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Which Flea Treatment?

daisydeedaisydee Posts: 39,626
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Have been using frontline on my cats for some years now and wonder if Advantage might be better? Cannot seem to break the cycle of fleas. :(

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    [Deleted User][Deleted User] Posts: 4,639
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    My vet recommended Advocate instead of Frontline for our dog, seems okay though I only used it in the summer/hot weather, I need to get some more.
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    ktboilsktboils Posts: 494
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    We've just switched to Stronghold (from Frontline) for our cat at the vet's recommedationdation as our poor Luther was as scabby as a scabby thing!

    Have to say, he seems a lot lot better.

    Apparently it's been a bumper year for fleas!
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    Cat.JCat.J Posts: 651
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    My cats had fleas this year for the first time in ages. Frontline didn't work so I used Advocate which worked within 24 hours.

    I think that Frontline works ok if you use it regularly every month as a preventitive measure - it will kill off the odd flea that jumps on and bites your cat. But once a cat gets a lot of fleas actually living on him, Frontline doesn't seem to work.

    OP, you might need to use a flea spray around your house too, to kill off any eggs/pupae.
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    CBFreakCBFreak Posts: 28,602
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    I would suggest trying a Flea Bomb. You will of course need to vacate for a few hours the room you are bombing and making sure smoke alarms are turned off for the duration.
    (I came back to my smoke alarm blaring even though it was in a different room to where I lit the Fleabomb. )

    I tried all sorts of flea treatment but the Flea Bomb seemed to do the job. That was until my cat came back with a new batch of fleas.
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    xdowxdow Posts: 2,388
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    Definitely go for advocate or advantage to sort out the current problem, it will kill the fleas on your cat within 24 hours

    a friend had been using frontline for her cats until this year and the only thing which worked in the end to get rid was the advocate her vet gave, which started killing the fleas within 6 hours, but remember to treat the cats environment too.

    advocate contains Imidacloprid and Moxidectin, imidacloprid being the drug effective against the fleas, the same ingredient as in advantage, but the second ingredient, moxidectin will also treat internal parasites.(hookworms, whipworms, roundworms...)
    its a similar drug to ivermectin so it's also effective against ear mites.

    we've used the bob martin equivalent product (bob martin double action) to Advantage on our dog and the visiting cat for as long as i can remember and i've not seen a flea on either, active ingredient imidacloprid

    a friend has a GSD done with advocate, walks her with a group of other dog walkers on a local field - all of which go to a different vet to her, all are treated with frontline and all of them had fleas this year

    which says a lot for fipronil doesn't it? :rolleyes:
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    daisydeedaisydee Posts: 39,626
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    Cat.J wrote: »
    My cats had fleas this year for the first time in ages. Frontline didn't work so I used Advocate which worked within 24 hours.

    I think that Frontline works ok if you use it regularly every month as a preventitive measure - it will kill off the odd flea that jumps on and bites your cat. But once a cat gets a lot of fleas actually living on him, Frontline doesn't seem to work.

    OP, you might need to use a flea spray around your house too, to kill off any eggs/pupae.


    Have spent around £200 on various flea remedies. :rolleyes:
    Diffusers, sprays, powder........
    I've used the fleabombs twice in every room in the house, sprayed, vacuumed, steam cleaned....... I seem to spend every waking moment battling the little b*ggars, but can't seem to get rid of them. :cry:
    Frontline is killing the fleas, find plenty of dead ones on the cats blanket, but they are both still scratching - and so am I! :mad:
    ps thanks for your replies - most welcome. :)
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    HollyCHollyC Posts: 5,850
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    daisydee wrote: »
    [/B]

    Have spent around £200 on various flea remedies. :rolleyes:
    Diffusers, sprays, powder........
    Frontline is killing the fleas, find plenty of dead ones on the cats blanket, but they are both still scratching - and so am I! :mad:
    ps thanks for your replies - most welcome. :)

    I've had this problem - I didn't deflea my cat when it was due because she was getting scabby. I took her to the vet and the fleas were what was causing it! I got Advantage drops, which have cleared up her problem, and sprayed the house with Virbac Indorex spray, which is meant to last up to 12 months. It was expensive, but I think worth it! I definitely won't be using the cheaper flea drops again - that's what stuck me with a £90 vet bill!
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    daisydeedaisydee Posts: 39,626
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    HollyC wrote: »
    I've had this problem - I didn't deflea my cat when it was due because she was getting scabby. I took her to the vet and the fleas were what was causing it! I got Advantage drops, which have cleared up her problem, and sprayed the house with Virbac Indorex spray, which is meant to last up to 12 months. It was expensive, but I think worth it! I definitely won't be using the cheaper flea drops again - that's what stuck me with a £90 vet bill!

    Sorry, just been adding more to my post.
    My eldest cat is now 20 years old and a couple of years ago she was suffering very badly from scabs, the vet said she had developed an allergy to the flea bite, probably due to her age. Someone recommended squeezing the contents of a garlic capsule on her food, I cover this with the contents of a codliver oil capsule to disguise the taste, and this worked very well. It took about 6 months, but eventually she became scab free. This year the scabs have returned, but you can only feel them amongst her lovely soft, thick fur (due to the codliver oil, I'm sure) whereas before she looked like a tortoise with all scabs :eek:
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    jim4bbjim4bb Posts: 3,485
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    Hi,

    We have dogs and just returned a few weeks ago from a holiday cottage. They had a rug on the wooden floor which was clearly infested with fleas.

    The male dog was really badly bitten but the female wasn't, the only difference was the female gets given a daily garic tablet.

    Both dogs are Frontlined but that only kills the fleas and does not stop them getting them. It has taken three weeks of bathing in two different types of flea shampoo and combing three or four times a days to get rid of them. All bedding was washed and treated or thrown away. If problem is really bad would suggest daily vacuuming of bedding and treating with Strikeback flea spray.
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