New kitten owner, kittens got few fleas urgent help please

[Mat]

Hi,

I have owned my 8 weeks kittens since Saturday and they are 9 weeks this week give or take a few days.

I bought them off a owner who had other cats and a dog.

The day i bought them I noticed a flea on Smudge, he has a white coat so easy to spot, Foxy is tortoiseshell and I can't see them me on her due to coat colour.

I regrettably bought Bob Martins Spot On for them and applied it same day I got them.

After applying it saw the awful fatal reviews online and to be honest it scared me to death reading the reviews for Bob Martin Spot On.

This morning I saw a flea crawling in Smudges hair, I have used a flea comb bought from pets at homes and found nothing but definitely saw a flea. Can't tell on Foxy.

I don't want a flea infestation and only appears to be the two I found since owning them.

I don't want and will not use Bob Martin.

Could someone please advise, I was going to buy Front line, expensive.
But I read reviews saying some areas of country fleas are immune to it, I live in Cardiff.

I want to get rid before problem gets worse maybe. As Frontline is expensive I don't want to pay if it like Bob Martin and find it ain't going to work and am worried the fleas maybe hurting them.

As a new owner of kittens I am very worried and want to get rid of these fleas, they are indoor pets and always will be and I here people recommending other brands to Front line.

My biggest worry is I applied the Bob Martin on Saturday and not sure if I would be able to give them a different spot on treatment so soon after.?

Any help advice much appreciated! I

Thanks,
Mat

[alexgirl73]

Being perfectly honest, your best bet is to give your vet a call as you've already used the BM. Better to be safe than sorry.

[angieh]

I agree with Alex - best to ask a vet. Kittens should only have products specifically designed for young animals. I have had experience of Frontline not working and your vet should be able to prescribe something that does work where you live .... I know it is expensive. Fleas are nasty things and can cause anaemia with the young being especially vulnerable so treatment is advisable. A flea comb however is a very good thing - use it every day and you will be able to help your little ones over the New Year closure.

[Mat]

Hi,

I contacted some vets in my area and all advised to wait a minimum of 4 weeks, and failing to do so will result in overdose.

I'm so angry with myself buying that Bob Martin but will know now from on.

They said they can't be given anything even from the vet as it will simply overdose them.

I was advised for the time being to vigorously hoover carpet daily, flea comb them daily until they can have there flea treatment in 4 weeks.

Both vets said they recommend Frontline and Advantage, I was told by the vet they recommend Advantage over Frontline as it has additionally a worm killer in it apparently. But both come highly recommended.

So I bought Drontal worming tablets which which seems to have very good reviews as was told by vet to worm them as well.

They said Drontal is fine and good, but they are only however £2.70 for Mill and Max dewormer from vets prescription only, and as I bought the Drontal now I will use them and vet did say Drontal is good and fine. I just to give them half a tablet each.

Anyone recommend any sprays or something to spray on carpets there bed etc to help kill any fleas and prevention of them etc?

I want to minimize an infestation whilst I anxiously wait for 4 weeks.

Thank you,
Mat

[angieh]

Hi Mat - I am glad that you've got good advise. I have used Acclaim household flea spray and would recommend it. Additionally, I would use any sort of sticky roller, the sort you would use to get animal hair off soft furnishings. Use it daily on the kittens' bedding. It will get rid of flea dirt, eggs and larvae. Good idea to check out the life-cycle of the flea too online so you know how the little blighters live!

[Mat]

Originally Posted by angieh

Hi Mat - I am glad that you've got good advise. I have used Acclaim household flea spray and would recommend it. Additionally, I would use any sort of sticky roller, the sort you would use to get animal hair off soft furnishings. Use it daily on the kittens' bedding. It will get rid of flea dirt, eggs and larvae. Good idea to check out the life-cycle of the flea too online so you know how the little blighters live!

Hello,

I just bought a can of 500ml Acclaim Flee Spray from VetUK. Thanks for recommending it, it seems Acclaim or Indorex are the most recommended.

I am currently flea combing them twice a day since yesterday, and hoovering everywhere vigorously.

I got some stuff being delivered all by Friday to help, once all delivered they can be have their bath, got all the stuff being delivered including DermOpt Skin Care Spray.

All the help and advice is much appreciated!

Being a new pet owner and not owning pets myself until now I just worry and want to buy the best for them. Have learnt not to waste money on supermarket rubbish, just costs more in the end and potentially lethal to our pets like the so called Bob Martin Spot On, after applying to my two kittens I went online and saw the reviews, I was worried sick and nursed then all night as I was scared to sleep myself incase something happened. Two vets I phoned today for advice was very helpful and both said Bob Martin is nasty stuff and not effective.

Thankfully they appear ok with no side effects 2 days on.

[alexgirl73]

Glad you got some good advice from the vets

I use Acclaim for the house too, once a year, a quick spray and voila!

The wee ones will be fine if you keep up the regime you currently have, looking forward to hearing about them as they grow up

[fancyabrew]

I'm no vet but I can't see that you can get an overdose if you give them something that has a different active ingredient to the one in Bob Martins (not sure what that is) BUT I would follow your vets advice!. Frontline uses fipronil as do quite a few other spot on products, and yes some fleas have become tolerant to fipronil. We’ve switched to using Advantage and it is very good and has imidacloprid as its active ingredient. We did use Advocate which is prescription only so you have to get it from your vets. But Advantage is just about the same product, they’re both made by Bayer but Advocate is more expensive and only available with a prescription, hence more expensive! It also has one other ingredient Moxidectin so its effective against ear mites, round worm, hook worm and heart worm. But if you’re just after a flea treatment save the money and get Advantage from the internet. You can get it in two sizes for up to 4kg and up to 8kg it can be used on Rabbits and dogs as well as cats. Interestingly Advocate is for use on cats and ferrets! Both can be used on animals over the age of 8 weeks. Also very good at killing any fleas your cats might have (it doesn’t stop them getting fleas) is capstar (there are other pills that use the same ingredient as capstar) I think one is called for fleas. It starts to kill the adult fleas within 30 mins or so, if your cat has fleas it might go a bit nuts for a while whilst the fleas die off it does warn you of this on the box and its nothing to worry about the cat will just scratch like mad!

about £10'ish for 4

http://www.nutrecare.co.uk/Product-4...gs-and-Rabbits

[yola]

It looks like you've got it all under control, however do beware with flea treatments and kittens.

A cautionary tale; we always used Advantage on our cats under vets guidance, but when a friend was looking after them for us (years ago when they were kittens) she thought she was 'helping' by flea-treating our kitten which resulted in overdose and poisoning. Thankfully he was OK and went on to live to 12 (good age for a Persian), but he was poorly for a few days.

Spraying the house regularly is a good idea as is washing cat bedding on a hot wash periodically.

[TiggerMoon]

I have never heard about Bob Martin being fatal to cats, I used to use it about 8 years ago but changed to Frontline when the cats got ticks. That stopped working last year so I changed to Advantage and it works brilliantly. You can get Frontline from online shops much cheaper that the vets, and it's good when it works. Your vet should tell you if it's not effective in your area, mine told me that people had reported it wasn't working for them (I didn't listen to her) and a month later we had a flea infestation!

I would agree with fancyabrew that using products with different active ingredients shouldn't cause a problem, but I would listen to your vet, better safe than sorry!