Fleas!

The stuff from the vet is Safer and more effective than OTC product... When did you use the flea treatment ? If over a couple of days Please call and talk with your vet...

For the household surfaces Food grade ( not the one for pools) Diatenceous earth( note I likely have Not spelled that correctely)... You rub into the carpet and then vacumm

Never otc flea treatments. Please!!

The Humane Society of the United States has a report on how dangerous these are. Plus tons of information on the net.

Always get flea meds from your vet. Advantage is what I use and most everyone I know uses it too.

Technically it's not exactly stronger, it just works better. Mode of action in the commonly used flea topicals from the vet keeps it working for 2-4 weeks.

The products you get at, say, walmart - like hartz tend to put too much pesticide into the small vials. This combined with the type of pesticides they use (which have a greater toxicity or are just plain toxic to cats) can result in overdosing. If a cat survives being dosed with these and has no side effects most people find that the products only work a week or so if they even work at all.

What did your vet give you?
Regular Frontline is one of the older ones and because of how it is distributed on a cat (throughout the skin) it tends to be one of the safest. But because of it's age there have been problems with fleas becoming resistant. It takes ~ 24 hours to "spread" out on a cat and then up to another 18 hours to kill all the fleas on a cat.

Advantage has been around as long as Frontline. It goes into the bloodstream and kills nearly all the fleas within 12 hours, any new jump ons can take a couple hours to die. So far no one has really come up with any evidence that fleas are becoming resistant to Advantage yet - though in tough infestations it can look like it's not working. With vet approval it can be reapplied earlier than 4 weeks. (so can the Frontline)
There's also Advantage Multi that adds another pesticide to the dose - it is used to treat earmites, roundworms, hookworms, and is a heartworm preventative in cats along with killing fleas.

Revolution is a newer one, but is safe enough for younger kittens (6 weeks with vet approval - depending on condition of kitten) and supposedly nursing cats. It goes through the bloodstream as well and can take up to 2 days to kill all fleas. Revolution is also used to treat earmites, roundworms, hookworms, and is a heartworm preventative.

Then there's the capstar that can be given to kill all fleas on the cat and can be safely given multiple times, but does not prevent reinfestation.
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The bad news: It sounds like your cats have had fleas for a while. This means that they will have tapeworms. It requires that you get a separate dewormer from your vet to treat them.
I also suggest, along with the DE that was already recommend to you, that you clean. Vacuum everything (put a flea collar in the canister or bag) - even around the trim near the floor on non carpet flooring and wash all bedding the cats have laid on on the hottest temp you can. This will help you get some of the fleas that are not on the cats.

Do comb the kitten. Sometimes those half dying fleas will fall off - I've even had them try to bite me. (I know there was something wrong with them after putting Advantage on the cats since they couldn't jump) While they're still on the cat they'll crawl around with can be very annoying to a cat.

If Stella will let you comb the underside of her neck and her face with the flea comb you might be able to get a few fleas off of her. The underside of the neck is also a very good place to check for fleas if you fear they may be in the house - I can only assume that fleas like to bite there due to warmth, blood flow, and the difficulty cats have removing them from that area.

The advantage should do the job and by tomorrow any scratching should decrease.

All of my cats use Revolution on the back of their necks. Lynxx had been boarded a few years ago, and he came back with fleas. We put Revolution on him for the first time then, and we never saw another flea. Until we brought Luna home. She was covered so many fleas you couldn't even see her stomach. The vet gave us Kitten revolution for her, Lynxx was already on Revolution, and we haven't seen another flea since we put that on her neck. So far we've had very good luck with Revolution.

It's only been four days so it's possible that you still have a few fleas in the house or are bringing new ones in on you. Or Fable has a mild flea allergy, it which case it can take a while for her to stop itching or you can go to the vet and get her a steroid shot for it - if she's doing any serious damage to her skin from scratching.

You may also try adding some humidifiers to the home. Dry inside air can make some cats get dry skin and itchy from that.

Frontline is the best, IMO.

My two indoor cats somehow became infested with fleas over the summer and we tried all kinds of all natural products and nothing worked. After using Frontline for a month they completly disappeared, so we switched to Advantage (its a bit cheaper) and the fleas came back!

So, my advice is to use Frontline if the Advantage doesnt seem to work completly.

Good luck!

In my area fleas have become mostly resistant to Frontline. People have to use Advantage or Revolution. It's been out since..1996? So it's understandable, that's what happens with all pesticides eventually. Plus all the ones that get used for fleas were first used on crops, so who knows how many total years they've been on the market in one form or another.

Hopefully not.

Now there is the chance that due to this flea exposure that at a later date if they get fleas again Fable may have more problems with it. That's how allergies work.

You may have to determine risks of fleas in your area and keep them treated for at least the months that are above freezing (if it even gets that cold there) or find another way to keep the home flea free.

Well if you can get rid of them completely you should be good until things thaw back out ... in what? May?

If you two already have the heat on your inside humidity will be really low. That can lead to chapped lips and dry itchy skin for you, and chapped noses and dry itchy skin for the kitties.

Agreed. Hartz makes horrible products. I once tried their flea treatment and it literally burned a patch on my cat's skin. And their hairball stuff is just as bad. A total waste of money. Sad that such a huge brand name is wasted on such crappy products.

Revolution is great. Better than Advantage, because it kills more nasties but is just as safe. It's pricey but if you search online you can buy it from a reputable Australian pet site at a good price.

It can take just one bite from a single flea to cause an allergic reaction for a kitty. Most, if not all, cats are allergic to a flea's saliva to some degree. I have a cat that completely pulls his hair out when he gets bit, and some who you wouldn't even know they had fleas unless you saw dirt or the flea itself. That's why it does get frustrating for me, because the flea has to bite the animal before it will die.

One of the newer products on the market is Vectra. My local vet clinic stopped promoting Frontline entirely. I've used Vectra on one cat seeing as I still had 6 doses of Frontline left, but from the looks of it, it effectively did what I wanted it to do. Kill fleas.

On the subject of OTC flea products, while working at the local vet clinic I heard WAY too many horror stories of animals getting really sick or even fatal outcomes from using the products.

There are a lot of bad reviews for Vectra, I suggest you look it up. It's an OTC topical - and the dog vectra cannot be used in a home with cats, because like Advantix it can harm cats when it's used on dogs. My vet dropped Advantage for for Vectra - I won't use it.

I'm only seeing issues with Vectra 3D for dogs, not the Vectra for cats? Would love to see the reviews for it. My dog only gets Frontline and will be switched to Comfortis when I run out, so I have no plans of using the 3D.