Fleas!

TICKLE_ME_ELMO

My cat got a weird rash 2 summers ago and when we took her to the vet they said it was a reaction to flea bites. They gave us medication and she was fine.

Last summer we started doing her for fleas around June but come August she had the rash again. We took her to the vet, they said the same thing and looked at us like we were lying when we said that she'd been done for fleas.

This year we were taking no chances and started doing her in April, every 4 weeks as the instructions say. Now she has it again and worse a few of us have bites too. We've cleaned down the whole house and that's all fine now, but we're 99% sure it's fleas.

So my question is... is it likely the vet is wrong about what's causing her rash, or is the flea stuff they sell us rubbish? It's the Advocate stuff which we've never had before until we started going to this vet. With our previous cats and vet we always got Front Line (?) and never had any sort of problem with fleas.

Anyone have a similar problem or use the Advocate stuff and find it works?

SillyMangoX

My cats get this every summer too, just because there are no fleas on them doesn't mean they haven't been bitten, especially if already treated for fleas. It's called flea allergy dermatitis and basically the flea hops on, bites the cat and dies due to the treatment but that one bite is enough to drive them into itching frenzy. I treat my guys every summer too but it doesn't stop it coming back, but they only thing I could recommend is bring them to the vet at the very first sign of itching. I left it too long last year and had to put them on stronger treatments, plus one of the wounds got infected! Also if many of the scabs are around the face (I find with my guys it's lips, ears and belly) one of the cones from the vet may help!

twomonkeys

It may not be fleas. It could be harvest mites, and flea treatments are totally useless for harvest mites. Best thing to use is Frontline spray but even that wont stop the mites from biting if the cat is continually going into infested areas (long grass).

TICKLE_ME_ELMO

twomonkeys wrote: »

It may not be fleas. It could be harvest mites, and flea treatments are totally useless for harvest mites. Best thing to use is Frontline spray but even that wont stop the mites from biting if the cat is continually going into infested areas (long grass).

This sounds unlikely as we live in a housing estate and she rarely leaves the garden.
Thanks though.

twomonkeys

You'd be surprised! We also live in a housing estate and our cat gets bitten by harvest mites at this time of the year every year. The mites can live in gardens too!
Unless you've actually found fleas on your cat, dont rule out harvest mites. Mites attack the paws, head area, underbelly and tail but rarely the back. Flea bites tend to be everywhere.

TICKLE_ME_ELMO

twomonkeys wrote: »

Unless you've actually found fleas on your cat, dont rule out harvest mites. Mites attack the paws, head area, underbelly and tail but rarely the back. Flea bites tend to be everywhere.

Oh, now this sounds possible. All the scratches she has are head, tail and she's chewing at her paws a lot too. But do mites bite humans? She used to be allowed sleep on the arms of the chairs and we all had a few bites too?

twomonkeys

Yes harvest mites can bite humans too but I dont think they infest bedding in the same way fleas do. We've never had any bites from anything transferred from our cat. However you could be getting bitten if you're going into the same area of the garden as your cat.

If it IS mites, Frontline spray will work but only partially. We've still had to bring our cat to the vet for the last 3 summers for a steroid injection to stop the itching.

TICKLE_ME_ELMO

Yep, looks like we'll have to bring her back too. Good to know it might be something other than fleas though. I was starting to wonder if they were selling us some duff flea treatment.

Thanks for you help.

texas star

Hi I just had my shih zu Molly down in the vet today as she kept licking her paws and they where very red.She a house dog just gets a walk a day and vet said harvest mites and I live in council estate.He gave her an injection and tablets for a week.Im going to buy Dermopt antifungal and anitbacterial cat/dog shampoo.I always wash her bed every week anyway.Any other suggestions as to what else I can do as i don't like her being stressed.Thanks

TICKLE_ME_ELMO

I meant to update this the other day. We took her to the vet and he took one look at her and said harvest mites. He said there's not real treatment for them but apparently the Spot On flea stuff works better against them than the other stuff that they had been giving us. We used to always get Spot On from our old vets and none of our other cats ever had this issue.

Anyway, he gave her two injections, one was antibiotics instead of tablets and she seems to have stopped scratching and they're healing. Seems a shame you can't actually prevent them because this is the 3rd year in a row we've had to take her to the vets for the same issue.

Qualitymark

Incidentally, for fleas one thing you should do is get a steam cleaner (about €100, and a fantastic thing for cleaning floors) and clean all the floors regularly, especially around the edges where fleas lay their eggs. Also dust skirting boards, etc.

boomerang

That's funny, I'm pretty sure Advocate spot-on is effective against harvest mites (Trombicula autumnalis) but I'll go double-check!

DBB

boomerang wrote: »

That's funny, I'm pretty sure Advocate spot-on is effective against harvest mites (Trombicula autumnalis) but I'll go double-check!

It is boomerang!
But, in practise I find that if the dog has a big infestation, it doesn't really work too well to get rid. I feel that Advocate probably works best if the animal is treated before and during harvest mite season (and boy oh boy, are we having a harvest mite season this year!), to prevent a huge build up of the little buggers.
Frontline spray also works as a semi-preventative if sprayed on feet, tummy, and rubbed into ears and tail tip.
I have successfully treated harvest mites with Tac-Tic, though it is horribly smelly stuff.
I keep meaning to try apple cider vinegar foot- and belly-baths during the season as a more natural treatment.