Why Does Frontline and Advantage Not Work For Fleas Now?

[segelkatt]

Chemo kills white blood cells and red ones. I should know, I had chemo and my red blood count dropped so low they had to stop the chemo, I could hardly walk, I was so tired and weak. That was 13 yeas ago and I am still here. Did Rascal have chemo? That would do it. 

White blood cells are there for the purpose of fighting infections and will dramatically increase when any kind of infection occurs in the body. They will rush to the site and trap bacteria in the neutrophil membrane and then digesting them. That's what "pus" is. So if Rascal had a low white blood count that means he had no infections anywhere, but the white blood cells were lying in wait for any occurrence.

If the white blood count was extremely low the vet should check for other problems like a bone marrow deficiency, liver disease, spleen disease, collagen-vascular diseases or use of antibiotics, antihistamines and anti-thyroid drugs. 

I checked various sites for info on Revolution, including two which explained what kind of tests have been made on its toxicity and none of them made any mention of causing low white blood count but some rather rare conditions. They all said Revolution was extremely safe even in overdoses and for long periods of time, for kittens and pregnant cats.

 

[roguethecat]

no, he wasn't on chemo... and the vet wasn't alarmed (just I was), so the count was low, but not extremely low. I also checked everywhere I could about Revolution. Could be it's just Rascal (he's a force on his own).

 

[overwhelmed2]

Does anyone know how often Advantage can safely be used more than once a month? There is a neighbourhood cat I let into my house (I don't think her owners look after her too well) and would like to make sure she doesn't bring fleas in but I'm not sure if someone is already doing it for her?

 

[ivesm]

First I need someone to please give me a tip on responding to anyone ...I am new and took me forever to get to this point...so I do not know if the person asking will get this info... ...if you do PLEASE let me know!

 petshed.com has REVOLUTION with great reduction in price (that is considering my vet pricing, of course....) BUT..they are in australia and takes about twelve working days to get.. .so must order timely.

 

[zookeeper67]

Be careful with the Revolution. I have always used Advantage with no problems and great results. I got a new kitten and her doctor recommended I switch brands. One of my cats had a reaction and has lost his fur under his arm, on the insides of his legs and arms. He also has thinned fur in the neck area. After a vet visit and stopping the Revolution, his hair isn't thinning but has yet the grow back.

 

[roguethecat]

ha! I knew there were possible side effects on Revolution.

 

[catspaw66]

 
First I need someone to please give me a tip on responding to anyone ...I am new and took me forever to get to this point...so I do not know if the person asking will get this info... ...if you do PLEASE let me know!

 petshed.com has REVOLUTION with great reduction in price (that is considering my vet pricing, of course....) BUT..they are in australia and takes about twelve working days to get.. .so must order timely.

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[ivesm]

PETSHED.COM....pay less for REVOLUTION... NO prescription needed! .......1 800 PETMEDS does require a prescription

 

[buddyrhonda]

I was told the same thing from my veterinarian...that LOTS of people say Frontline doesn't work anymore. They suggest Revolution.

  I put Frontline on my indoor cat 1 1/2 weeks ago and she still has them. Will be getting Revolution tomorrow.

 

[troopers momcat]

We went to our vet this week 6/11 for treatment and he said Frontline does NOT work.  He recommended Revolution or Advantage.

 

[segelkatt]

PETSHED.COM....pay less for REVOLUTION... NO prescription needed! .......1 800 PETMEDS does require a prescription

Since I have had 1-800-petmeds fill my prescription before I just have to tell them that I still have the same vet and the same pet and they take care of the rest. I usually have my Revolution within 5 days. Now the price difference, that may be something to think about if it doesn't take too long and the difference in price is significant. Otherwise I would just as rather keep our dollars within the US and help out the economy that way.

Everybody is always harping about stuff coming from other countries instead of buying locally so this would be my small contribution to that.

 

[segelkatt]

Does anyone know how often Advantage can safely be used more than once a month? There is a neighbourhood cat I let into my house (I don't think her owners look after her too well) and would like to make sure she doesn't bring fleas in but I'm not sure if someone is already doing it for her?

