Cats and Fleas

[Susan9608]

I took my cat, Oscar, to the vet yesterday because his hair on his back was thinning, and because he continually cried for food.

My vet found a severe flea problem. I'm just astonished because I brush him every day and haven't seen any fleas; we also haven't seen any fleas in the house. But Oscar was definitely being eaten alive by fleas. The vet figured his hair loss was due to the itching and allergy. My vet also figured that Oscar wanting to eat all the time was a comfort mechanism; he itched so bad and was so miserable that eating was the only thing that made him feel good.

I'm not sure what to think about that ...

But I definitely need to get rid of the fleas. Oscar got a bath last night (he's an 18 pound, long-haired, very agressive male cat, so you can imagine how much fun that was) with some special shampoo the vet gave me. it's supposed to be a very powerful flea killer plus a skin soother. Then I put some Frontline Plus on him. The dog also got bathed in the same stuff. My husband treated the backyard (even though neither animal goes out there) last night, and is going to treat the carpet today.

Even after being bathed and having the frontline, though, I still found flea "dirt" on Oscar this morning. He was still scratching and scratching, despite the bath, front line and a shot of cortisone yesterday at the vet.

Anyone have any ideas for me? I hate to see him so miserable ... and I feel totally disgusting, knowing we have a flea problem in house.

[piggly wiggly]

Does the medication kill the eggs aswell? Maybe the eggs have hatched and they are now bitting him. Once they bite him they should die too. Probably within a couple of days they will die off, and he should start feeling better. Don't feeltoo bad, they are hard to spot on long haired animals.

[Shaffy]

Sounds like my cat when he has fleas. He is very allergic to them, my friends cat has the same problem and himself until he bled. I was saying a few days before that happend the the cat has fleas.
I hope that shampoo works for you. It shoufd be killing the eggs, but just to be careful get then flea collars.

[princesspenelop]

My cat also had bare spots on her tummy once, the vet said it was from flea allergy. So now I keep her on Adavantage whenever I have foster dogs (she's an indoor cat).

Whenever my sister gets a new shelter cat, we give the cat Capstar (available from some vets) to kill the fleas before we take him/her home. And then we give topical (Advantage or Frontline) at the same time. The Capstar kills the fleas within an hour (but I think its effect only lasts 24 or 48 hours), and the topical is more long term (between 24 hours and 30 days).

In addition to treating the yard and carpet, you might also want to vacuum the cat tree and wash all cat beds in hot water in the washer.

[Tulip]

Please, please don't get them flea collars unless they're something natural! They've just been bathed in a shampoo which, if from your vet, probably has chemicals in it, and then had more chemicals (frontline). They definitely don't need something else added. Frontline should do the trick ~ you need to make sure all of your animals are treated for fleas, otherwise they'll just reproduce on the ones that aren't. And, yes, if you have a bad infestation and haven't had some good freezes then you should treat your yard. Again, there are chemical-free treatments.

You don't have to have animals to have fleas in your yard ~ wild animals can bring them in. Our neighbors had a bad flea problem and they had no animals! I can tell you they were really frustrated.

Your vet could be right about the food-comfort thing, but I'm surprised he didn't point out the most obvious. In a bad infestation they may be getting more more of the vital nutrients than your cat. Maybe, maybe not ~ hard to say.

Anyways, you shouldn't worry too much ~ you're definitely on the right path. Frontline works really well. As much as I hate using it, I do.

[Jennicat]

Flea collars are great for helping get rid of fleas... just not on cats!

I grab some of the really cheap ones at the dollar store whenever we have a flea outbreak and throw them into the vacuum bag. It keeps the fleas from escaping the bag.

[kittnkarr]

I'll have to true that idea JenniCat.

Sorry to hear that you are having a such a bad flea problem with your cat Susan. Despite have 4 cats myself along with 2 dogs (knock on wood) I have yet to have a flea problem. While reading your post your cat seemed to have almost similar symptoms to my one female, Star, who has food allergies. She has had these for some time now (since she was 1 yr old) though not fully diagnosed until 6 months ago. Poor thing is 7.5 yrs old and that is how long it took to diagnose it. I thought to that it could have been a flea problem/allergy but everyone else in the home isn't expeirencing flea symptoms and is on flea/tick topical ointments.

Star was having similar symptoms, loosing hair on the stomach, she was always eating, along with scabs along her stomach, feet, head and neck from scratching. We switched her diet, along with all 3 other cats, to a food that only contains fish and sweet potatoes. For her the problem is clearing up slowly but at least we now why she had so many problems.

You cat might not be expierencing the same symptoms as mine but just thought that I would share since they can have similar symptoms. Good luck with your cat.

[kathrynj]

We have a product here called CAPSTAR, it kills any live fleas on the pet instantly but is not a longlasting product. It is ideal while you are waiting for the frontline to kick in. Here is the site for further info Capstar - Novartis.com

Interestingly have you used frontline before? I found with my old cat, as he aged the fleas became resistant to the advantage. The vet explained that as I was only using it when I *saw* a flea on him, it was ineffective.

I now treat religiously each month with my other cat, as Elmo developed a severe skin problem and rodent ulcers from flea allergy He was 19 yrs old and had three legs poor baby. He also reacted badly to the steroids to treat this, got bad diahorrea, that was real pleasant

[Susan9608]

Fleas are really a pain in the ass. My husband did treat the carpet last night, and we got a flea comb to try and comb the living ones off the cat and kill them.

I have never used Frontline before; we were using an all-natural remedy that was supposed to be the equivalent of Frontline. Obviously it wasn't.

I don't really like the idea of a flea collar because Oscar has never worn a collar at all, and I think it would flip him out.

I guess we'll just try to treat the house and the yard. I'll have to look more into Capstar .... I wonder if it is available in the US.

Thanks so much for all your help and suggestions! I really appreciate it.

[princesspenelop]

Yes Capstar is available in the U.S. I live in Alabama and my vet sells it. My sister lives in California and after calling four vet clinics, she found one that sells it too and got it for her foster cat before she brought him home.

Recently there are a couple companies that came out with herbal topical flea repellents (made with essential oils). I got one made by Sergeant from Walmart and tried it on my current foster dog. Several of my dog friends also tried it out, with mixed results. I think it only works if you don't have a bad flea infestation. Plus, with cats, I heard essential oils can be harmful to them.

[janetangel]

Having many animals, 6 dogs and 2 cats...plus the rest we have had our share of fleas. We got them two years in a row after rescuing two dogs who had fleas. What we did was treat ALL the animals like you are, washed all the bedding the cats and dogs laid on in HOT water, treated our yards and house and I had an exterminator come in once a month for 3 months. I have not seen a flea since. I used a flea powder under my couch cushions and bedding I could not wash. I also had carpet than, so I would powder the carpet, wait for about 10 minutes and vacuum it up. After every vacuum I threw away the vacuum bag so they could not crawl out of the vacuum. The vet had me use frontline from then on, it worked well. My vet also said if you have carpet, walk on the carpet with white socks on dragging your feet...if there are still fleas in there you will see them jump on your socks. I never saw any, but I still took all the drastic measures for the fleas to be GONE.
Good luck, I think you will win this battle.