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I have heard that washing the cats with Dawn works, and get a professional exterminator for your home, flea infestations can take over. Do it now, before it is crazy. Keep the kitties in, no more outside cats, otherwise, it will continue.
I have heard that washing the cats with Dawn works, and get a professional exterminator for your home, flea infestations can take over. Do it now, before it is crazy. Keep the kitties in, no more outside cats, otherwise, it will continue.
My cats are strictly indoor. Have never even touched grass.
Now how does one bathe a cat? My Muffin would scratch my eyes out.
If you are afraid to bathe your cats, take them to the vet, and have them professionally bathed and groomed there. If they are long hair cats, I would recommend a full clip.
My cats never liked baths, and would create a ruckus, meowing like they were being burned at the stake, but they never bit me or scratched me.
You won't get rid of the fleas, if the cats are not completely bathed, you will be amazed how many fleas on hiding in their fur.
Last edited by jasper12; 09-30-2011 at 12:25 PM..
Reason: edit.
A capstar tablet will do the same thing as a bath, and much more efficiently, and less stress to the cat. Bathing a cat in Dawn or any soap will only kill (by drowning) a few fleas, relatively speaking.
A capstar kills every adult flea on the cat for 24 hours. It is very dramatic, actually, to see the dead fleas just drop off the cat.
While a capstar can be given daily, it isn't a good long term solution, mainly because of cost. And it doesn't inhibit procreation.
The benefit of spot on treatments is the treatment is given only every 30 days, and most (frontline PLUS, Advantage, and Revolution) kill eggs and larvae too, breaking the life cycle.
The thing is, eggs and larvae in the upholstery and carpet will continue to hatch out for many months. Keeping the cat protected with one of the safe products will kill the fleas as they hatch and jump on the cat. If any manage to live long enough to lay eggs, the eggs will be sterile and will not hatch.
Most fleas don't live on the cat. They live in the environment. They jump on the cat to feed and lay their eggs. When the cat moves, the eggs fall off and lodge in the carpet and bedding until they hatch.
I have had a one time flea problem, when I rescued a stray a few years ago. She was treated with a capstar and a frontline before she ever entered the house, but some how some eggs got through.
I treated all cats with frontline plus every 30 days for four months (this was through the winter) I then treated every other month for two more treatments, so eight months all together.
Fortunately the problem was not too far advanced by the time I noticed flea dirt in one cat bed.
Back on topic: I have heard that fleas can become "immune" to certain treatments. If this is the case in your area, switching, when the next treatment is due, to Revolution for cats or Advantage for cats, might be the answer.
Back on topic: I have heard that fleas can become "immune" to certain treatments. If this is the case in your area, switching, when the next treatment is due, to Revolution for cats or Advantage for cats, might be the answer.
Great advice....
An inportant thing when using treatments and it's not working, before buiying another brand, make sure you read the active ingredients and buy one with a different active ingredient. So if you are using Frontline's and it's not working, don;t waste your money buying the generic PetArmor because they use the same variation of the active ingredient. If Frontline isn't working because the fleas became immune to the active ingredient, PetArmor won't work.
A capstar tablet will do the same thing as a bath, and much more efficiently, and less stress to the cat. Bathing a cat in Dawn or any soap will only kill (by drowning) a few fleas, relatively speaking.
A capstar kills every adult flea on the cat for 24 hours. It is very dramatic, actually, to see the dead fleas just drop off the cat.
While a capstar can be given daily, it isn't a good long term solution, mainly because of cost. And it doesn't inhibit procreation.
The benefit of spot on treatments is the treatment is given only every 30 days, and most (frontline PLUS, Advantage, and Revolution) kill eggs and larvae too, breaking the life cycle.
The thing is, eggs and larvae in the upholstery and carpet will continue to hatch out for many months. Keeping the cat protected with one of the safe products will kill the fleas as they hatch and jump on the cat. If any manage to live long enough to lay eggs, the eggs will be sterile and will not hatch.
Most fleas don't live on the cat. They live in the environment. They jump on the cat to feed and lay their eggs. When the cat moves, the eggs fall off and lodge in the carpet and bedding until they hatch.
I have had a one time flea problem, when I rescued a stray a few years ago. She was treated with a capstar and a frontline before she ever entered the house, but some how some eggs got through.
I treated all cats with frontline plus every 30 days for four months (this was through the winter) I then treated every other month for two more treatments, so eight months all together.
Fortunately the problem was not too far advanced by the time I noticed flea dirt in one cat bed.
Back on topic: I have heard that fleas can become "immune" to certain treatments. If this is the case in your area, switching, when the next treatment is due, to Revolution for cats or Advantage for cats, might be the answer.
I am not a cat owner - I have a dog, but we have had a really difficult summer with fleas and this post was VERY helpful - Thanks!
We were using a new supply of Frontline on our dog that I purchased from on on-line company from Australia. I think it was counterfeit - Frontline has always worked in the past, but a month after starting in to this new supply, we noticed fleas and ticks.
And you are spot-on. It has taken TWO MONTHS to fully rid our home and dog of the pesky things. Capstar was critical in the process as was daily vacuuming, a visit by the exterminator and finally, switching to K9Advantix (not a cat option!).
When all was said and done, we spent about $300 on FLEAS, but watching my poor little guy scratch (and joining him in the scratching) was dreadful!
Don't thniit takes cats or dog to infect a house when the yard is infested. All it takes is someone to brig them in on their clothes to start things. Fleas can bite humans to precreat.that is why its important to not let them get out of control.
I had a horrible flea problem that showed up 10 days ago. I used advantage and now I have no sign of any fleas. I'm very happy with that product and have used it for years. I'm cheap and it's expensive so what I do is, I don't treat the cats until they get fleas. Some years they have never got them at all. Other years I have had to treat them as many as 3 times through the flea season.
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