Fleas! It's that time of year again! Frontline not working.

[hollycat]

Hi i'm a newbie to the forum but have had moggies for over 50 years. I have been told by many vets that frontline flea treatments are a waste of money as they do not work.
I usually use stronghold which I buy from the PDSA, but at the moment I am using Actyvyl supplied by my local veterinary surgery for £23 for 4 . Frontline is nearly as expensive.

[Dawn F]

the rip flea has worked, like you we have few carpets, only a couple of rugs and stair carpet but they do still have some fleas on them, between the four cats I got about 20 fleas with the comb yesterday - will look into capstar, if I can safely give it before the beginning of July when the frontline runs out I will, it can't be nice for them (cats not fleas!)

[sheilarose]

Check the new drugs out on NOAH, the active ingredient in Frontline is Fiprinol so any other product with that ingredient works in the same way, although I've found Effipro to be more sticky, which I think makes it adhere to the cat better than the oh so runny Frontline. Maybe thats why it has been 100% successful here.

As for house fleas, I insist on Indorex whih kills the adult flea, larvae (tiny white maggots, size of hunreds and thousands) and disrupts the life cycle for 12 months. The boys are just starting to scratch now, they were last treated in April, so this combination of Effipro and Indorex is perfect for us.

I will say that we have very few (washable) rugs in our home, no carpets, which does ease the situation enormously. Although its less cosy for humans, it means I only need to treat their beds and our soft furnishings with the flea spray as indoors is a safe haven from the biters.

I still use Animed Direct for all my meds and flea sprays, its cheap, fast and reliable. They have Rip Fleas too, which seems to boast the same properties as Indorex, so it sounds like it should work, Dawn.


http://www.animeddirect.co.uk/indorex-household-flea-spray-500ml.html

If the cats still have fleas and you don't want to use another topical treatment just yet, try Capstar. One tablet crushed in wet food kills all the fleas on the cat in 24 hours and may resolve your current crisis. I've seen excellent results with this product which I use on my ferals and strays prior to trapping - by the time they get to the vet for neutering they are always flea free. 

http://www.animeddirect.co.uk/capstar-tablets-for-cats-and-small-dogs-6-tablets.html

[Hippykitty]

The Indorex house spray seems to have worked! The cats are scratching less and I'm not having little nips taken out of my arms.

Thanks for the reassurance Gill, thought I was going mad....madder. Is it no longer necessary to vacate the house?

[Gill (sneakiefeline)]

Yes the indorex can used to say that

[Susanne (urbantigers)]

I've always used Staykill for fleas in the home and it has always worked well.

Has anyone used Flevox flea treatment?  I usually use Advantage but Vetuk have put some free Flevox in my last 2 orders with them.  Have to admit I have never heard of it.

[Dawn F]

we've had an outbreak as well, the vet nurse said frontline is only about half as strong as it used to be otherwise it would be on prescription still - they sold us something called rip flea but although there doesn't seem to be anything in the carpets we are still finding them on the cats, two or three each day they can't be frontlined for another two weeks 

[Hippykitty]

The house has been heavily Indorexed apart from the kitchen (too many dishes around) and the garage, which is more or less empty and the cats don't go in there.

I seem to remember the instructions saying something about leaving the house closed up for 30 mins, then fully ventilating before humans or animals return, but I couldn't find anything like that on the can. Has Indorex been changed, or am I confused? That's what I did anyway: sat in the garden with the cats.

Hope that's the last of the little bu@@ers! I hate fleas. 

[Hippykitty]

Good luck with the vet visit Rosella.

Have pm'd you.

[Rosella moggy]

My nasty, vicious, evil, little blighters killed a squirrel yesterday 

In any event I now have 4 flea bites on me.  Thankfully have a full can of Indorex so will start the spraying before I go to work.  A couple of rooms at a time.  Haven't flea treated or wormed Billy yet but the others were all sorted in early May (Stronghold and Milbemax).  Was leaving Billy until vet visit for vaccination but will have to try and trap him in basket.  Wish me luck 

[Hippykitty]

I would have Indorexed the house today while the cats were out, unfortunately I had to shut them in while a friend came round to strim my overlong grass for me, then got involved chatting to a neighbour who I'd borrowed an extension cable from.

(I have to buy Nigel a meal now for doing the lawn.)
Will Indorex the house asap when the cats are out.

Maybe it would help if I stopped wearing fluffy slippers and socks!

