Help please - Frontline not working on our cat?

[LouandBee]

Hi,

Any ideas what to use instead of frontline? Have found some huge fleas on our old girl the last few weeks even though she is up to date on her frontline, and now can see loads of flea dirt where she's been sleeping. She's long haired so not sure if that makes a difference.

Have had a look on google but it all seems to be American products.

Many thanks for any help.

P.S. To keep it horsey and to stop the thread being removed...I do find frontline effective for my horses feather mites

 

[Custard Cream]

Flea treatment doesn't work if you only treat the animal, you need to do the house as well. Fleas don't live on the animal, they live in the house and bedding and jump on the animal to feed and jump off again. As your cat is being reinfected it suggests there are more fleas living in the house. Fleas are asleep most of the time, as in dormant. They are 'woken up' by vibration from people walking passed them and heat, such as putting radiators on. You will be able to get a house spray from your vets, I think it's called Indorex. You should spray all around your skirting boards and any bedding the animal uses. This, on top of treating your animal, should get rid.

 

[Custard Cream]

Just realised you didn't actually say it was a cat, sorry for the assumption!

 

[LouandBee]

Thanks CustardCream.

Yes it is for the Cat. Looks like I better get the house de-flead. Just found one on me tonight - gross!

 

[ebonyallen]

When I took mine to the vet they said some fleas were resistant to this, he put me on to Advocate and have to say it really does the trick, bit more money, but well worth it.

 

[Foxhunter49]

get some Neem oil and mix 5 ml Neem with 3 ml of liquid soap and add 1 L of hot water and mix and rub that onto the cat. Fleas will die and not return for about at least a month.

Far better than any chemicals and safer for the animal too.

 

[itsonlyme]

I recommend Stronghold. Just a spot-on on the back of the neck. You can only get it from your vet though. And it does more than just fleas

 

[Hollycatt]

When I took mine to the vet they said some fleas were resistant to this, he put me on to Advocate and have to say it really does the trick, bit more money, but well worth it.

Yes, Frontline is an older formula and lots of fleas are resistant. Deflea house and try Advocate (which will worm the cat too)

 

[LouandBee]

Thanks for the replies.

Foxhunter - I think she might kill me if I do that but might give it a go as do agree with the less chemicals the better. What do you mean by liquid soap though, hand wash type stuff? Thanks

 

[Django Pony]

Advantage is great. http://www.advantageflea.com/ Frontline stopped working on my moggies too! And it's cheaper than Frontline at around £10 for 4 pipettes!!

 

[Cuppatea]

you can get advocate and others much cheaper from here:
www.discountpetcare.co.uk

 

[s4sugar]

get some Neem oil and mix 5 ml Neem with 3 ml of liquid soap and add 1 L of hot water and mix and rub that onto the cat. Fleas will die and not return for about at least a month.

Far better than any chemicals and safer for the animal too.

Neem is a chemical and is toxic to cats.

 

[MeganLindsx]

Try advocate and there is a spray you can get from the vets that you spray all over your house and leave it for an hour and it kills all fleas and mites.

(didn't read whole thread so I am probably repeating someone else )

 

[Umbongo]

Yup, advocate is the only thing that works on my cats now. Is a bit more money, but my dog appears to be allergic to flea bites and would rub/scratch himself raw like sweetitch! Well worth it and it worms them too.

 

[Cuppatea]

Yup, advocate is the only thing that works on my cats now. Is a bit more money, but my dog appears to be allergic to flea bites and would rub/scratch himself raw like sweetitch! Well worth it and it worms them too.

you sure its fleas and not mange?

 

[Umbongo]

you sure its fleas and not mange?

Nope! He has had allergy tests and many vet visits with a couple of different practices. All agree it looks like the canine equivalent of sweet itch. Advocate helps keeps the fleas away and he now stops biting completely.

 

[Ladydragon]

Neem is a chemical and is toxic to cats.

Unadulterated neem oil is a vegetable oil in the same way as olive oil, rosehip oil or other expressed oils... Cold pressed is better than any that's subjected to solvent extraction and the only type I'd use in formulations... It's different to distilled (essential) botanical oils, many of which are toxic to cats... That's not to say neem combined with another ingredient, used indiscriminately, or used in conjunction with another product wouldn't be toxic to cats...

Neem oil stinks... If it doesn't - it's been combined with something else...

 

[Joeyjojo]

I used Advantage for my cat, struggled with fleas and frontline for months (my cat is allergic to fleas too) and the frontline never worked. Advantage killed the fleas within a day and not had any problems since.

