Fleas/Frontline question...

lou--b

Hope no one minds me jumping on board.
I have never had a problem with fleas on my cat...until now. I frontline him every 28 days, have done since he started getting outside (December, was indoor cat before then) He was treated when indoors too, just not as often! He was last treated on Saturday. Last night I found a live critter in his head. I panicked, dont do beasties! Got the nit comb out and found more. One even jumped onto me eeek. Sat combing cat for as long as he would allow, hes very tolerant. Im horrified at the amount of beasts I got off him. Never having noticed them before Im now worried that hes been crawling with them for a while and Ive just not noticed. Poor Smudge.
I have never had to deal with this before so I have a few questions Im hoping for help with.
When can I next treat Smudge given that he was only done on Sat?
What about my house, wooden floors, no carpets but a cat that sleeps everywhere!
I have no bites on me, but, Smudge sleeps in my bed, does that mean my bed is crawling too? I actually slept on the sofa (leather, washed with soapy water,just in case) last night as the thought of them in my bed was just too much!!
Duvet going to launderette today, all my clothes are being washed as I type, am I being silly, I feel soooo dirty?
How do I treat my mattress??
So many questions I know but I have never had to deal with this before. I always said if my son ever got nits he would have to live with his granny till they cleared up...who can I foster the cat out to lol.

Hillbilly1

Follow what TGT has list she has done, and I think FF as well.#

The launderette won't kill the fleas in the duvet. Easier to throw away and get a new one.

Wash everyhting at 90 degrees to kill the eggs.

Spray the whole house with Acclaim/Indorex etc

JBPM - many vets are too lazy to explain it and use the "resistance" line when it is actually that a product that only kills 1 life cycle stage is of no use with an infestation. They only work if your house is flea free. However as you have seen your house can easily be filled with flea eggs by hardly any adult fleas (not enough that you would notice). As the fleas can only be killed by contact with the animal treated they will only die once they have laid eggs, as 1 flea lays 1000+ eggs you only need 10 to have a huge problem.

If we have the flea friendly weather these products are easily overwhelmed ifyour pet goes regularly to a flea filled area and brings back just 1 "friend" per visit.

Fire_Fox

lou--b wrote: »

Hope no one minds me jumping on board.
I have never had a problem with fleas on my cat...until now. I frontline him every 28 days, have done since he started getting outside (December, was indoor cat before then) He was treated when indoors too, just not as often! He was last treated on Saturday. Last night I found a live critter in his head. I panicked, dont do beasties! Got the nit comb out and found more. One even jumped onto me eeek. Sat combing cat for as long as he would allow, hes very tolerant. Im horrified at the amount of beasts I got off him. Never having noticed them before Im now worried that hes been crawling with them for a while and Ive just not noticed. Poor Smudge.
I have never had to deal with this before so I have a few questions Im hoping for help with.
When can I next treat Smudge given that he was only done on Sat?
What about my house, wooden floors, no carpets but a cat that sleeps everywhere!
I have no bites on me, but, Smudge sleeps in my bed, does that mean my bed is crawling too? I actually slept on the sofa (leather, washed with soapy water,just in case) last night as the thought of them in my bed was just too much!!
Duvet going to launderette today, all my clothes are being washed as I type, am I being silly, I feel soooo dirty?
How do I treat my mattress??
So many questions I know but I have never had to deal with this before. I always said if my son ever got nits he would have to live with his granny till they cleared up...who can I foster the cat out to lol.

