop of Dawn in it to get the fleas off comb and die.
Bombing is a royal pain, but if situation is out of control you might have to take cat somewhere for a few hours and set some off, then treat kitten/cat.

Answer 5

dawn will not hurt your cat. i have worked as a bather brusher in a grooming shop and used it on dogs with terrible skin conditions and it didn't even hurt them. however, you have to leave it on for a long time for it to actually kill the fleas but will not repel them. with advantage, you have to reapply it every four weeks. frontline never worked for me. zodiac used to be good until they started selling it commercially (in stores) the best thing i have found is revolution. still it has to be reapplied every month. i am currently using advantage and have been able to go without reapplying it for 6wks. however, i fumigated my house then repeated the treatment with raid flea foggers in two weeks. of course you take the pet out lol. make sure all surfaces that your cat has sat on or slept on is cleaned and free of eggs. follow up with spray on your curtains and furniture and carpets if you see any more in a week or two. once the problem is controled you will not see any fleas. if your cat goes outside, advantage and revolution will kill any fleas that come into contact with your cat within two hours. frontline cannot claim that much. i use the kind you put on the base of their neck. it is a nightmare when you are having a problem with it. i hope you resolve this issue for your sanity sake and the health of your pet. good luck. and don't put some of the "all natural" products on your cat as they can have ingredients like eucalyptus or menthol or stuff like that and cats are very sensitive.

Answer 6

This will remove the oils on the skin and she will probably get dandruff. Treat the house when you treat the cat with Advantage. It sounds that there is a flea problem in your house and yard. Best to call an exterminator to get rid of the fleas.