First time treating fleas in indoor cat—help!!

[Catlady9908]

I have an indoor cat and discovered fleas for the first time last month. I treated her with Revolution Plus spot treatment and she stopped scratching within a few days. A few days before the treatment was due the next month, I noticed lives fleas on my cat again. I believe the medication only kills adult fleas, so perhaps this new batch are from eggs that have hatched recently. It’s now been a week since her second dose of medication and I’ve just seen a couple of live fleas on the furniture. Does this mean the medication didn’t work?

How can I ever get ahead of this cycle, if new fleas hatch and are able to lay eggs before it’s time to give the next dose? My vet said to give Revolution for 3 months, but is that enough to capture all the fleas in the whole cycle and end the infestation? At the beginning of this all I used Pet Armor Home and Carpet Spray and vacuumed all the couches and carpets and washed all the linens my cat has access to. Pet Armor says it works for 7 months and kills larvae and eggs, but it didn’t seem to work since I’m seeing a new batch of adult fleas now. Do I need to vacuum every day for a certain period of time, or is there anything else I should do?

 

[FeebysOwner]

Revolution Plus does contain an added pesticide to kill flea eggs/larvae, but even so, it can take as many months as your vet has suggested to get rid of them - especially if you are bringing them in on you somehow. In apartments, they reside outside your door and the surrounding areas; and, in a house you should be treating the yard and outside perimeter of the house - not to mention a patio if you have one.

It will also take more than one spraying of your house as well. Most of these products say initially to apply a second time 2 weeks apart. Constant vacuuming is needed for a while - if not every day, don't go longer than every 3 days. Rewashing 'cat-related' linens repeatedly too.

Although, I think we have a huge issue with fleas here in FL compared to some other states, I was doing all of the above and my cat was still having fleas. Even though I sprayed the screened in patio and the area immediately outside the patio, I think that is where she was getting them more so than in the house. So, I sprayed the patio and immediate area outside of it more often than instructions said to do so.

Initially, you can also flea comb your cat to get fleas off of her - and doing so can help to tell how bad the flea infestation is - not to mention, give her some relief in the meantime.

Hope this helps some.