I think fleas have built up a immunity to frontline (which makes sense given thier fast reproductive cycle) so sometimes it just doesn't work.

Try another brand, there are quite a few on hyperdrug which is where I got mine from.

 

[dotty1]

My cats rarely get fleas but this winter has been terrible. I have front lined them twice and there is still the odd one hopping around. I have also Indorexed the house. Will try Advantage next. I suppose as its not been cold the fleas haven't died off for the winter.
One of mine is allergic to fleas, gets a scabby back and ths time has gone bald up the back of her back legs and round her bottom.

 

[LittleLilly]

Frontline COMBO!! I was having the same problem, cats were up to date with frontline but started to notice fleas and soon being bitten from head to toe, spoke to my vet and was told i needed to use frontline combo to break the cycle as the combo kills the eggs too (by making them infertile) hence breaking the whole cycle. Frontline combo is available on prescription only but i got a prescription off the vet and then bought the combo for both the dogs and the cats off line (best price is with viovet who are very reasonable) you get money off vouchers for your next order too!! I treated them nearly 4 weeks ago and haven't had a problem since (i sprayed the house too) i'm repeating the treatment again at 4 weeks and hopefully won't be seeing another flea again for a while/

 

[Fransurrey]

Neem is a chemical and is toxic to cats.

Took the words out of my mouth!

Make sure whatever you try isn't Fipronil based, OP, as that's the ingredient in Frontline.

I only do my cats once every 3-4 months, due to increasing resistance of parasites. At the same time I boil wash the bedding after spraying with Permethrin and spray under radiators, too. Haven't seen a flea anywhere on my cats, despite one going out onto long grasses and associating with Ferdinand down the yard!

 

[Mrs B]

I used Program on my two for a few months about 3/4 years ago. It works by making the fleas infertile, so the inherent flea population in your home will die out.

Mine haven't had a trace of fleas or sign of flea dirt since then.

 

[abitodd]

I have found that the frontline spray on,(soak the fur,get scratched,bitten and then not spoken to by the cat for a week or more) still works.
I was using Advantage,but live in a tick infested area and the only thing that kills ticks and is safe to use on cats is the frontline spray.
Frontline spot on is ineffective.

 

[misterjinglejay]

Frontline, since they started selling it without a 'script, is weaker than the old stuff.
Frontline Combo, or Plus, is great - you can buy it online fron US or Australia, and even including P&P, it's cheaper.

 

[AmyMay]

I recommend Stronghold. Just a spot-on on the back of the neck. You can only get it from your vet though. And it does more than just fleas

Yep. Second this.

I would also give your house a little treatment.

 

[BentleyBelly]

When we bought our house, the previous owners left us lots of little presents, the house was totally infested and our poor cat was beside herself. RIP flea spray ( http://www.hyperdrug.co.uk/prodinfo.asp?number=RIPFLEAS&Variation= ) worked brilliantly. Capstar tablets are also good, they make all the fleas on the cat drop off and die within 24hrs so we gave her one everytime we sprayed the house. We also had problems with frontline and now use Advocate or Advantage every month.

 

[LouandBee]

Thanks all. I've bought some Advantage online, some spray for the house and a flea trap. I'm interested to see how many of the critters are hanging around.

If the advantage doesn't work it looks like a trip to the vet..poor kitty's favourite. I daren't spray or wash her as she'll probably scrtach me to shreds and then do a runner.

Unfortunately she doesn't really have a bed but picks somewhere new to sleep every few days so looks like I'll have to spray the whole house

 

[OFG]

Vet advised me 2 years ago that Frontline wasn't effective anymore. They prescribed me something different but I can't remember what it was called

 

[Serephin]

I had this problem last year - frontline just wasn't working - we Indorexed the house and still no joy, so went to vets and got Stronghold - finally we were flea free!

 

[lindsayH]

I'm a vet nurse and we've been having a lot of problems with resistance to Frontline (and Effipro which is the same active ingredient). I'm now advising advantage, it's just come off label so is now available without prescription and is still working well. Advocate and Stronghold work well too, but work internally (as they kill worms) rather than externally like Frontline and Advantage. That's fine, but some people may not want to use them as often as they'd need to to get on top of an existing flea problem. Don't forget to give your cat a tapewormer every now and then if you use these products for worming as they don't kill tapeworm. Capstar is fab, but only works as a one off and gives no lasting protection. I second all the recommendations for Indorex, essential to treat the house if you have a real problem.