The Dreaded Fleas

Tigger's Mum

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Haven't been on for a while. I've had an incredibly busy few weeks and discovered we have nasty neighbours but that's another story for another time.

When we fostered Fluffy, we know her owner religiously Frontlined her every month. It would seem that the fleas became resistant to Frontline. I did my cats with Flea Screen which turns out to be the same ingredients as Frontline so switched to Advantage which has different ingredients. Fluffy and six of my cats no longer have fleas but two still do - Kira and Lucky. Lucky was absolutely moving with them so we tried him with the Frontlne again and Kira again with the Advantage. A lot of the fleas on Lucky were killed but he still had too many - so far my son has combed out with the flea comb approx. 20 of the little horrors in the past 3 days. He found one small one on Kira but she does have a flea allergy and she's literally tearing herself to pieces and has been overgrooming badly. She has quite a few large bald spots. The two of them are off to the vet on Thursday and I'll pick up Indorex to use in the house, carpets, furnishings etc. while I'm there. Used it years ago and it was very good. Stops any eggs and larvae lurking in the carpet/furnishings from developing.

Who would have thought doing a good turn would lead to an infestation of fleas but no matter, we'll deal with it. All the cats have been wormed. If they have fleas, guaranteed they'll have worms as well.

It never rains but it pours :rolleyes:
 
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Tigger's Mum

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I'm so sorry! Can you utilize store-bought chamomile tea to help calm her skin?
That's a good idea. I can get some and make some tea with it, let it cool and dab her skin with that until her appointment on Thursday afternoon. I did get Anicura (from Amazon) which does similar but it is in a light gel form and she didn't like it one bit and proceeding to diligently lick it off while staring daggers at me which defeated the object of the game and made her groom even more.

When we first got Kira she was covered in fleas and sores with scratching. The vet gave her Comfortis which worked within 20 - 30 minutes and that was the last she had fleas until now. It also soothes their skin so I'm hoping she gets that again as it worked so quickly. I thought Comfortis had been discontinued here in the UK but seemingly from what I read online, only for dogs.

My vacuum cleaner is working overtime and so is my Polti steamer.
 

iPappy

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I feel your pain. I discovered ALL mine (3 cats, 2 dogs) had fleas this past week, and it's been nonstop vacuuming and flea combing and washing things. I'm getting a lot less off of each one (I was getting 6-12 per animal, per comb session) and now I'm getting about 6 off of all 5 per comb session. I've done this before. Gotta love August. 🙄 I learned from experience, if you comb the cats out and find no fleas, don't let your guard down. Keep combing every day for awhile, and every few days thereafter, and keep vacuuming. The good side to this is with all the combing and vacuuming, I literally get to experience a hair-free house!
 
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Tigger's Mum

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Back from the vet with Kira and Lucky.

Lucky has been given Prinovox spot on for large cats and Kira has been given Credelio in pill form which is the replacement for Comfortis. I also got a large can of Indorex to spray the house with. I can just phone the vet to get repeats when I need more. Hopefully this will take care of the flea problem.

Lucky doesn't seem to be too bothered about the fleas but poor Kira has been tearing herself to pieces :sniffle:
 
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Tigger's Mum

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Have you tried the chamomile tea for her? This isn't just a guess, this works as other members can vouch for :)
No, haven't yet as been dealing with other things this week and haven't had the chance to go to the supermarket yet but will be going tomorrow so will pick some up then. Good for humans too. How do you apply it? A cottonwool ball then dab it on once it's cooled?

Both Lucky and Kira got weighed. Lucky is 4.4kg (just over 9 1/2 lbs) and Kira who is a tiny little thing weighed in at 3.8kg (just shy of 8 1/2 lbs) which surprised the vet. She's not fat, just solid. A far cry from when we first got her and she was just over 2lbs in weight due to her being starved by her previous owners. I don't know how they could have neglected/abused her as she is such a funny, loving little cat. She's much loved now :biggrin:
 

iPappy

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I haven't tried Chamomile tea on cats! Do you brew it normally?
 

Furballsmom

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I haven't tried Chamomile tea on cats! Do you brew it normally?
yes
You purchase unblended unflavored chamomile tea (garden grown chamomile is unsafe), brew it normally, let it cool and apply to hot spots/itchy spots, etc. It's anti fungal, anti bacterial, eases discomfort and is safe if ingested :)
 
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Tigger's Mum

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yes
You purchase unblended unflavored chamomile tea (garden grown chamomile is unsafe), brew it normally, let it cool and apply to hot spots/itchy spots, etc. It's anti fungal, anti bacterial, eases discomfort and is safe if ingested :)
Well, I got the Chamomile tea, made a cup, reserved some of it for Kira and drank the rest myself. First time I've tasted it - not bad but I'm a definite coffee drinker.

Once it had cooled, my son gently held Kira and I dabbed at the irritated parts. She was really good and purred all the time I did it. She definitely doesn't seem to be scratching so much today so we'll keep this up and see how it goes.
 
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