Fleas

stubbychester

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My new little kitten, about 12 weeks old, Nellie, has bad case of fleas. She is a barn cat not a house cat. I have tried Hartz One Spot which is methoprene, and it just doesnt seem to work at all. What do you recommend for getting rid of these dang fleas on her? Is Frontline better than Advantage ?? Im hoping to give her some relief.
 

strange_wings

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Don't use Hartz again. I suggest that you stay away from all of their products entirely.
They're various pesticide products are known for killing animals. (look up hartz in any search engine, within the first half dozen result you should see results for how harmful their products are and mention of recalls/class actions suites)

Here's a chart of various flea treatment products you'd get from the vet. Frontline is good, but in some areas fleas have become more resistant to it. Advantage is a decent one. Revolution is typically very safe in kittens and will also deworm for roundworms and treat earmites.

You'll have to wait a couple weeks before using another spot on, or discuss it with the vet as to when that will be safe. To get rid of the fleas now (but not prevent reinfestation) you can get capstar from your vet.

But please, no more DIY OTC products like Hartz. They're simply not safe.
 
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stubbychester

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Thanks for the reply. I will check out the list and make a selection. Revolution is very expensive. I have already wormed her with medicine from the vet and she has no ear mites. Thanks for the heads up on the Hartz and I will toss it out today. I will also make sure to contact my vet to be sure I can apply the other product with the Hartz stuff on her already.
 

jillie

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Revolution IS a little more expensive, but it actually works, and it works really well at that. It is worth it to spend $42 on this than spend money trying other products that will fail you. Check PetCareRX. They include a $5 coupon with each order, and you earn points that I believe amount to a nickel for every dollar you spend, which may add up over time if you're a pet owner. Good luck!

I would also like to share this table with you that shows a comparison of the flea products and what else they do.
http://www.veterinarypartner.com/Content.plx?P=A&A=545
 

chibibinx

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I hope this helps, even though my situation is much different from yours! :embar:

I recently made a thread about my situation with fleas over in the Health forums. My new kitten, about 12 weeks old as well, has/had a case of the fleas. He brought them into our home from the place we adopted him at. We never saw the fleas, but we found flea dirt in his bedding. His case, from what we saw, was so mild. I don't even think I would have even known he had fleas if I didn't google what all the black "dandruff" I was finding was.


I took him to the vet early yesterday morning and they gave him a Capstar pill, which kills all the fleas on him within the first two hours. They also gave me a prescription for Frontline Plus (3 months worth) at $44.28, which we put on him at the vet clinic.

Today, over 24hrs later, we combed him all night with a flea comb and have found nothing, and no flea dirt either!


The combination of the pill and spot treatment seem to have done the trick! We will see as the weeks go by to make sure nothing starts off again. I am also in the process of making sure my home is 200% clean!

Hope that helps!
 
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stubbychester

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Thanks for the reply. Im hoping not to have to make a trip to the Vet. I will be getting some Frontline Plus but will have to wait until the other stuff wears off. Here is a good place for supplies..Frontline Plus, three pipetts for $24.89, free shipping.. http://www.budgetpetcare.com/product...Frontline_Plus

I ordered some for my dogs and it came in about 3 days.

Ive read that you can cut up a cat flea collar and put it in your vacum bag to kill any fleas you may vacum up. Be sure to change the bag when your done.

I never had flea problems before with my other cats, this one came with them.
 

strange_wings

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^Just be careful ordering online. I know it is possible to safely do so but a lot of places will sell counterfeit products if they think they can get away with it. Whenever you order online call the manufacturer. For Frontline that would be Merial, make sure they clear it as a legit product they've made. If it isn't, report the company selling it as the manufacturers take that pretty seriously and will sue them for it.
 

lonelykitten

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we took in an 8 week old kitten from a "breeder" who was so infested with fleas I was getting attacked the whole way home. We gave her a bath in Johnson's baby shampoo and left it on about five minutes before rinsing. Make sure you fill enough water to dunk the kitten to their neck, and start shampooing from the head down since the fleas will instinctively flee to the face.

We kept her quarantined and repeated the bath the next day and we were still removing tons of fleas off her. We got her into the vet 3 days after the last bath and they gave us revolution and put it on her. It's suppose to take effect in 6 hours so we quarantined her another night. since the revolution she has been flea free and so happy.

on a side note my husband's car got infested with fleas in just that short 20 minutes she was in there. We read to sprinkle salt on carpets and it'll kill fleas so we sprinkled salt in the car and house and let it sit for a week and all the fleas were gone.
 
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stubbychester

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When I posted my question last week, I used the methoprene (Hartz) as a top spot. Since then the fleas are just as bad. I now have some Advantage which contains imidicloprid..Can I apply this now, or wait until the 30 days has passed since I appled the methoprene...Im hoping someone can help me out and give my poor little Nellie some relief. Thanks.
 

breamarie

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Originally Posted by StubbyChester

When I posted my question last week, I used the methoprene (Hartz) as a top spot. Since then the fleas are just as bad. I now have some Advantage which contains imidicloprid..Can I apply this now, or wait until the 30 days has passed since I appled the methoprene...Im hoping someone can help me out and give my poor little Nellie some relief. Thanks.
I don't know about Hartz specifically, but when I got my kitten, I applied some Advantage. I realized afterward that he had lice in addition to fleas, and only Frontline can treat lice. It had only been three days since I'd treated him with the Advantage, so I was nervous about poisoning him by applying the Frontline. I called around to a few vets, and one recommended that I wash him in Dawn to remove as much of the Advantage as possible (because it's not waterproof), and then apply the Frontline, and it would be fine. I did, and he didn't have any bad effects from it.

Hartz has a different active ingredient than the Advantage, but maybe the Dawn bath followed by applying the Advantage would work out. I'd call a vet to be sure, though.

Good luck!
 
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