I would wait two weeks and then apply Advantage or Revolution as the med would only be half strength by then. I would also try to contact the owner and inquire. If you can't find the owner then assume that the cat is a stray in search of a home and has found yours. Take the poor thing in and make it your own or find it a proper forever indoor home. Good luck, let us know what you did and post pictures.

 

[segelkatt]

 
Our local talk radio has an 'Ask the Vets' hour every Saturday afternoon, and this question comes up all the time.  The recommendation is to use a product three or four times, then switch to another product for three or four times, then switch to another, and so on.  They also say that a flea's life cycle is three weeks, so use the product every three weeks.

Forget the talk shows. They are there to sell you something. You don't even know if the talking head is indeed a vet. This makes it sound as if the fleas or whatever build up resistance in just a few weeks. Baloney.  It sounds good and reasonable  but without science behind it that's just another sale. Believe your eyes. If you see fleas three days after application then whatever product you are using is not working and you need to switch to something else. So far Revolution is the best thing on the market, do your research on the Internet regarding side effects etc and don't rely on hearsay or some unidentified so-called expert without checking out this "expert". 

 

[angelinacat]

 
Forget the talk shows. They are there to sell you something. You don't even know if the talking head is indeed a vet. This makes it sound as if the fleas or whatever build up resistance in just a few weeks. Baloney.  It sounds good and reasonable  but without science behind it that's just another sale. Believe your eyes. If you see fleas three days after application then whatever product you are using is not working and you need to switch to something else. So far Revolution is the best thing on the market, do your research on the Internet regarding side effects etc and don't rely on hearsay or some unidentified so-called expert without checking out this "expert". 

If you are talking about the canned infomercials that many talk radio stations broadcast on the weekends, then I agree with you.  But the station I am talking about has live people on the air on Saturdays.  They are local and it easy to google the names and check them out.  The vets I am talking about all have well regarded practices in the Jacksonville, FL area.  It may be that I misunderstood what was said, and in fact it was recommended that every so often the flea control product be changed so that the fleas DON"T build up a tolerance.

For my part, I have been 'blessed'  over the years with four very flea-allergic cats.  Not only were they allergic to the flea saliva, but the flea control products made them deathly ill, too. There were many remedies tried to no avail.  My latest cat, Angelina, had mixed results with Frontline until it failed.  Advantage worked for a while, then it stopped.  The one remedy that worked the best for her was Comfortis.  She had been on that for three or four months and was starting to play and feel good again, when she was killed by the neighbor's pitbull.  Since Angelina was ten years old, she was too old to start the Revolution regimen

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[kollannia]

I use purrific........I also flea our dogs(with the flea drops they use on cattledogs......got it at tractor supply co.) really works along with the purific. frontline, advantage, biospot ....do not work, and can cause hair loss, and they can get weird after application. not with purrific.....I am not saying that it will work on your kitt's, all you can do is try.......

 

[segelkatt]

 
I use purrific........I also flea our dogs(with the flea drops they use on cattledogs......got it at tractor supply co.) really works along with the purific. frontline, advantage, biospot ....do not work, and can cause hair loss, and they can get weird after application. not with purrific.....I am not saying that it will work on your kitt's, all you can do is try.......

I googled "purrific" but cannot find that product. Perhaps the spelling is different?

 

[segelkatt]

 
If you are talking about the canned infomercials that many talk radio stations broadcast on the weekends, then I agree with you.  But the station I am talking about has live people on the air on Saturdays.  They are local and it easy to google the names and check them out.  The vets I am talking about all have well regarded practices in the Jacksonville, FL area.  It may be that I misunderstood what was said, and in fact it was recommended that every so often the flea control product be changed so that the fleas DON"T build up a tolerance.

