Help with SERIOUS flea infestation

[PetPixie]

I had an owner of 2 indoor cats contact me about a flea bath. I told him that depending on how bad the cats were, he should get them on Frontline and may want to consider a flea bomb or an exterminator.

So, I set the appointment for last Friday & he coordinated w/ an exterminator to be out there the same day. I could not believe how bad the fleas were! They kept coming out of crevices as I was doing the flea bath. It was crazy! Apparently the house was so bad that the fleas were jumping all over them as soon as they walked across carpet in the house.

Anyway, I told them I couldn't guarantee that the flea bath got every single flea and they should get the Frontline on them ASAP. I just opened an email from him this morning asking me to come out & re-bathe them because they are still seeing fleas on the cats & don't want the house to get re-infested.

My question is...How long before they should see a difference with the Frontline? Anyone have experience with a situation this bad?

Thanks!

[Poodleluv]

For premise control I like a product called Siphotrol PM. It is under 25$ a can,and 2 cans will treat a whole house. It is pretty safe being pyrethins,and encapsulated Precor. You can buy it Over the counter from vet. Some of the exterminators give guarantees ,and will retreat a house. I have actually seen better premise control results with Siphotrol than exterminators. When you have an infestation that severe,there always seem to be the odd hitchhiking survivor,no matter what you do,you may have to retreat,both the pet and the house. Fleas are very hard to kill. When I worked for the vet everyone was so stuck on flea powder,even though we had much better products available Ovitrol for pet,Siphotrol for premise. I captured some fleas and put them in a pillbottle with an inch deep of flea poweder in the bottom,and capped airtight. It took over 1 hour to kill the suckers. They were happily jumping around all that time covered in flea powder.Fleas can and do hide successfully for long periods of time inside ears,mouth,nose,eyes,vagina,sheath,crevices inside pads of feet. They are truly disgusting little vampires,and other than being the host for tapeworms, you have to wonder why nature made them!!!

[fshrchik]

Permethrins and Pyrethrins are TOXIC to cats!!

They need to be very careful with what they use to control the fleas in their house and yard for the safety of their kitties! I'm sure a pest control company will have cat safe products.

[Muddpuppy]

Tell them to look for Flea Stoppers Carpet Powder. We sell it at the clinic I work at and it is safe and guaranteed for one year. The only problem I've had is that it is a little harder to use if the house is not carpeted. Frontline won't help that much if the house is that infested. The fleas have to get on the cat and bite them for the frontline to kill them. If you bathe the cats to much it will strip the oils from the sebaceous glands and cause the frontline not to work as well also. You can use capstar in addition to the fronline.

[Doubledogdare]

We have been getting in flea cases where the pets have been treated with Frontline according to directions, the houses are treated, but the bugs still keep coming.

I am starting to wonder if fleas are developing a resistance to the systemic treatments.

[AMelena]

I've actually been having a problem similar. I work at a vet and we use Frontline on all our pets. It works great for the kitties but not at ALL for my poodle. The dog formula just doesn't seem up to par this year. I would have recommended a dose of Capstar that he could have given the cats an hour before the grooming. That would have taken care of all the fleas on them. I have to give my poodle Capstar every two days or by the third day she's absolutely covered in fleas. This is after we've had the exterminator come out and do our house, yard, AND cars TWICE. I think they might be in the grass and bushes at my vet. The other thing that works very well is Comfortis. We're only just beginning to carry it at the hospital I work at since the Frontline doesn't seem to be working for very many of our clients this year so I have to wait a few weeks. Until then, I have a large stock of Capstar, Pill Pockets, and the REALLY awesome citrus flea shampoo from Shampoo Lady.

[Particentral]

Double DOg you mean the topical treatments. The SYSTEMIC treatments, like Comfortis are sowkring wonderfully. Not possible for cats, but in dogs it is the best thing since sliced bread.

I would reccomend a flea trap (a light over a bowl of water) used in each room along with Borax or flea busters - which is basically borax - in the carpet and CAPSTAR given every three or four days to the cats until the problem is gone. They can get the Capstar online. SAFE EFFECTIVE and FAST contol of a flea infestation. Every three or four days or even every day for a week then drop down to less frequent doses should work. The bowl of water will catch the fleas when the hop towards the light and they drown (I usually put a drop of dawn in the water to break the surface tension). Before Comfortis, one summer at my house was insane and the flea trap was set in the dogs room every night for a week. I was floored at how fast they died off doing that. I mean, my neighbor was feeding 40 plus stray cats and we couldn;t use FL and AD often enough to keep up. THe flea traps and Capstar stopped them in about two weeks. THEN the topicals couild keep up.

