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I had two cats until this summer. A 10-year-old male and a 1-year-male. Milo and Simba respectively. They never had fleas until I brought in a third cat (Tigger) that I didn't want. Someone had dropped her off at my moms house earlier this year and I reluctantly took her after my mom passed away in April. She was only suppose to be here for a few weeks until my now ex girlfriend could take her to her place. We broke up and Tigger became mine. We think she's about a year old. She was an outdoor cat and I expected her to have fleas. To my surprise, she had none. Until about a month ago when I started seeing them on all three of my cats.
I started combing them once a day when I was home (I travel a lot so I'm home about 50% of the time). The youngest one, Simba, barely had any fleas. Maybe 5-10 a night. But Milo and Tigger seemed to be flea magnets. I was getting 20-30 off of them easily and started combing them twice a day.
I finally broke down and got some Frontline and applied it to each cat on Sunday night. I combed them again today for the first time and still found live fleas but not as many. About 3 on Simba and 5-10 on Milo and Tigger. Is it normal for the treatment to not kill them all? Or did I use it wrong? Honestly new to this!
I guess what I'm asking is what is the next step? Do I keep treating them once a month? Flea baths? Tigger is going to a new home this week so I'll be back to Simba and Milo.
And why is one cat much more infested than the other?
I vacuum at least once a week and sometimes twice. I bought a bottle of salt and dumped it down a few days ago and vacuumed it all up today. My mom use to do it so thought I'd try it. I throughly cleaned the place.
Washed all the bedding (human/animal) in hot water as well.
I really wish I could call my mom and get advice since she always had cats but since I can't I'm letting you all give me suggestions
First, just remember that for every flea you do see, there are many, many others that you don't see. You may not think you have much of a problem, when in reality you do. As for topical treatment, you may have to apply it monthly year-round. Even if your cats are indoor-only, fleas can & will come in on your clothes if your area is prone to them. I had to switch from Frontline Plus 2 years ago, as it just stopped being effective (after many years of using it). I switched to Revolution, which I apply monthly all year, and haven't had any more problems. Capstar is a product that will kill any fleas on them quickly, then you can start treating them regularly with a topical to keep them off.
To de-flea your house, wash everything you can fit into the washing machine (except the cats ). But vacuuming alone may not be enough to get them out of furniture & carpets. I used a special spray (from my vet) that's designed to kill fleas, eggs/larvae, etc., and it worked quite well. I had to vacuum first, then apply the spray & wait a few minutes, then vacuum again. It's a lot of work, but necessary to get rid of the fleas completely.
Basically... treat your cats, de-flea your house, then keep them on monthly treatments. I know from experience that without some sort of prevention, those little buggers will keep coming back & make your life miserable.
Experts seem to think that vacuuming with a really good vac will remove a lot of flea infestation from carpets. I have a Simplicity vacuum and also a ShopVac with a drywall bag in it. My cats are indoor only but occasionally my relatives' pets visit and bring fleas. I vacuum right after they leave and again the next morning. Since you've had fleas there for a while, I recommend using a flea treatment as recommended in the previous post. Since my cats are indoor cats, I don't have to do regular flea treatments on them. I just bathed them the last time someone else's animals brought fleas in. If you get your flea problem cleaned up, and keep your cats inside, you probably won't have to worry about fleas much.
Capstar is a pill. It kills adult fleas on the animal for 24 hours. It's very dramatic at first, about a half hour after you give it the fleas just start kind of raining off of the cat, dead. But while it would probably be safe to give them every day or two it would cost you a fortune.
Use a safe topical that kills both adult fleas and eggs. That's frontline plus, Advantage II or Revolution. Apply it every 30 days without fail, for at least 6 months.
Vacuum daily. I can't stress this enough. You must vacuum daily. Get flea collars and activate them and cut them up. (do not put flea collars on cats) Put pieces in your vacuum canister or bag. If you use a bag vacuum you will have to go through a lot of bags, because after you vacuum you must remove the bag and throw it away, outside of the house. Hopefully you have a bagless vacuum.
