Thanks, MissMyra, & fleas, fleas more fleas

cheddi

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Thanks so much, MissMyra, for telling me about your mature cat living with her licking away hair habit for so long. I am reassured. Bu has largely stopped licking his belly, at the moment, and hair is growing back there. However, he's keeping patches on the inside of his back legs bare. He doesn't seem to have to groom there a lot to do it -- just grooms aggressively. I wonder why the cats choose these particular spots? All the descriptions I've read are the same, whether they think it's "psychogenic" or endocrine.

And then there are fleas...

I've never put Advantage on a cat more often than every 4 weeks, but the package insert does say,
"If re-treatment becomes necessary earlier than four weeks, do not re-treat more than once weekly." We are having a very bad flea season here in San Francisco. (My downstairs neighbor used a less expensive product, & despite daily combing, her cats are Troubled.) I treated with Advantage on the first of this month, and see a little flea dirt in Bu's bed again already, see him scratching & biting back again already. The package insert also says,
"Reinfesting fleas are killed within 2 hours."
I am having trouble deciding whether I should re-treat now. The flea dirt I'm seeing could be from fleas living that 1-2 hours before being killed? In which case, another treatment now won't make a difference. How would you decide to treat again sooner than 4 weeks out?
Opinions? Experiences?
thanks,
cheddi & Bu
 

sharky

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PLEASE consult a vet... I would NOT be comfortable putting a PESTICIDE on my cat ...
 
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cheddi

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The vet recommended Advantage, as many do. They use it on their own animals.
 

katkisses

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I have re-applied advantage a little earlier than the 30 days, one of mine had flea allergies and is very sensitive to them, one flea and she starts pulling out her hair in random spots! My vet said ok, just follow the instructions (no closer than 1 week). The closest I had to re-apply it was 3 weeks.

Definatly call your vet and ask his opinion on this though!


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Sharky, you got me very curious! What do you use? It may come in handy for my flea allergy cat.
 

sharky

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Originally Posted by KatKisses

I have re-applied advantage a little earlier than the 30 days, one of mine had flea allergies and is very sensitive to them, one flea and she starts pulling out her hair in random spots! My vet said ok, just follow the instructions (no closer than 1 week). The closest I had to re-apply it was 3 weeks.

Definatly call your vet and ask his opinion on this though!


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Sharky, you got me very curious! What do you use? It may come in handy for my flea allergy cat.
I use DeFlea ... it is registered with the EPA but NOT REQUIRED as it is not a PESTICIDE ....

My comment should have stated doubling up
 
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cheddi

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Actually, the primary ingredient in De Flea is a pesticide. (It's also a drug humans ingest, but we won't go there.) You got me interested, I had to go info seeking. "Pesticide" just means it kills the bugs.
(If you just wanted to chase them away, eucalyptus oil, as in Vicks, would do that. You can't put it on a cat, tho, as they will lick it and it is not safe for anybody to ingest. I have used eucalyptus oil to chase fleas out of carpet.)
I can't shampoo this cat, nor spray him -- he wouldn't put up with it for a minute. And, the De Flea works on contact, but doesn't keep working. I can get the Advantage on because it only takes seconds. And at that, it's been a challenge to find the least stressful (and successful!) way for both of us.
But I might try the bedding spray, to see if it helps. Thanks for letting me know about De Flea.
I haven't put another dose of Advantage on Bu yet. Don't see flea dirt on his fresh bedding, so I'll watch & wait a few more days, at least.
cheddi & Bu
 

stephanietx

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We pretty much have fleas year-round here, but since our girls are indoor-only and we treat our yard with beneficial nematodes to control pests and insects, I use Revolution on them about once a quarter or so. We also have the outside of our house treated by an organic pest control company quarterly.
 

bridget

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I am very interested in this because we are dealing with a flea challenge with our cats and our dogs. Where can you get DeFlea? Does it require a prescription? Is Advantage considered the best for cats, as far as long-lasting flea medication goes? Does anyone use Frontline? It used to work for us, but anymore seems not to.
 

sharky

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Originally Posted by cheddi

Actually, the primary ingredient in De Flea is a pesticide. (It's also a drug humans ingest, but we won't go there.) You got me interested, I had to go info seeking. "Pesticide" just means it kills the bugs.
(If you just wanted to chase them away, eucalyptus oil, as in Vicks, would do that. You can't put it on a cat, tho, as they will lick it and it is not safe for anybody to ingest. I have used eucalyptus oil to chase fleas out of carpet.)
I can't shampoo this cat, nor spray him -- he wouldn't put up with it for a minute. And, the De Flea works on contact, but doesn't keep working. I can get the Advantage on because it only takes seconds. And at that, it's been a challenge to find the least stressful (and successful!) way for both of us.
But I might try the bedding spray, to see if it helps. Thanks for letting me know about De Flea.
I haven't put another dose of Advantage on Bu yet. Don't see flea dirt on his fresh bedding, so I'll watch & wait a few more days, at least.
cheddi & Bu
The Human thing I know ...lol... Thank you for the reminder pesticide kills a pest weather natural or chemical
.. De Flea has a powder also .. Do you use diatansous earth( sP?)??

