fleas

baby and crumble

Hey guys,

Ok so we have adopted a cat who is super friendly and very affectionate. He's a big massive hunting tom, who we presume is going after rabbits etc that are around the garden.

The problem is that every now and again he's coming in with fleas, and nothing seems to get rid of them much. I put a flea collar on him just there now, but of course he's not allowed in when he has fleas. He sleeps out in the shed (with a nice bed and stuff so he's sheltered and seems happy enough) but of course with the cold drawing in I was hoping he could spend more time inside during the evenings.

I'm guessing these are rabbit fleas, but is there anything we can do other that a flea collar? My dad has also been using some sort of spot treatment but it stinks and you cant use it too often. I change his bedding when he gets a few fleas on him.

Pumpkinseeds

I use the Advocate spot on for cats 4+ kilos, it covers ear mites and most worms in 1 go. I buy it from my vet or online, I'm not sure if you can buy it in pet shops. One of my chaps is 8 kilos and we have a lot of birds that land in the grass around the house and they also find a lot of mice, so fleas used to be a problem. We've been using the Advocate for a few years and haven't had any flea problems since.

You'd need to put the cat bedding in a very hot wash and use a good flea spray anywhere he's been in the house. A lot of people recommend putting a chopped up flea collar in the hoover bag when you hooover to get rid of fleas, then bin the hoover bag. I'd never use a flea collar on a cat, I just don't like the idea of them and it must bug them having something so toxic around their necks. I'm sure you'll get lots of excellent advice here.

SillyMangoX

What type of spot on are you using? I find that the cheap (and generally ineffective) ones absolutely stink. I've been using frontline for the last while on my 2 and have had no fleas and there is no bad smell either. At this time of year though they should generally be dying off. Agree with putting the bedding through a hot wash and also maybe you should use a flea bomb in the shed (when he's not in there of course!) There really isn't a need to use a flea collar, the proper spot on got at a vet is more than enough. There is another medication called capstar that kills all the fleas on him within minutes but it has no effect on eggs or larvae and doesn't offer residual protection!

meoklmrk91

I would use a frontline on him, advocate is great as it covers everything but I prefer to flea and worm separately because last time my dog had a blood test it showed that he had quite a big worm burden, frontline might just not suit him though, but since then I have just done them separately.

Also spot ons do stink a little during application but after that there should be no smell at all really. Not with advocate and frontline I can't speak for bob Martin because I wouldn't use it.

I would say pop down to the vet and get a spot on, wash his bedding and that should be that.