Feeling very guilty.

mellymeepmeep

I've just today discovered that my poor kitty has been suffering from a pretty nasty flea infestation for god knows how long, unbeknownst to me the Frontline I have been treating her with just wasn't working. She's a longhaired fluffball so I could never look for the fleas/dirt effectively until its got to this point where she's become allergic and has scabs all over her. I've got an appointment with the vets on Tuesday but I'm going to worry constantly about her being uncomfortable now, I'm really angry that I've spent so much money on Frontline treatments for her every month and they are quite clearly doing nothing. I'm trying my best to comb through her and pick them off myself but its so difficult when there's so much hair to get through! I feel so guilty

meritaten

I know how you feel! I have almost been in tears over Barney, despite frontline, and Staykill to treat the house - am STILL finding live fleas (and they aren't 'sick' - they are obviously alive and hopping!
I am going to go back to what worked on my first cat - another poster on my thread recommended it and its worth a try. Johnsons flea killer for cats - and their worming tabs - I always used to do the two together in the old days and I never had a problem with fleas like this!

sazdes

as a temporary measure before you get to the vets, try giving the cat a bath with baby shampoo (so it doesn't hurt its eyes) as its incredibly effective at getting rid of fleas (they cannot hang on during the soap stages). The cat clearly won't like the bath but it will get rid of the worst of the fleas - its horrible watching them all float down the bath!

mellymeepmeep

I was thinking about giving her a bath, I know that will probably help but its probably going to be a traumatic experience for both her and me!

scaredy_cat

frontline has become pretty useless against fleas. i use stronghold or advocate which i have found works really quickly to the point i've only just had to re dose my Giz after a year. for some reason he didn't get fleas during the summer and only recently have i found a couple of small fleas on him.

Melaniep101

I had exactly the same problem with my two cats, religiously buying and treating them with Frontline, only for them to scratch themselves stupid! One had the same flea allergy as your's and he was a real mess.

I switched to Advantage, and never had a problem since...

G-WWBB

Same here with the Frontline, it's just useless now. We switched to Advocate and had no problems since.
Even the RSPCA branch I work with have switched from Frontline to Advocate, for the same reason.
The sad thing is, Advocate don't do a spray like Frontline do, when we have kittens who are a few days/couple of weeks old, it's heartbreaking seeing the fleas scattering across their tiny bodies when there's nothing we can do but try to catch and kill the fleas The spray just does nothing.
Frontline really need to do some research to improve their product.

spartacusthe1st

I feel for you, we started using frontline a few months ago-before that we used advocate bought from ourpetworld- and it's completely useless!!
I saw a flea on my cat two ween after applying it.
The vet also said frontline isn't effective anymore

spartacusthe1st

I feel for you, we started using frontline a few months ago-before that we used advocate bought from ourpetworld- and it's completely useless!!
I saw a flea on my cat two ween after applying it.
The vet also said frontline isn't effective anymore

mellymeepmeep

Been to the vets and she confirmed my suspicions that Frontline just doesn't work anymore, they've stopped recommending it and I've got Advantage now. Lily got an injection to help with the scabs from her allergy and she's had the spot-on treatment so hopefully the little blighters will stop bothering her soon. I'm going to go on a de-flea mission round the house and boil wash all the stuff she lies on.

kb_soma

mellymeepmeep wrote: »

I was thinking about giving her a bath, I know that will probably help but its probably going to be a traumatic experience for both her and me!

When I have to bath my cat, I use a harness to hold her in the bath (get someone else to do the holding, while you wash her) have 2 buckets and a jug handy. Put shampoo and water in one of the buckets and clean water and the jug in the other bucket.

Be as gentle as you can with cat and rinse her down with the clean water from the jug.

I try to make sure that the cat's feet are all on the ground so that she doesn't feel like she's losing control. Be gentle and talk softly with her and give her lots of treats afterwards!

The harness that I use is this one: http://www.petsathome.com/shop/cat-harness-by-pets-at-home-57271