What can I use? Spot on doesn't work

[Bettyboo1976]

Hi

I have a dog and cat, and they both have fleas went to the vet and got spot on for both £45 later and the dog still has them I can see them pets have had 3 treatments but they've still not gone. I'm going to call the vet, but wondered what else I can get to kill the fleas?

Yes we do the pets both at the same time. Dog is a parsons jack Russell so not a huge doggie.

Help please

 

[Cinnamontoast]

Frontline spot on no longer works (but the spray does).You can get Stronghold from the vet but its widely known that the spoton no longer works. For the dog, give him one clove of garlic a week, he might be keener if it's cooked. The main thing is to fumigate the house, spray every surface thoroughly, go nuts on soft furnishings, close the door and do each room individually, leave for an hour then Hoover hugely. Comb out dog and cat before you spray treat the house.

I don't know if there's a Stronghold for cats

 

[jools123]

Frontline spot on no longer works (but the spray does).You can get Stronghold from the vet but its widely known that the spoton no longer works. For the dog, give him one clove of garlic a week, he might be keener if it's cooked. The main thing is to fumigate the house, spray every surface thoroughly, go nuts on soft furnishings, close the door and do each room individually, leave for an hour then Hoover hugely. Comb out dog and cat before you spray treat the house.

I don't know if there's a Stronghold for cats

a spot on takes upto 48hrs to kill the fleas if your animals are then coming into contact with fleas again the cycle will continue, you can get indorex spray or something similar to treat the house,there is known to be some resistance to frontline, but frontline combo, advocate and stronghold are thought to be ok. cats can use any of those, there is also a programme injection for cats which many people find effective.
if you fumigate the house you need to hover BEFORE as the vibration makes the eggs hatch allowing you to kill more fleas.
oh and how often are you treating?

 

[The Fuzzy Furry]

Got similar prob with my Fuzzy-fluffy-cat
Whilst I treat him, the neighbour 4 doors down doesnt believe in using any 'chemicals' on her cat (who is crawling with them) and mine comes regularly in contact with her cat when duffing it up every other day or so.

Sorry to jump on your thread OP, am almost at wits end in trying to eradicate my poor fluffy-fuzzy

 

[Bettyboo1976]

Hmm I don't think the dog and especially the cat will like a spray! Lol I will get some stonghold from the vet. Thanks guys

 

[CAYLA]

as C n T suggests I get the XL bottle of frontline spray ( I have never had flea issues) my cats get scruffed and sprayed and the dogs now just stand like little angels I have 10 dogs and 3 cats and I board dogs aswell, I spray the house with whatever is at work at the time (every 6 months), I think indorex and RIP at the moment but always use frontline spray again longer than stated (about 6 months) because of my lack of fleas, I literally do them as routine for the boarders coming in, I never use spot ons, I dont have faith in them
Sometimes I inhale so much fume Im practically pissed by the time at on to number 10

 

[YLM]

Mix of vinegar and shampoo will kill fleas on the dog, but vacuuming etc will still need doing!! Got this from google dogsdata.com. Did it yesterday on my jackapoo and seems to have worked. Now treated with advantix as ticks are a problem here. Good luck.

 

[misterjinglejay]

Frontline combi/plus still works well

 

[Kaylum]

worm as well as it stops the flea cycle.

 

[ElaineLightning]

I use program plus tablets it does fleas and worms

 

[horsemadelsie]

Frontline spot on does still work, just not as quickly as it used to, according to our vet. We moved house and our JRT who has never had a flea problem in her life was covered in them. It took months of frontline and a spray for the house, but we have now beaten them and haven't seen any for months.
Our vet told us that if you can see them and they don't hop straight away then the frontline is working- it slows them down and kills them more gradually than it used to. We knew it was working when we combed out loads of little black specks that turned out to be flea bodies from her coat.
Give it time and have patience, it worked for us!

 

[Britestar]

If you don't treat your house, you'll keep getting them as the eggs hactch.

Summer classic - people go on hols for 2 weeks in the summer, shut the house up, weather is warm - come home to a hopping house!

 

[EAST KENT]

A useless piece of information about that.In Kenya the norm was to go somewhere cooler than the usual house in the hot season, India too I expect. It was the norm to coat the floors with Pyrethrem powder just before shutting up the house. On return a big old empty Tate @ Lyall syrup tin was filled with stones and rolled accross the floor before anyone went in.The vibration made the new fleas hatch out straight into insect killer.Useless info. over.

 

[twiglet84]

worm as well as it stops the flea cycle.

??

Flea larvae eat feacal matter that contains tapeworm eggs and these hatch in the flea, when pets with fleas groom themselves and accidently ingest these fleas they they are infected with tapeworm.

Therefore you must treat for tapeworm - dipylidium caninum when your pet has fleas.

Worming DOES NOT break the flea cycle. A lot of people treat there pets and fail to treat the house which is extremely important. Turning the heating up and hoovering before using a decent household spray is advisable then using an adulticide.

Dont forget that your pet may get "hitch hiker" fleas which jump on and the treatment hasnt had time to kill them. The frontline combo is good because it has the insect growth regulator which prevents the fleas from laying eggs which can hatch. The old frontline just killed the adults.

xxx Good luck xxx

 

[Boulty]

If you haven't already treated your house then I'd say do that as a first port of call (as has been said hoover before you treat as well as after as the vibration will encourage the little blighters to emerge thinking it's their nest meal!). I'd also treat inside your hoover when you're done. Make sure that you move furniture to treat under that and under the corners of items like cushions and mattresses. Oh and make sure you wash (hot wash) all bedding (including your own if pets have access to it). Your vets should be able to recommend an effective product for this. If you do not treat your house then you really are fighting a losing battle as even if the product you are using has some environmental control (ones I'm aware of are frontline combo, advantage, advantix (dogs only), advocate and stronghold) this will take several months of continuous use to build up and be effective and so new fleas will constantly be emerging from your carpets. An additional recommendation would be to use a suitable flea product monthly (or as advised by instructions) and keep up to it (prevention is better than cure). I'd recommend something that also has an insect growth regulator in there so it's not just killing the adult fleas but the larva too. Most of these are only available from vets. If you find remembering to keep up to spot on treatments difficult then may be worth asking your vet about a new product being launched in the form of a collar that is good for around 7 months. (obv that would depend on if your vet is planning to stock it I guess)

 

[mainpower]

I had an awful flea infestation earlier this year (so awful that I was often on my commute to work on the train and would see them crawling on my arm as they hitched a lift, so embarrassing) caused by my neighbours manky cat coming in my house to eat my cat's food. Unfortunately we had my cat PTS due to old age so have been able to stop other cat coming in. But I couldn't get rid of the fleas for love nor money, until I had Indorex reccommended to me. I blitzed my house with the hoover, used two cans of Indorex (three bed semi), washed the dogs in flea shampoo and sprayed them with cheap Bob Martin spray. Havn't seen a flea for 6 months now, but will be repeating the process when I'm on holiday next month.

 

[Ella19]

Try asking your vet for a seresto collar, they are new out and treat flea and ticks. You pop them on and leave them on for 7-8 months. It's clever enough to know when to release the chemical responding to the animals coat, so will release.more when low, such as after a splash in the river!