I was petting my cat this morning and all of the sudden a flea crawled by its ear. I have never had a pet with fleas and give them frontline once a month. I don’t understand how this could have happened. I looked at my other cat and sure enough found one flea.
I gave each of them a bath. Found 6 on the one cat and one on the other cat.
Since I have never had a pet with fleas, I don’t know what steps I should take next, however I can call the vet in the morning.
Thank you,
Jen
Revolution…get it from the vet, controls fleas, ear mites, some types of worms (not sure which) and heartworm. Now that you have fleas, use it every month.
We have had a terrible time with fleas this year. You need to also clean your environment – vacuum, throw the bag away outside the minute you are done (or I read put it in the freezer if you want to use it again), mop, wash all bedding, etc.
Agreed.
My cat got a really nasty infestation really quickly a few years ago. We figured it was from the neighbor dog coming to visit since he is an inside cat.
Anyway, I put him on Revolution, and the fleas were dropping dead on the floor in what seemed like minutes. Everything that had been in the house was dead very shortly as well.
I used Pet Armour (generic Advantage, available at Walmart) on the barn cats, and haven’t seen any fleas since. It doesn’t protect against Heartworm, but since we’re so dry out here, mosquitos aren’t really a problem for us.
Whatever you do, don’t use Hartz products or products with Pymethins.
I’ve heard that Frontline isn’t as effective as it used to be. Maybe get some Capstar (kills them within 24 hours but doesn’t get eggs) and then use Revolution or Advantage/Pet Armour.
And vacuum the house over and over. 
You can also have your house sprayed by your local pest control company.
I came home from a deployment once and found out the girl who was living in our house in exchange for taking care of our pets hadn’t been administering their flea control. They were covered. So they all got treated and I had our pest control company come and spray the carpets too.
I second the revolution. It’s priced about the same as Frontline.
I am not enamoured with frontline at all: When I used it on my dogs they seemed to drink it up and 2 weeks later they were back in full force… :sigh:
Also, having found fleas in the house, you probably have to go through the whole routine of fogging teh house, etc…
Dumpin vacuum cleaner bags…
from their website
say hello to the same
flea and tick protection as
frontline® for a lot less.*
PetArmor™ contains the same active ingredients as
Frontline® in the same concentrations, so it’s just as
effective against fleas and ticks.
---- in my area Frontline (and thus PetArmor) is no longer effective
Advantage for fleas.
[QUOTE=Jen49;5700450]
I was petting my cat this morning and all of the sudden a flea crawled by its ear. I have never had a pet with fleas and give them frontline once a month. I don’t understand how this could have happened. I looked at my other cat and sure enough found one flea.
I gave each of them a bath. Found 6 on the one cat and one on the other cat.
Since I have never had a pet with fleas, I don’t know what steps I should take next, however I can call the vet in the morning.
Thank you,
Jen[/QUOTE]
if you have been using a flea product monthly on your cat and hadn’t seen any fleas until now, it means your cats are going somewhere where they are picking up fleas. Or fleas could be hitching a ride on you into the house and setting up shop on the cats.
it doesn’t mean that the product isn’t working, it just means something in your environment/ cats environment has changed i wouldn’t switch products. you are only seeing a handful of fleas, and on top of that it sounds like they were on their way to death’s door if you only saw a few and you could pick them off the pet. If they were not in the throws of dying you wouldn’t have been able to capture the little suckers because they are fast and can jump in an instant.
i would also start vacuuming the floors, change out the bedding on the cat’s bed, your bed and vauum everywhere the cats go. also under your furniture. if you only have a few fleas, you don’t have an infestation yet, and it is not time to worry.
something to keep in mind with any/ all flea/ tick products- they are not a repelant and DO NOT prevent flea/ ticks from jumping on your animals, but they will kill flea/ticks when they do happen to jump on the animals that are properly treated. with most topicals, it takes a few hours to kill the flea/ tick because they have to run through the hair coat of the animal to get in contact with the product- advantage, frontline, revolution, are all topical products and work more or less the same.
[QUOTE=dalpal;5703295]
Advantage for fleas.[/QUOTE]
This. As I wrote in another topic, I was leery of putting chemicals on my cat, but I had a great experience with Advantage and would never use anything else. It’s a bit pricey, but worth it.
Thank you to all of the replies!
[QUOTE=dalpal;5703295]
Advantage for fleas.[/QUOTE]
Advantage for cats works great.
I also recommend purchasing Sophitrol Plus Flea spray or defogger from Valley Vet. I used to only be able to buy this from my vet, and so when Valley Vet started carrying it, I was sooo happy! It rocks. I always keep an extra can on hand now.
I use the premise spray. Wash all your bedding and the pets bedding in hot water. Vaccuum and throw away the bag when you are done. Then spray your carpet, furniture and anywhere the cats rests.
revolution house here!
for the cats and dogs. even the barn cats are on the monthly revolution
no fleas, ear mites, heart worms, etc…
Ditto previous posters that Frontline seems to have lost its effectiveness. We used to have both our dogs and our cats on Frontline, and they started getting fleas anyway. Our vet swore it had nothing to do with the effectiveness of the Frontline but increased both the dose AND the frequency with which we were applying it, to no avail. Vet was, for whatever reason (payoffs from the Frontline company?), not a fan of Advantage/Advantix, but I ignored him and ordered Advantage (for the cats) and Advantix (for the dogs) from Valley Vet… Voila, flea problem solved.
Just be careful, Advantix is toxic to cats, so they must be kept separate from the dogs after applying, at least for a little while until it dries (a few hours?)… Our cats are not fond of the dogs and don’t willingly come into contact with them, so this hasn’t been a problem for us (and we’ve been doing Advantix/Advantage for a year now)…
I agree that the Frontline seems too wimpy lately. I also was using the pills for the dogs (darn, what is the name of those pills!?) - Confortis! They worked great last year, but the dogs do not want to eat them no matter what I do (breaking them up and putting them in yummy things and even making them into a powder and mixing), plus they also seem less affective this year. I havd 4 indoor cats, on in/out cat and 4 farm dogs who are in and out. The fleas situation seems to get out of hand once or twice a year and I am RELIGIOUS about treating them all monthly (Advantage for the cats, Confortis or Frontline for the dogs and Advantage Multi for the chihuahua). Costs me a fortune and still keep the premise spray on hand (great to know Valley Vet carries is as I use the Siphitrol spray as well).
Lucky you to be dealing with this for the first time. Don’t bother counting the fleas - if you can see 1, it is an infestation. Trust me on this lol.
[QUOTE=SGray;5703149]
from their website
say hello to the same
flea and tick protection as
frontline® for a lot less.*
PetArmor™ contains the same active ingredients as
Frontline® in the same concentrations, so it’s just as
effective against fleas and ticks.
---- in my area Frontline (and thus PetArmor) is no longer effective[/QUOTE]
You wont be able to buy Pet Armor any longer they have violated Frontlines patent.
Be careful about baths. Don’t bathe two days before or after a flea treatment. The topical treatments work via the oils in the fur, which are stripped away through bathing. It takes a day or two for the oils to build back up after a bath, which is why you should wait that amount of time before applying a flea treatment. The package instructions don’t warn about this, but they really should!
I let my dog swim in a swimming pool and within a day, he had fleas. This was only a week and a half after I had applied his monthly topical. Luckily I discovered it right away and avoided getting fleas in my house.
Our vet won’t sell Front Line anymore because it’s ineffective in our area. I’ve used Advantix and Advantage - they both work well.
Good luck!
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