How do you..... tackle flea control?

[smokytopaz]

Obviously from my last coupla posts I am not doing so well.

They don't have fleas, but having once in my life had a flea infestation its not a place I want to revisit.

So once a month they get Spot on'd. It prob works, but it makes their coats look greasy for two or three days later.

Collars failed. Big time.

Now my cats go out for a hour or so in the morning and that is probably it in a day..... but thats long enough to encounter the nasty hopping things.

I want to be confident they won't pick up fleas, but they so enjoy their hour or out to play......

What do you do?

[John]

I use Frontline..and the vet said keep the vacuum going..

[smokytopaz]

Oh yes, I had totally forgotten about Front Line.... Vet only isn't it?

[farthing]

I just use a spot on, wash bedding regularly and if I see any fleas, I spray the house with indorex. When we moved into this house, we discovered it was crawling with fleas- but we treated all the animals and sprayed the house and we've never had a problem again.
I was horrible though.

[smudgley]

Originally Posted by smokytopaz

Oh yes, I had totally forgotten about Front Line.... Vet only isn't it?

not anymore, you can pick frontline up at lots of places now.

The main thing with fleas is to watch out for them. We comb our cats regularly with a flea comb, just so that we can catch any crawlies and be one step ahead of them, but to be honest we hardly ever see any. We don't use any flea control in the winter months and use frontline spray in the summer.

Flea collars and petshop type sprays are a waste of money.

[dandysmom]

Vacuuming is not an ideal solution; when I had my one and only flea infestation quite a few years back, my breeder friends told me to put down flea powder first and vacuum it up, and then again just before I finished. Supposedly they multiply in the bag otherwise. Don't know how true that is, but it worked for me. They were so bad that you got jumped on as soon as you came home! I don't use anything now as Leia isn't harness trained so no fleas.

[niki71uk]

smokey see if the vet does the 6mnthly flea injections,my younger cat gets them as she wont let me near her with stuff to put on her kneck,saves the hassel and stress for us both

[angieh]

I had a flea problem in summer 2008 and felt that the vet let me down badly. I took Merlin twice to the vet, but being a dark cat they said he had no fleas. I knew he had. Frontline was not working. I had to use a Capstar tablet and then comb every day and use that sticky tape roller to get rid of the eggs and larvae. Treated every room in the house with Acclaim. The vet must have had several complaints about Frontline and is now recommending Stronghold or Advantage spot-on. Kizzy has Stronghold and Pip Advantage. I have had no further flea problems thankfully. It is horrible and so distressing for Merlin. I am sure his anaemia was as a result of the fleas.

[kado]

I had the same problem last year has well. Though i got rid of them but they came back with avengence this year. I used frontline combo on all the cats as the ordinary one isnt enough for guinness with him being over 6kg. I also sprayed the house with indirex and inderixed it again around 2 wks later. My vets reccomend it done every 4 -5 wks. I also started putting a cheap flea collar in the hoover as well too kill of any of the litter blighters. I never buy shop products now they just dont work in my oppinion.

[John]

I never thought of putting a flea collar in the vaccum ..will have to give it a try..