After vacuuming everything, every day, empty the canister into a bag tie it up and take it out to your barrel or dumpster or whatever outside trash facility you have.
Do this for about six months also. After 6 months of every 30 days flea treatments go to every 60 days and see how things go. If there is no sign of new fleas after going every 2 months three times (meaning you've now gone a full year since today) you should be okay, you'll have licked the problem.
I'm so sorry for your loss of your mother. It was so good of you to take Tigger in.
Capstar is a pill. It kills adult fleas on the animal for 24 hours. It's very dramatic at first, about a half hour after you give it the fleas just start kind of raining off of the cat, dead. But while it would probably be safe to give them every day or two it would cost you a fortune.
Use a safe topical that kills both adult fleas and eggs. That's frontline plus, Advantage II or Revolution. Apply it every 30 days without fail, for at least 6 months.
Vacuum daily. I can't stress this enough. You must vacuum daily. Get flea collars and activate them and cut them up. (do not put flea collars on cats) Put pieces in your vacuum canister or bag. If you use a bag vacuum you will have to go through a lot of bags, because after you vacuum you must remove the bag and throw it away, outside of the house. Hopefully you have a bagless vacuum.
After vacuuming everything, every day, empty the canister into a bag tie it up and take it out to your barrel or dumpster or whatever outside trash facility you have.
Do this for about six months also. After 6 months of every 30 days flea treatments go to every 60 days and see how things go. If there is no sign of new fleas after going every 2 months three times (meaning you've now gone a full year since today) you should be okay, you'll have licked the problem.
I'm so sorry for your loss of your mother. It was so good of you to take Tigger in.
Thanks for the advice. I'm only home 2 or 3 days a week so vacuuming every day isn't an option unfortunately.
How soon after giving treatment can you give the cats a bath? I know the oils soak into their skin but I don't want to wash the treatment off.
Thanks, I miss her. Tigger went to a new home today. Sad but she's much better off with the family she went to.
Thanks for the advice. I'm only home 2 or 3 days a week so vacuuming every day isn't an option unfortunately.
How soon after giving treatment can you give the cats a bath? I know the oils soak into their skin but I don't want to wash the treatment off.
Thanks, I miss her. Tigger went to a new home today. Sad but she's much better off with the family she went to.
Vacuum on the days you are there. Perhaps pay the pet sitter a little extra to vacuum on the other days.
Something else I forgot to mention. Healthy cats will not have as much trouble with fleas. So it is important to feed a good, species appropriate diet. This means canned foods at the very least, and balanced raw is better.
Obviously you have to get the environment flea free. But once that's done, keeping the cats fed a good diet will help them fight any strays off.
For me baths have never really much except annoy the cats. Fleas have a tendency to very quickly move to higher "ground" at the presence of water, and do a great job hiding in facial areas that cannot be doused with a flea shampoo.
What has worked for me is a dose of Capstar and application of a topical, and then washing every piece of fabric that can be washed and vacuuming the heck out of anything that doesn't fit in the washer (I add flea shampoo to my detergent in the washing machine). Depending on the infestation it can sometimes take up to a month before we've won the battle, but usually I catch it and the "war" isn't that long-lasting.
Cooler weather seems to drive the fleas indoors - maybe it's just my imagination or maybe it's true.
These are the products that I use: Fleas They have worked in KS. Our dogs get cat fleas from the feral cats here in town that come into the yard. "Growth regulator" seems to be essential to get something to work although I try to avoid it, it just is the only thing to get ahead of the fleas. I have a good vacuum and have used the carpet powder. I also have flea traps which help me pinpoint whether or not I am getting ahead of the problem by placing them in different areas: The Flea Trap and Capture Pads (Sold Separately) | Jeffers Pet
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). But vacuuming alone may not be enough to get them out of furniture & carpets. I used a special spray (from my vet) that's designed to kill fleas, eggs/larvae, etc., and it worked quite well. I had to vacuum first, then apply the spray & wait a few minutes, then vacuum again. It's a lot of work, but necessary to get rid of the fleas completely. 
