# Flea advice? (Cats)



## elijahfeathers (Oct 15, 2010)

Hey everyone. So I'm looking fro some advice on stubborn fleas! We've got two indoor/outdoor cats in the house, they're both very sweet and they've both been having a rough time with fleas the last four months or so. We've gone through several treatments but these fleas seem to be immune to everything we've been throwing at them.

So far we've done two rounds of revolution drops, one round of frontline, two seperate fogging occasions as they're at this point also in the house, and most recently flea collars and damascus earth. I'm really sick of bug bites on my legs and arms, and of not being able to cuddle my kitties. We were told this year is 'bad' for fleas, but I've never run into a problem like this. The only thing that seemed to dent the issue was the flea collars, but they're really uncomfortable for the cats and for us as they have a strong odor. Any advice is appreciated.


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## jadaBlu (Feb 14, 2013)

I've been there. It was years ago. What worked was simultaneously having the cats flea dipped bathed and combed by a groomer, BTW shampoo in of itself helps to kill fleas. if you have a dog treat the dog too, while they are gone I then washed dried all of the people and pet bedding, clothing vaccumed the whole house thoroughly, even crevices, throwing out the bag/emptying vac afterward, I kept vaccuming daily and disposing of the bag, spraying the house with a type of flea spray that prevents eggs from hatching and has flea birth control in it. Continuing to treat the cats (and dog if you have one) with Frontline spray and flea combing nightly to check for any re-infestation. All of that work in a day is a nightmare but I got rid of them. There is a note on Frontlines website not to combine it with a topspot treatement for 30 days.


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## elijahfeathers (Oct 15, 2010)

Thank you for the advice. We may have to try the groomers idea, though I don't know how well behaved your cats would be there. One I think would be fine but the other is very timid and flighty... still, gotta get rid of these fleas :/ I've just never had them where they wouldn't respond to treatments.


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## NickAu (Sep 28, 2015)

> I'm really sick of bug bites on my legs and arms


In my opinion it is pointless just treating the cats, You will need a pest controller to fumigate the house also, You need to treat the cats for fleas and fumigate the house.


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## dannifluff (Jul 5, 2015)

I agree with NickAu. Fleas are, sadly, becoming more resistant to the current treatments on the market. I would either take them to the groomer for a full bath and treatment, or ask your vet if they have something newer-to-market that your particular fleas might not have built a resistance to. If you take them to the groomer, consult your vets first about getting something to put on their food to relax them beforehand, so the experience is as stress-free as it can possibly be. In the mean time, go to town on your house by getting a full de-infestation treatment, Once they get into the carpets, there's almost no point treating the cats alone. And once you're flea-free, ensure you are treating them with something monthly, if they are going outside, to help prevent them picking the darn little b*ggers up again. Flea bites are the worst. I feel for you!


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## elijahfeathers (Oct 15, 2010)

Yeah we're treating the house too of course, normally if the cats wind up with fleas though it's easy to get them off the cats and then fume the house. We've been vacuuming and dusting a lot with the damascus earth so there aren't a lot of them in the house but sometimes the kitties still slip into my room and lay on my bed. (Normally they're allowed to snooze with me so they're used to it).

It's just been really frustrating, we've dealt with fleas before but we've always been able to get rid of them when we notice them. When we first saw the cats itching we got the first round of drops we did. When it became clear the application didn't work a few weeks later we did the second round with frontline and fumed the house out. Third round the next month was revolution in conjunction with another fumigation... still had them on the cats and they still came back. A friend told us the damascus earth trick in conjunction with these 'natural' flea collars but it's just not working well enough and the collars reek. We're trying to avoid shelling out for a professional spray if possible as it's sort of costly from my understanding but I'm about ready to purchase it myself and tell my mom we need to go out for a day at this rate.


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## InStitches (May 26, 2014)

Fleas are jerks and most of the treatments ($$$ ugh) I've tried didn't work. I'm very allergic to fleas and have scars from their bites, so I have to be aggressive with them on my two cats.

My favorite combo so far:

- Virbac Knockout spray every six months. It works that long or until you steam clean the treated carpet. You can get it from your vet for about $20. Be aware that while it dries, you cannot be in the room.
-Petsneedmeds generic "broad spectrum" flea meds. It's a combo of short-acting (v adults) and long acting (v eggs and larva). The short-acting component is capstar and can be bought generic on its own with them as well. It can be used daily if I recall. They have their own website and also sell on Amazon.
-Original dawn as a daily bath if you can tolerate sopping wet cat battles. Wash those fleas down the drain!
-flea combs are poop. You can get human lice/knit combs, they have large teeth to comb this fur with.

hope that helps at all


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## Aquastar (Jul 17, 2015)

My cat is super prone to fleas as she's got a dense, water resistant coat. My other cat rolls in flea nests, so I've been there as well.

Baths: misery, but it kills but loads of them, also washes out the blood from the bites. My cat hates this (who else?), but it worked miracles.

Flea collars: yes, yes and yes. Sadly they all migrated to her tail. But this was so effective to keeping them off.

Lavender: I heard this keep them off? A lavender and lemon spray will deter them? This works on aphids, but no clue if it's actually something that works with fleas.

Vacuuming: get them off your carpet! Works well.

Dish soap: I use this in baths, also is you find one I drown it in a dish soap substance. Makes your cat smell good.

Water and light: use a dinner plate a fill it with dish soapy water,no lace a tea candle to sit in the center. The fleas will jump for the warmth, but land in the water, the soap will stop them from jumping away. I haven't tried this, but it should work.


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## jadaBlu (Feb 14, 2013)

I found the key is the making sure cleaning the cats and cleaning and spraying the house _all in the same day_ is reallly important and then you have to followup with the vacumn daily, and make sure you get straggler. Dish soap is too harsh on a cats skin. Suave with coconut and conditioner is what I used but your groomer will select the right thing. If you've never bathed cats before and alternately your cat has never had a bath you'd be best to leave it to a professional. Otherwise you will get battle scars.


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