For my part, I have been 'blessed'  over the years with four very flea-allergic cats.  Not only were they allergic to the flea saliva, but the flea control products made them deathly ill, too. There were many remedies tried to no avail.  My latest cat, Angelina, had mixed results with Frontline until it failed.  Advantage worked for a while, then it stopped.  The one remedy that worked the best for her was Comfortis.  She had been on that for three or four months and was starting to play and feel good again, when she was killed by the neighbor's pitbull.  Since Angelina was ten years old, she was too old to start the Revolution regimen

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Sorry to hear about your Angelina. I have 2 cats now 15 years old and I started them on Revolution 2 years ago with no problems whatsoever after somebody told me it was better than Advantage and my vet agreed. 

 

[angelinacat]

 
Sorry to hear about your Angelina. I have 2 cats now 15 years old and I started them on Revolution 2 years ago with no problems whatsoever after somebody told me it was better than Advantage and my vet agreed. 

Hi segelkatt:

In all of the discussions with my vets about Angelina's problems--there are three in the practice that I go to--I honestly do not recall a mention of Revolution.  We talked about Vectra, Advantage, Frontline and several others, along with things to do in the house and in the yard.  Angelina did have the best result with Comfortis of them all.  I do not know how long that would have lasted because of the tragedy.

When I adopted my two boys and brought them in for their first checkup, I was given a Revolution starter kit for both.  That is when I learned of it--or at least assimilated the news if I had been told earlier.  I am pleased your kitties are doing well.  So far, my boys are as well.

Thank you. 

 

 

[lunariris]

About a decade ago we had a flea issue and a lot of people had issues with the heat that year and fleas were horrible. A local therapist lost her pet to flea-initiated anemia and blood loss, as well as a relative's pet. We'd never even heard of such a thing before. The vets told us it was one of the worst seasons they'd seen for fleas, and said in really bad cases, it can take up to 6 months or more to erradicate them effectively. Also you can go from having no fleas to hundreds in a matter of a couple weeks. All I know is I hate fleas with a passion and panic if I see just one anywhere. Sure there could be just one, but they breed at an insane rate. Where there's one, there could easily be a hundred (or thousands) more. Not all people get bit by fleas either, and some get bit as much as the pets, so that's not a good indicator to know if there's a problem. 

We've had several people mention that they had to use multiple products to get rid of fleas, at different times. One person said she gave her puppy a flea bath, sprayed their furniture, and gave her Advantage then waited the 2 days and put her flea collar back on, and she still had fleas on her. She said it took weeks to get them off of her completely, and they had to spray the yard because they think the breeder they got her from had them initially and she kept bringing more in from the yard. 

How we controlled the fleas: We'd never had a problem before, but my uncle had moved back in and brought  a free (and flea-infested) couch home with him. It was awful, a couple cats started getting dermatitis from flea bites, and we were bit pretty badly too. We tried Hartz flea shampoo, dry home powder, bedding sprays, flea collars, other home and carpet sprays, everything. In less than a month it was ridiculous. The only thing that worked was getting all the cats in their carriers and leaving the house with them for several hours to bomb the house with flea foggers. However, they can hibernate in upholstery and furniture cracks and crevices in walls or flooring for months without notice or a host, therefore, you have to spray all surroundings including yourself, your clothes, your car, your pets, and home, but not everything is safe to use on all of the above, and that's where it gets tricky. You might give your pet flea drops and think that solves the problem, but it doesn't. There can still be dormant fleas hanging out all over your house, yard, or even your car. Honestly one of the best things that worked to keep them off of the cats I don't know if they even make any more. It was a white milky liquid, I think it was a flea shampoo or something from Hartz, and smelled really strong of alcohol or something. The cats didn't like it but we had to put something on them, and at the time we'd just had a few several day-old kittens and nothing's safe at that age but they can't go without anything, so we just put a few drops around their ears and between their shoulder blades etcetera and it really helped keep them off and we mixed it with water and dipped their flea comb in it and brushed it through the adult cats and it would kill fleas almost on contact. It worked like a charm, did that the night before we bombed, and gave the adults the Capstar the day of. The 3 -day old kittens are all healthy adult senior cats now. I don't know if they still make it though, I haven't seen it around in years, it was in a white bottle with a pink lid. As a side note, wasp Raid kills almost everything, fleas included, and works a lot better than the Raid actually intended for fleas, just don't get it near the cats or their dishes etcetera. Back then there were also no warnings about anything being wrong with Hartz products, but I've heard horror stories about Hartz the last few years so I don't know how well their products work now or if it's even the same stuff used.

