Front line doesn't always work!

Part 2 of my scabby cat saga...
Purrdie does indeed have a flea allergy despite front line being applied about 4 weeks ago. The vet has said that some fleas are becoming resistant to front line so we are now using a different spot on. The vet only found 1 flea mind, I had checked every inch of her myself but with her fur I suppose there are plenty of places to hide! Poor Purrdie is still not happy although she has had anti biotics as well. I can bath her in 1 weeks time before the next application of spot on. Any ideas of a nice soothing shampoo I could use on her scabby skin?

:sad1:

I have used a shampoo called Episoothe on dogs in the past & more recent times cats & found it to be pretty successful.
Interesting to find you have had problem with Frontline,I always used to spray mine & on occasions used the pipettes,last year I went onto the combo when they had an offer on it & ended up with a chronic flea infestation,I was treated as if I was thick & didn't know how to use the product,it took me two months to sort it out,I have since used another product & keeping fingers crossed,no problem as yet & an added bonus is the cats coats have been a lot better as well.
Hope Purrdie soon feels a lot more comfortable x

Oh poor Purrdie! We had a flea 'problem' (euphemistically speaking!) some weeks ago. We bought Frontline Combo which was not very effective. Poor Coonies kept scratching like mad (and so were we).
I particularly felt for them when they jumped up with a little shriek because they got bitten.:sad2:
So we called the vet and she told us to use Advantage pipettes on them. They worked great, thank heavens.

I have used Frontline for years and have never had a flea problem since.
Hope the fleas round here are not developing an immunity!!!

What's the difference between Frontline, and Frontline Combo?

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Originally Posted by Howlinbob

What's the difference between Frontline, and Frontline Combo?

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Frontline Combo is supposed to kill fleas and ticks.

All types of Frontline kills fleas & ticks although it is effective against fleas for longer than it is ticks so you have to use it more reguarly if faced with ticks,a problem most of our pampered darlings don't have to worry about,the combo part puts the fleas on the pill as well so the idea being that they can't produce while dying off...thats the theory but didn't work full stop on mine,I had never ever had a flea problem with my dogs,domestic cats that used to roam or these spoilt darlings,I used Frontline every six weeks but because they were going into a cattery I put the combo on them after four weeks & done them as a precaution four weeks again after that,when I first noticed a couple of them having a bit of a scratch I didn't bother about it for a couple of days then I noticed a flea on the face of one,panic,a couple of hours on & over a 100 very live fleas later the fleas were not the only ones jumping,two of my cats had to go & have injs.to settle them down as they had reacted so badly,I changed to Stronghold & everything has been fine since,wouldn't want to go through that again.

I get Advocate from the vets and that seems to work pretty well - it does everything and goes on every four weeks. My breeder originally recommend two separate products that you could get in pet stores but the vet suggested Advocate for convenience. Plus, we're a single cat house and although Freyja goes out in the garden, it's never unsupervised so she's not had any contact with other cats, so I suppose the chance of her getting fleas is small in the first place.

The one thing that I had trouble trying to get the Frontline rep to understand was that my cats don't get challenged either even though they go out into the garden,they can't get out other cats can't get in,because they are round the back even if a cat is in the front unless the flea hops over the bungalow they can't get in,just had an idea,perhaps I can hold a flea high jumping contest & train them up for the olympics ! Seriously though the most likely thing is I brought one home on me from work & things escalated from there,but it shouldn't have done.

A quick Google search tells me that Stronghold and Advocate (Advantage) are spot-on applications that kill fleas, ticks and worms and ear mites! How convenient, I think I'll change over to one or the other of these. Frontline only does fleas and ticks (I think).

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Originally Posted by jckkerrison

The one thing that I had trouble trying to get the Frontline rep to understand was that my cats don't get challenged either even though they go out into the garden,they can't get out other cats can't get in,because they are round the back even if a cat is in the front unless the flea hops over the bungalow they can't get in,just had an idea,perhaps I can hold a flea high jumping contest & train them up for the olympics ! Seriously though the most likely thing is I brought one home on me from work & things escalated from there,but it shouldn't have done.

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Perhaps a dab of Front-line on the wrists and decolletage might not go amiss... :rofl:

Gee,thanks for that idea,what is that perfume you are wearing to work today,that thought will send me smiling to get the cats their supper....
Yes Howlinbob it does only do fleas & ticks.

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Originally Posted by FreyjaRoMaine

Perhaps a dab of Front-line on the wrists and decolletage might not go amiss... :rofl:

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I would love to see your Merial reps face when you told them about your latest perfume! But I do know that one of the former Genitrix reps got so desperate she used RIP Fleas on her daughters hair to get rid of head lice!

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Originally Posted by FreyjaRoMaine

we're a single cat house and although Freyja goes out in the garden, it's never unsupervised so she's not had any contact with other cats, so I suppose the chance of her getting fleas is small in the first place.

