Now, it's war!

I've been using Frontline Top Spot to treat the cats for fleas the past two months. I started a third round of treatment tuesday but the situation doesn't appear to be getting any better.

I'm at the point now where I'm considering giving the apartment a good fogging. Everest has to go in to the vet this coming tuesday to be neutered. I was thinking of asking the vet if I can bring the other two cats with me to give them a good flea spray (or a bath) and if the office could board them for most of the day while I the foggers do their thing and I air out the apartment afterwards etc.

I do have a number of aquariums running so I'm concerned about them. I'm thinking that they will be alright as long as I cover the tops and a good part of the sides of the tanks with plastic and seal the bottoms. I *should* be okay leaving the filters run if I do that and I'll add some carbon to them for chemical filtering.

Any thoughts, ideas or suggestions?

Thanks.

Hi - well we use this, it does say it is safe, but unfortuntely doesnt mention fish ?? Maybe your vet could tell you ?

http://www.petremedies.co.uk/product...in+more+detail

If you fog your house- DO NOT run your filters. Just make sure everything is in tip top shape (ph, etc.) and perhaps use an oxygen treatment before you fog (you can get these at a good pet store- just add it to the water- I have used this when treating my fish for an illness ). And do cover them, like you said.

Have you tried Advantage? Sometimes it seems that if I switch them up when they aren't working like I want them to, they start working again. We used to have TERRIBLE fleas (did the flea baths, carpet spray, fogger- fogger only worked in the basement, where there is no carpet, furniture, etc.), but now, I don't even have to do them every month. It did take a few months- and vacuuming where the cats sleep on a regular basis helps too- gets rid of the flea eggs . Good luck! I know, it's awful!

Oh, and you may want to get a flea powder and vacuum some up in your vacuum cleaner, to kill the fleas (and hatching fleas) that you vacuum up .

Jaden had fleas when we got her and we didn't notice right away. After I found flea dirt on her we got Advantage, but the fleas came back again. Then I read up on this forum: I suggest you do a search and find all the posts about fleas.

I started vacuuming with a cheap-o flea collar in the canister. This has to be done a least every week, if not every couple days. That includes vacuuming the furniture and anywhere your cat goes (e.g. under the bed). It took an hour to do our apartment, so I just skipped going to the gym that day. We got her Frontline Plus, which kills adult fleas and flea larvae and immature fleas on the cat and her surroundings. At the same time, I was washing all the bedding (sheets, blankets and comforters) as well as pet beds every week!

Getting rid of fleas is hard, tough work but it can be done and you don't have to fog your apartment. It's been a month since I've found Jaden scratching or any flea dirt, so I think it's working. Took about two months altogether. Didn't lose any weight from all that vacuuming though, darn.

I really don't want to fog. The person I adopted the cats from is pushing to do it. I want to get them rid of them but at the same time I don't want to stress the kitties out even more by boarding them at the vets office.

I've been trying to comb everyday as best as I can (the cats don't always like to cooperate). I have a flea collar that I put in the vacuum cleaner bag and am trying to vacuum every couple of days. I also have a flea powder that I bought to use on the carpet ( I only have one room that is carpeted), area rug and on the cloth furniture. I would rather try all of this before fogging.

You might also check with your vet--sometimes they have stronger sprays for furniture and carpets (be sure you spray any fabric the cats touch, including your bed and your couch). The stuff my vet suggested was called Knockout E.S.--you spray it, leave it for a couple of hours, and then vacuum the sprayed areas again. When I had the flea problem, I didn't have any place to take the kitties to, so I put them in one room while I sprayed and while I waited for it to dry. After vacuuming, I switched them into those rooms and gave the room they had been in the treatment. Also, I gave them Capstar (from my vet) to kill the adult fleas that were on them at the time. I also second catsallover's suggestion fo switching flea meds. When Advantage stopped working for my cats, I switched to Frontline Plus and got better results. The switch seems to help kill off the stragglers.

I talked to the vet about using a spray on the kitties but she said not too do that while they are being treated with the Frontline. That makes perfect sense to me because mixing chemicals without knowing what the results could be can be extremely dangerous.

I'm going to talk to my vet about Capstar and a strong spray for the furniture and carpets. Thanks for the suggestions and tips- they are much appreciated.

I decided to NOT use a fogger except as a last resort. The biggest reason is because of the tanks. Two of them contain livebearer species that are critically endangered in the wild and I just can't put my captive breeding program at risk.

I wouldn't want to use a spray on the kitties either. Capstar is very safe--it's a small pill that just kills the adults on the cat for about 24 hours, I believe. It's nice because it can be used more than once in a month if, for example, you have to spray again later. Sometimes it takes two rounds of spraying the carpets and furniture to kill all of the little buggers. I would recommend covering any tanks before spraying anything though, just to be safe. I covered my fish tank with a plastic bag to be sure that the spray didn't inadvertantly fall into the tank.

When you use spot on flea treatments, you need to alternate each month- frontline one month, then advantage the next. The fleas have an uncanny ability to build up a resistance to the chemicals that are out to do them in if you use the same chemical consistently.

I'm back from the vet with Charlotte. Everest is having is procedure done soon so he won't be home until late afternoon. I believe that we are starting to make some progress with the Battle of the Fleas. Charlotte and Everest were given a good combing by the vet and there weren't any signs of flea "dirt" or of the fleas themselves. The last couple times that I combed Shadow (including this morning) there wasn't any evidence of them having fleas. I'm going to hold off on the Capstar for now but it's an option that will be used if needed. At this point the vet doesn't think it's necessary.

I also asked if she could recommend a good spray and mentioned the Knockout E.S. (thanks cloud shade) and she said that it was a good one to use.

After this third round of prescribed treatment with the Frontline Top Spot I'm considering switching to Advantage and treating for a couple more months just to be safe. Hopefully, we are starting to see light at the end of tunnel in the fight against the fleas (nasty little scourge).

Good Luck with Your Battle today

Originally Posted by hissy

When you use spot on flea treatments, you need to alternate each month- frontline one month, then advantage the next. The fleas have an uncanny ability to build up a resistance to the chemicals that are out to do them in if you use the same chemical consistently.

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So I'm not nuts! I thought they worked better when I switched them around!

Glad to hear it's improving!

Fleas suck. My Bindi had fleas from the woman who I got him from. We didn't know about it then,until he started itching and scraching I found flea dirt and then I told our vet. She gave us flea meds. I think your rushing and worrying too much, this thing will go away in time. You want the fleas to bite your cats and die or lay eggs and die with the eggs. Trust me in about two weeks they will go bye bye. Just make sure to keep using themeds acording to the doseage and keep them indoors.

Thanks.

I think I may have forgot to update this. I haven't seen a speck of flea dirt or any fleas in a little over a week. I'm hoping that this is finally under control. I haven't done anything different than dosing the Frontline and vacuuming.