Bombing the house: (We sprayed our clothing down first with flea spray approved to spray pet's bedding and the car quickly with flea spray to get them off of us before we went in to get our cats and everyone and left, and unfortunately Revolution *which is fantastic, was not popular then, so the vets gave us Capstar (a pill for fleas) for our cats instead (and we took the flea collars off so as not to overdose their systems, you are supposed to take any flea collars off before using Revolution or any other flea product as well, and we haven't even used flea collars in years now, just Revolution and no more fleas etcetera, it's a great product). We gave them Capstar before we left the house. Always set off the bombs last, just before you leave, setting off the ones in the deepest rooms of the house first, and working your way out to the front door. Just follow the instructions on the product labels. I also think it's a lot harder if you have both cats and dogs, as there are different kinds of fleas, and also different chemicals to treat them in different products, and some are toxic to cats but work on dogs and vice versa. I'd imagine that makes things a lot more complicated.

Raid's flea foggers work excellently, but you have to be careful when using it, and you have to use one for each room in the home, leaving doors open so it circulates the whole house. But, they're toxic chemicals, so you and your pets should be out of the house for several hours after setting them off, and any flammable pilot lights etcetera should be turned off. Any water or food dishes (human and pet) should be appropriately covered before hand, and/or re-washed after to keep any spray residue off. Bedding should be bagged (yours and theirs- I would spray flea spray on it first) and washed/dryed to kill any flea eggs they could have laid.

We *knock on wood* haven't had flea issues since, and preventative measures we take are:

-spray yard down yearly in spring with yard flea treatment (it works for ~6 months, or what it says on the bottle, and pets can't go in treated area for 24 hours after spraying, and shouldn't be sprayed if it's going to rain that day as it will just wash it away) -costs ~$12, not bad at all, just attach to water hose

-give all pets Revolution as indicated for their species, and appropriate weight (if you give a large cat a small cat dose it may not be effective enough) at least once a year in spring or early summer, if not monthly year-round (depending on your budget and if pets are indoor-only or go out at all for walks, bathroom and so on) -costs ~$12-$15 per dose per pet per month, depending on pet species+size

-keep emergency flea supplies in stock- like flea bedding treatment sprays, and wasp Raid, so if you do see one, you can try to get them proactively instead of after

-if we feel like there will be a problem any year, or see any indications, we will bomb the house once a year in spring as well to kill any fleas that come in, as the bomb spray seeps between floor cracks and into carpetting that other things can't reach -flea bombs cost ~$13 for a pack of 3, Raid spray can cost ~$5 a bottle sometimes, depends on where you buy it

-as for vacuuming, I've been told that just using a vacuum doesn't do much. It doesn't kill fleas and eggs, just sucks them up. They can then climb or hop back out of the vacuum bag from under the vacuum after it's off or out of the bag when it's changed. We were told to take a flea collar and cut it into about 1/2 to 1 inch long strands,  and put the pieces directly in the vacuum bag so when the fleas are sucked up the flea collar powder hopefully finishes them off, which I found helpful and hadn't thought of before -flea collars ~$3-$5 each

-if you open any windows, make sure to watch screening, keep screening in, and spray the screen and frame down with flea spray so as to repel any fleas from coming through.

-Be careful bringing any furniture in or anything else that could harbor fleas, they can live in carpetting, bedding, clothes, couches, mattresses, and such, and can be carried in on people as well as pets. Not just pets can get fleas. Clean homes can get fleas, as can homes without pets. It's much easier to prevent than to treat or cure. 

Good luck with your cats and hopefully you found this useful. 

 

[lunariris]

Thanks for the link. Advantage Multi is also sold in Australia as "Advocate" without prescription. In the US they won't sell either without vet approval, which always makes it hard when I recommend it to someone and they are desperate and ask if I know of anything cheaper that works without running to a vet just for flea products, which I understand seems a little ridiculous. I had yet to find anywhere to get Revolution without buying it through our vet.