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That's what we thought... the Coonies can't get out of the garden, other cats don't come in... but they still got fleas.
Guy from the pet store said it takes only a couple of fleas or eggs brought in from outside (by ourselves or pet-owning visitors) to cause an infestation.:sad2:

Yes I do agree with that,but my argument with the company was that we are paying out a lot of money using their product to prevent it,if we are using it according to their recommendation & bearing in mind that when I felt it could be a bigger challange I went from six weeks to four weeks before & after,plus using combo that supposedly put flea on pill as well,it shouldn't happen if the product is working properly,I deflea all year round so no way should there have been a breakdown but there was,they couldn't blame that I was not using a high enough strength because the bigger cats were on small dog size as recommended by boss & backed by rep.when she came round a couple of years ago.
Have found that having to change product has helped in more ways than one,it eventually got rid of the flea problem with help from house spray,which I hate using,but also none of the cats mind having this one applied,before I would do one & hunt five of them,with this they all just sit there & let me go along one by one,big bonus.Now getting to bad time of year again for the little jumpers so will see how we get on over the next few weeks,fingers crossed....!

The house spray... I hate it too. Only used it once, in the bedroom where we have thick wall-to-wall carpet. Locked the Coonies out of that room for the day because it's such nasty stuff.
To my relief our vet later told us the house spray isn't necessary. Just treat the Coonies (not with Frontline of course :koolkat:) and vacuum as if your life depends on it, she said. You need an old-fashioned vacuum cleaner with a disposable bag, which we fortunately still have. After vacuuming (do I spell that right?) we had to remove the bag, put it in a tightly sealed plastic bag and bung the plastic bag in the outside bin.
I must say it has worked until now. But I still hate vacuuming.:smile:

Hi Antonia,one u too many I think otherwise spot on how I would spell it,mine has still got a bag with it so after every time I used it during that period I sucked up a bit of tissue with some of the housespray on it & then ditched the bag too,cost a little fortune in those as well but just glad to get rid of the little blighters...

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Originally Posted by Antonia

After vacuuming (do I spell that right?) we had to remove the bag, put it in a tightly sealed plastic bag and bung the plastic bag in the outside bin.
I must say it has worked until now. But I still hate vacuuming.:smile:

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No you are right Antonia, it is spelt vacuum, and vacuuming. Looks weird, but it is correct! English eh?

We had awful problems with ticks on the dogs, so off we went and got Fronline for them, the GSD was alrigh but our goldie ended up losing tons of fur and had a huge scabby sore where we put the chemical on her... so no more chemicals just lots of combing and removing with a mini lassoo then some very satifying squishing!

It's advocate that the vet has given us. I have sprayed the house from top to bottom too! And hoovered!!! She is still over grooming and throwing up fur balls everyday. Can't wait to bath her poor thing. I'm allowed to do that on Monday. My non-MC cat goes out but I would have thought that as he was front lined, if the fleas bite, they die so won't pass on to the others? Obviously not. Fingers crossed the advocate works better than the front line!

We used to use this for our old lady moggy Evening Primrose Oil for Dogs and Cats - Fact Sheet - Denes Natural Pet Care she just needed to look at a flea & came out in scabs down her back :sad2: Im pleased to say that with them only geting into the yard now no fleas :smile: but do them with the frontline every so often :nod: The dogs get theres regulalry dont want them bringing in squatters :LOL:

You have my sympathy, my moggy cat Holly now deceased had a flea allergy, took them months to diagnose it and they said it was a very rare condition, they warned us the steroids she was on would damage her liver and she wouldn't last long... she was still there years later of course

Now my mums cat has been diagnosed with it! again very rare they said, he has totally changed, now an indoor cat by choice, he pees on you if he sits on you and he is quite fuss demanding, whereas before he was the typical alpha male tom.
It was a horrid thing to see them with scabs all over, you couldn't stroke them for fear of touching their sores and hurting them :sad1:

Since we've had our two current indoor cats, only one bout of fleas and that was coincidently a week after a dormouse had found it's way into the house

Glad to hear that you got to the bottom of you problem... Claire...

I have thankfully never had fleas in my life despite showing and the cats all have access to a huge outside run.. My first experience with fleas has been with the Mainecoons cat I just got back from the UK she was crawling with them..

I always front line the kittens before they leave because well you never know!! When you send them off better to be safe than sorry... I show all new owners that I am doing it and show them how!


Our problem this year has been ticks.. 4 of the adult cats have had one... each right on the side of their mouth... and one on her eye lid... They do have access to the garden, and we do live on the edge of a huge pine Forrest, which is where our vet says they come from.. Even Amber got one on her leg... she was not best pleased... ( I did not front line her thought I did offer)

Amber is an expert now at getting the tick out... then we just stronghold them, and they never have this problem again... I think next year all the ones that have access to the garden, will just have the treatment anyway!

She is getting better and her sore bits aren't red anymore. She had a bath today and seems a bit happier. Still grooming every 5 mins and her fur is in awful condition but hopefully she is on the mend. Going to ask vet for a collar tommorrow to try and stop her grooming. Such small little critters can cause such a nightmare!

My poor old moggy cat has a fleas alergy and even tho I used frontline spot on it never seemed to work - changed to the spray and do her monthly and never had a problem yet. It is suprising how many cats are alergic to fleas. We have a specialist deratology department and get a number of dogs and cats in that have flea alergies.