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Need help with fleas and flea products!!

4K views 5 replies 4 participants last post by  Holly 
#1 ·
Hi all. So VERY long story short, we took in a cat with fleas on Saturday. Gave her a flea bath but only had Advantage II for cats less than 9lbs, and she's 10lbs. Figured it would do the job at the time since the vet wasn't open until Monday. Flea bombed the house the next day and didn't see any more fleas in house or on her until last night when I found probably 10 fleas on her, on the floor, and in my bed :eek:. Some were lathargic and didn't jump but some looked small and young and jumped away before I could get them.

So now I don't know what to do. We have a dog who is on monthly Frontline Plus and we also have an indoor cat who never got flea meds before but she got some on Saturday as well. I'm afraid they're all going to get fleas now! The vet told me Frontline Plus works better than Advantage II, but I heard the opposite, so does anyone know if I should get the Frontline or if I should get the Advantage that's right for her size?

And I'd like to give her another bath in Dawn soap because I hear that helps, but do I need to wait to give her the topical flea medication afterwards, or can I just do it when she's dry?

I'm also planning on picking up flea powder later from the vet and am going to vacuum and steam wash the floors. Luckily we only have one rug in the house which will probably get thrown out now, so they can't really hide there.

Does anyone have any other ideas on what to do? I'm hoping we're catching this early enough so that it doesn't blow out of control, but I know they reproduce fast so I'm extremely stressed out. Any information would be greatly appreciated, and I apologize for the extremely long post :eek:
 
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#2 ·
I heard that Frontline Plus for cats was very good. I use Frontline Plus for dogs, on Cassy, and it works.

I personally like Frontline Plus better then Advantage.
 
#3 ·
I would use the frontline. DONT use the dawn soap it will be to drying on the skin and coat as it is made to take oil off dishes and you don't want to take all of the oil out of the coat or you will end up with a dry itchy cat. Use a mild shampoo made for cats. something like this would be good to heal up the flea bites and soothe the skin.
Earthbath Oatmeal & Aloe Totally Natural Pet Shampoo at PETCO
I would ask the vet about applying more at this time because you could make the cat sick. The advantage absorbs into the blood stream. You may have to wait 30 days to apply more.
The key to putting on frontline after a bath is to make sure the animal is dry as a bone. If you put it on when the cat is damp it will not work. As a groomer we used to tell clients to wait at least 48 hours after baths to apply any flea product.
If you want something to help in the mean time you could use something like this that is natural
Danger of Chemical Pest Control Products - Safe Alternatives
 
#4 ·
I actually don't believe the Advantage gets absorbed in the bloodstream... it gets absorbed and dispersed through the oils on the skin. (Hence why you're not supposed to bathe for 48 hours before or after application to allow the oils to build up.)

As per the label, you can apply it earlier than 30 days but cannot use it earlier than 7 days since the last application. Once the flea infestation is under control, it can be used monthly again.


I personally like Frontline better.

The rest of what you're doing sounds good. I'd apply a flea preventative to your other cat as well.

You could also pick up "Capstar" from your vet to quickly kill whatever fleas are on the cat if you're afraid of using a topical sooner.
 
#5 ·
Thanks everyone. My vet actually told me I should use the Dawn, so that's what I used. I didn't see a flea on either cats after that. And she said to wait 2-3 days to give them a new dose of Advantage anyways, so that'll bring me to the 7 days from the last dose, so I think we should be good. We did a thorough cleaning of the house today and used a powder from the vet that uses boric acid. So hopefully fingers crossed everything goes well!!
 
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