You are not being silly, I felt dirty when I moved into the infested house and at one point I wanted to sell up! :eek: Try not to feel bad for the cat, it's not like you have not bothered to treat him nor have you noticed him scratching. Ring your vet and ask their advice on when you can next treat, they will often prescribe Advocate or similar without seeing the cat. For your home get the professionals in if the council offers a pest control service, or treat every square inch including wooden floors and under furniture with Acclaim or Indorex. There isn't really any point in hot washing fabrics until you have the carpets and floors done.

lou--b

Thanks everyone.
Called the vet, going over in a while to collect some spray for the house. They have said that I may have noticed them on Smudge as they are coming to the surface to die, I can only hope!! Not allowed to treat him again till his 28days are up though. Combed him again today, in between hoovering every square inch of the house and washing every pair of curtains and bedsets! Found another one, tiny wee one this time, thinking baby?? Think I may be being a bit over cautious, everything I own that can be machine washed is being done. As I said, he sleeps EVERYWHERE!! His fav place being my linen cupboard!! Good excuse to deep clean the house I suppose. Great way to spend my weeks holiday!!

Taadaa

I am waiting from Acclaim and Advvantage as well. They are small ones mostly, still hoovering 1-2 a day. Cats still scratching. Have banished them from the living room to stop making it worse, poor things (the rest of the rooms they can get into are laminate and tiled flooring).

Washed all the bedding etc, although there weren't that many in the bedroom, I guess we transport them around. Told DH to put his socks straight in the washing machine so I can wash them before he goes upstairs and transports them.

murphydog999

This sounds like a real nightmare! Thankfully, my 5 year old cat has never had a flea on her (touches wood very quickly) but we will be moving shortly to a house where the leaving tenants have 2 dogs, I'm just wondering if it's worth getting the house treated before we move in, just in case?!

We are moving from the town to the country, is there a flea preference, are there areas worse than others?

Fire_Fox

murphydog999 wrote: »

This sounds like a real nightmare! Thankfully, my 5 year old cat has never had a flea on her (touches wood very quickly) but we will be moving shortly to a house where the leaving tenants have 2 dogs, I'm just wondering if it's worth getting the house treated before we move in, just in case?!

We are moving from the town to the country, is there a flea preference, are there areas worse than others?

Are you renting or purchasing? If renting it's possible the owner will have insisted the previous tenants have the place professionally treated when they vacate, and they will have to supply a receipt to get their deposit back. If not it would definitely be worth treating the house, you could do this yourself if it will be empty of furniture using Acclaim or Indorex. You might also time using a good spot on or injectable on your dogs so they are fully covered when you move in. There is resistance to Frontline so IMO get a prescription product from your vet. Risks are not so much town and country but direct or indirect contact with other dogs and cats, so your neighbours pets and walking route. I live in a city centre with no other pets around so the chances of me walking in cat or dog flea eggs are low: still I did find a solitary flea on my last cat! :eek:

There_Goes_Trouble

I think I'm making progress *crossed fingers - touch wood*

When I got back from my weekend away I had visions while walking up the garden path that the place would be hopping with billions of fleas.... of course it wasn't, and I think my Aunt and my Dad would have noticed if it was since they've both been in over the weekend!!

Anyway. It seems now that the animals are almost clear. I did a comb through today and I got one baby flea off one cat, the other was clear and the dog was clear. I am however still getting baby fleas off the carpet, mainly upstairs. They're tiny (I keep trying to pick the freckles off my legs because I think they're these tiny fleas!!) So I'm wondering, will they die when the carpet spray takes effect on them, or do I need to re-spray again? I bought an extra can of Acclaim just in case so I can have another spray round upstairs but don't want to if it's unnecessary and the fleas will die anyway.

Here's how I do my room flea test. Walk into suspect room with bare legs and feet. Stomp around a bit then stand still. See how many fleas jump onto your legs. Catch the little monsters and drown them. Today I got one tiny flea off my bedroom carpet compared to the 5 or 6 at a time last week.

I just really really don't want it all to erupt again in a few weeks time....

Bromley86

I bought an extra can of Acclaim just in case so I can have another spray round upstairs but don't want to if it's unnecessary and the fleas will die anyway.

Belt & braces, surely? Unless the usage instructions tell you not to.

There_Goes_Trouble

Good point Bromley. Thanks.