In a vid I saw some time ago about using a flea bomb, they wrapped EVERYTHING in clingfilm before igniting the bombs.

[sheilarose]

Spray your feet!

I think I meant spray your socks, it might be you that's transporting them around the house into areas the cats don't necessarily have access to. I think flea bombs are extreme, never used them myself as the Indorex has always been enough, but I'd be ultra careful about using them if I had to, and I can't find any reviews that say they also deal with larvae or eggs, so you would have to Indorex anyway!   

Also ...
Beware of duds...
http://www.petsathome.com/shop/en/pets/flea-bomb

Check out the customer reviews!

[Hippykitty]

I've seen those flea bombs on youtube. They look rather too toxic. 

Spray my feet? With Indorex? 

[CatGirl]

A friend of mine had this trouble,but she used a bomb and this really worked.

[sheilarose]

Spray your feet!

[Hippykitty]

Thanks for the links. Luckily I have two cans of Indorex.

I really want to get rid of the little bu@@ers because they're jumping on me now!

[sheilarose]

Here you go, no prescription required

http://www.animeddirect.co.uk/advantage-80-for-large-cats-and-pet-rabbits-410kg-pack-of-4-pipettes.html
http://www.animeddirect.co.uk/effipro-spot-on-cat-flea-treatment-pack-of-4.html

you need to register your cat on the site but that is just administrative. Prices include postage on this site and they are fast to deliver.

http://www.animeddirect.co.uk/indorex-household-flea-spray-500ml.html

even with the Royal Mail addition, this is a good price for flea spray.

http://www.animeddirect.co.uk/indorex-household-flea-spray-500ml.html

[Hippykitty]

Fleas have started attaching to my socks if I walk round the house without slippers. Perhaps I didn't spray the house thoroughly enough. Will do it again when the cats are out.

Unfortunately the Effipro link gave no results. Thanks for the Advantage link. Is Advantage prescription only? 

[sheilarose]

Check NOAH for the clinical facts

http://www.noahcompendium.co.uk/bayer_plc/advantage/-40841.html

http://www.noahcompendium.co.uk/Compendium/Overview/search.asp?search=Effipro

Capstar is a tasteless tablet you crush into food. It's great for animals you can't get near enough to squirt topical solutions onto, but remember it only clears the current batch of fleas, and if new fleas and larvae are present in the environment re infestation will occur.

Indorex works really well, be sure to follow the suggested method, though. It should take care of all cycles of the flea life cycle so I'm not sure why it hasn't worked for you. Have you tried walking around in bare feet to see if any fleas hop onto you in certain areas?

[Hippykitty]

Thanks for the suggestions.

My cats are usually outdoors during the day, but they stay in the garden since two of their number went missing. It's possible that they're picking fleas up from the garden. Perhaps I could give the house another spray with Indorex?

As for giving them Capstar: they're not easy cats to medicate. They're ex-feral and still not easy to handle, accepting tickles only when they feel like it. I had to chase Victoria all over the house to Frontline her today and then had to squirt it so far down her back that she's washed most of the stuff off! I'll try again next month. 

Next time I buy some I'll get Advantage or Effipro. What is the difference between them?

The monsters haven't been out today because of the rain. I opened the french window doors and they just stood looking at me with "you must be joking" looks on their faces. So they're a bit fed up.

[Tigerlily (Allison)]

I had the same problem with Frontline not working. I switched to Advantage which I get online from Animed direct. It's under £10 for four pipettes. I've had no issues with fleas since I started using it.

[sheilarose]

Maybe he is picking up new passengers from the environment as he wanders around. Try giving him a Capstar tablet which kills all the fleas within 24 hours. Is he an outdoor cat? If so there may be a pool of fleas on his rounds that is supplying the new passengers.

I did stop using Frontline, however, because I found it ineffective but you should wait four weeks before applying another topical flea treatment. I use Effipro these days which has the same active ingredient as Frontline but costs less and does actually work.

[Hippykitty]

Cydric has been scratching recently and I noticed some fleas on him. On monday night I persuaded him to let me put Frontline drops on him (bought from Amazon, not the Combo type). But late tonight he still has the little monsters on him!

I sprayed the house with Indorex last December when the central heating was bringing them out of my old sofa, this is supposed to last for 12 months!

Any recommendations for something safe I can put on him without having to haul him to the vet. Taking him to the vet is like wrestling tigers!