Flea treatment (house cat) recommendations

[Fitzchiv]

Well my other half got some Advocate last night from the vets, we've been advised however to leave it a week to let the Bob Martin stuff get out of her system.

To be honest we've caught it very early, she was by no means infested but having said that they've been persistent in re-appearing. Got house spray etc, so we'll get on top of it.

Sheer complacency on my part really, even when told it looked like she had fleas I didn't believe it until I sat and went through her fur and found one - my two outdoor cat boys ranged around all day in fields and woods, killing rabbits and generally enjoying the adventures and trust me when they had fleas you know about it. Was very shocked, as we have a very clean home too.

Won't be using Bob Martin again.

[Tigerlily (Allison)]

I had a real problem with my Molly. She had a flea allergy and was biting and scratching herself to pieces. As others have said I found the Frontline wasn't working anymore. I've since switched to Advantage which I buy at Animal Medic direct for £9.50 for 4 pipettes. Now Molly is itch free 

[Gillian Harvey]

Agree, Frontline isnt working anymore, and also agree that MOST BM products do not work - however the Bob Martin Double Action spot on which is EXACTLY the same as Adantage flea treatment and is effective, I've certainly found it so  - see Vetuk for comparison of the two products you will see BM Double Action contains 40 mg of imidacloprid and Advantage contains 40 mg of imidacloprid 

http://www.vetuk.co.uk/flea-treatments-bob-martin-double-action-spot-on-c-3_509/bob-martin-double-action-spot-on-cats-small-dogs-p-3497

http://www.vetuk.co.uk/advantage-flea-control-advantage-for-cats-c-3_660_873/advantage-40-small-cats-small-dogs-and-rabbits-p-1173

The horror stories you have heard about BM products do not relate to the Double Action product.

[Michelle (furbabystar)]

Hi,

You have a few problems here

Firslty , if your cat has fleas then they will now also be in your home.
Bob Martin, to put it bluntly, is C.rap ....and a tablet would only kill the fleas on your cat at the time.....so when new fleas jump on from the home they just start breeding again !

So, You need to use a good quality flea treatment. I would recommend Stronghold or Advocate (from from your vet) Frontline seems to have stopped working  (I've just changed from this after over 10yrs of using it)
Then you also need to treat the home from a spray from your vet, RIP fleas or indorex are both very good.

[snarf]

i use frontline on 2 of mine and advocat on the other- this tackles mites as well which she regularly picks up. none of mine have regular outdoor access though. ive only had one flea infestation, and hands up, i had got lax about regular frontlining and had left in several months over the summer its really easy for fleas to piggyback in on you or visitors

Have you treated the house? this is really important as the eggs can get between floorboards etc and hatch in years even.  supermarket sprays are useless. your vet will have a house spray, ive used RIP fleas before-was about £15 for a can but did a 2 bed house twice over and really did solve my problem. indorex is another thats bee recommended on here before and like everything else, the internets the cheapest place to find these

[Gill (sneakiefeline)]

Stronghold

[Bee]

Hello

I haven't used any since my girls came to me as they have been indoors also but previously they were treated with Advocat which is highly recommended by my vet.

[Fitzchiv]

Hi all, somehow - and we have no idea how - Daisy has got fleas. She's a house cat.

We've been using the Bob Martin tablets, the 24hr treatment ones - and were concerned by the effect the first dose had on her, she became extremely distressed (however I believe this is because the fleas on her were biting as they died) subsequent treatments haven't had that effect.

The issue is the need for subsequent treatments - we've treated her, hoovered and sprayed etc, but its not worked. We can't go for a flea collar as she tends to come on the bed through the night.

The next approach is the same again in hoovering and spraying, but a frontline/spot on pipette that has a lasting effect - which is what I'm looking for a recommendation on, as I've read that fleas are getting immune to Frontline and some pretty bad horror stories about cats getting ill from Bob martin spot on.

so, what can people recommend treatment wise?

Cheers