Originally Posted by stephanietx

We pretty much have fleas year-round here, but since our girls are indoor-only and we treat our yard with beneficial nematodes to control pests and insects, I use Revolution on them about once a quarter or so. We also have the outside of our house treated by an organic pest control company quarterly.
This is an interesting way to go

Originally Posted by Bridget

I am very interested in this because we are dealing with a flea challenge with our cats and our dogs. Where can you get DeFlea? Does it require a prescription? Is Advantage considered the best for cats, as far as long-lasting flea medication goes? Does anyone use Frontline? It used to work for us, but anymore seems not to.
Dl flea is available online, petco , petsmart and small pet stores often carry it .. NO RX as it is a natural pesticide with minimal risk... My vet prefers natural but for chemical she recommend s Frontline.... So like human drs the vet recommendations will vary
 
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cheddi

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I've used revolution, a couple of times, to treat Bu. What we liked about it was that it treats fleas, ear mites and hookworm and roundworm all in one treatment. I was a little nervous about how potent something must be to treat all those pests at once, but the cat didn't seem to be any more stressed by it than by Advantage. (I.e., once it's dry, not at all.) We needed to get rid of ear mites, so it was a relief to be able to do that without having to directly treat his ears, since he won't let me do that.
I think all these treatments may be available from Doctors Foster & Smith.com; they have a huge inventory. I've bought both Advantage & revolution from them.
cheddi & Bu
 

yosemite

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We get and use Revolution and Advantage from the vet, dosages by weight for Mika and Bijou and I sprinkle diatomaceous earth around the house, in the rug and in the furniture. This seems to work for us.
 

threecatowner

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Can anyone here tell me - in layman's terms - the differences between Frontline Plus, Revolution, and Advantage?

I've always used Frontline, because that's what the vet gives me when I ask for flea meds. I apply it now and it seems to make NO DIFFERENCE at all, especially on schizoid flea-ridden Mickey. (Yes, he spends a bit of time in our yard, but he has for all his life and never had problems like this)

It's getting time to buy more for the cats, so I'm just wondering if I should ask for something that works better?

PS: I have never heard of so many folks having flea troubles as I have this year - of course, I've only been on this site one year. Is this year worse than most? It certainly is for us!

And for the person - it may have been you, Cheddi - that posted last week that your cat wants to be up high on hard surfaces when flea-ridden - THANK YOU! I really thought Mickey was losing his mind, but you described him exactly.
 

yosemite

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Originally Posted by threecatowner

Can anyone here tell me - in layman's terms - the differences between Frontline Plus, Revolution, and Advantage?

I've always used Frontline, because that's what the vet gives me when I ask for flea meds. I apply it now and it seems to make NO DIFFERENCE at all, especially on schizoid flea-ridden Mickey. (Yes, he spends a bit of time in our yard, but he has for all his life and never had problems like this)

It's getting time to buy more for the cats, so I'm just wondering if I should ask for something that works better?

PS: I have never heard of so many folks having flea troubles as I have this year - of course, I've only been on this site one year. Is this year worse than most? It certainly is for us!

And for the person - it may have been you, Cheddi - that posted last week that your cat wants to be up high on hard surfaces when flea-ridden - THANK YOU! I really thought Mickey was losing his mind, but you described him exactly.
I've read that Frontline is not working as well as it used to for some folks. Revolution is a more encompassing product, i.e., it prevents ear mites, heartworm and hook worms as well as works on fleas in my understanding. Advantage is more for just fleas. Mika had a bad reaction to Revolution so we used Advantage on her and Revolution on Bijou.

Apparently it has been a worse than usual year for fleas in some areas so yes you may well be in one of those areas.

Using Diatomaceous Earth in your carpeting along with the flea meds on your kitty should make a big difference for you.
 

sharky

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Frontline is what my vet recommends for chemical control
.. the reason it was the ONLY one of the "rx" bunch that is NOT found in the blood stream of the animal
 
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