I have also said that the topicals can onl kill SO MANY before they don;t work anymore. To explain that, they kill by coming into contact with the flea and ewach flea HAS to absorb some. If there are tons of fleas, they will absorb it faster and then it needs to be reapplied. I have no factual basis for that theory, but it is sensible and I have seen sever infestations need repeated doses every week or two of topicals to do the trick.

[Poodleluv]

Siphotrol

I just checked with my vet,and they still consider Siphotrol not only an effective,but very safe premise treatment,for flea infested homes. It is no more toxic to cats than dogs. To be on the safe side ,you could treat one area of house,and keep all kids,and pets out for a few hours,then the other part of house. We dispensed this hundreds of times to cat owners whose homes were flea infested when I worked for the vet,and never had any problem,nor has this clinic. I have used Borax too,for carpets,and under couch cushions,it is very good for killing the larvae,pupae. The topicals don't seem to work as well as they used too. I like Capstar,for the pet,and Siphotrol ,and or Borax for premise.

[pooh13]

if you compare topical flea products you will find that advantage has the fastest killing power of all of them kills 98% WITHIN 12 hrs.it has no growth regulator as it kills even the larvae stopping the cycle .

[PetPixie]

Thanks everyone. I sure wasn't expecting these cats to be this bad off when they made the appointment. I'll print up this information & give it too him to use for reference.

[Helly]

if you compare topical flea products you will find that advantage has the fastest killing power of all of them kills 98% WITHIN 12 hrs.it has no growth regulator as it kills even the larvae stopping the cycle .

Larvae don't live on the pets. They live under your carpets, in cracks and crevices, and a lot of places topical flea products don't go. If they're telling you Advantage kills larvae, they're fibbin'. And NOTHING short of burning your house down will kill the pupae. And that's where the problem is. All of those little flea cocoons laying around, waiting to hatch out.

That's the reason houses should be re-treated in 2 weeks. To kill the emerging adults that were previously pupae.

[Helly]

PetPixie, some of the information contained here is not accurate. Please do a little more research on this before you print something and hand it out.

Just to help you along, you have to understand the flea life cycle, and at what stages of that life cycle you can effectively kill fleas. One thing for certain; you cannot use any type of product to kill the flea pupae. The only thing you could do is to heat up your house to over 120 degrees for an hour. Or burn the house down.

Growth regulators will prevent the eggs from hatching, and larvae from maturing. And there are many good growth regulators available that are not considered toxic to humans or pets.

Spot on topicals kill by contact. But they don't kill quickly enough to prevent many fleas from laying eggs. Only Capstar and Comfortis do that. When spot ons are applied it's possible the fleas will feed several times before they finally die. With Capstar and Comfortis, it's feed once and die.

Comfortis is not currently approved for cats, but an increasing number of vets are using it off label for cats. It's probably only a matter of time before the FDA approves it for cats.

[pooh13]

Larvae don't live on the pets. They live under your carpets, in cracks and crevices, and a lot of places topical flea products don't go. If they're telling you Advantage kills larvae, they're fibbin'. And NOTHING short of burning your house down will kill the pupae. And that's where the problem is. All of those little flea cocoons laying around, waiting to hatch out.

That's the reason houses should be re-treated in 2 weeks. To kill the emerging adults that were previously pupae.

this was taken from

http://www.jbpet.com/Advantage-for-Cats,379.html

Advantage for Cats is a once-a-month topical flea control product for cats and kittens (eight weeks and older) that provides protection against fleas. You, as a pet owner, can feel confident that Advantage (imidacloprid) Topical Solution works against fleas, fast. Advantage is the fastest topical solution, proven to stop fleas from biting in 3 - 5 minutes after application.

• Advantage kills 98-100 percent of fleas within 12 hours of initial application. In addition, one convenient treatment lasts for up to one month. You don't need to use another flea control.
• Advantage kills fleas before they lay eggs, so their life cycle is broken. And because it kills flea larvae within 20 minutes of contact, you don't need to use an insect growth regulator (IGR). Advantage also inhibits larval development in your pet's surroundings by more than 99 percent.
• Once a month, the pre-measured dose is applied from an easy-to-use applicator tube. Advantage then spreads naturally on the surface of the pet's skin, with the help of movement by your cat or dog. In a matter of hours, the fleas are gone. It's as simple as that!
• Advantage is water resistant and continues to work even when your pet gets wet. Advantage keeps killing fleas after shampooing, swimming or exposure to rain or sunlight.
• Available in 2 dosage sizes for cats: 9 lbs. and under or over 9 lbs.


Please note: Advantage for Dogs is sold separately.

but from experience I can say this product does work and this is what I recommend to my clients., so be if false statement from the company or not. shoot the writer not the messenger :P