Spot treatment for fleas

A cat will usually stay still if you scruff them firmly but if not wrap her legs up tightly in a towel then with her body under your arm you should be able to put it on her neck ..

Frontline stopped working for Grace last year. I switched to a tablet called Nextgard which she regards as a treat! But cats and pills are another ball game I understand!!

I always warm the flea or worming drops to blood temperature by placing in a pocket or more often in my bra. If you just stroke or tickle them to part the fur they don't even know you have applied them.

I agree with tanith but I find with mine that she likes to lie on the arm of my chair when I am watching TV. Before she jumps up I have everything prepared, she jumps up, I lull her into a false sense of security by stroking her and then I apply the liquid on her neck and it is over and done with before she knows it.

I bribe dcat with some salmon, then apply when he's otherwise occupied.

Frontline stopped working for one of my cats last year, when he developed a nasty flea allergy. I now use Advocate and have seen no evidence of any infestation this year.

It's definitely a two-man job where our cats are concerned, so I can sympathise with you. Can you ask a neighbour or grab a friend's help when they come to visit?

If not, as suggested, the towel wrapping is worth a try, although it can end up like a wrestling match! Our DD's cats get shaved regularly and the expert covers their eyes with a blindfold muzzle to calm them. Apparently covering the face makes them chill.
Or try dropping it on her while she is eating (without getting it near the food, of course.)

last time I used advocate on my cat was a few years ago, Id just done it and she jumped out of my arms before it soaked in, she shook herself in front of the tv and splatted the tv casing and its left burn marks all on my tv!! I complained to the makers and was told that there was a warning on the label that it could burn plastics! After that I did some research and was horrified what the side affects were on cats! I no longer use it and have gone for a more safer route with apple cider vinegar.

yep- the towel trick works wonders.

Be very careful with spot treatment. Our (late) dog Gatsby was treated by the vet as part of the European passport return to UK trip- and she applied it wrongly and it went all over her coat, instead of on a skin area behind the neck. We then travelled all the way to our flat in the Midlands and the next day she was sick and couldn't eat. After a few days we took her to the vet who thought she had throat cancer. She had to give her a full anesthetic to examine her properly- and found her mouth and throat were VERY badly ulcerated- and asked if she had had access to strong chemicals, bleach, etc. We said NO, but then realised what had happened. The French vet refused totally to take any responsibility- so I contacted the Pharmaceutical company who agreed it was the cause, and that the vet was totally responsible. The poor dog suffered for weeks- it cost us a fortune, and the French vet refused to participate- even when contacted by the Pharma company. We now live in the area and make sure we tell anyone who asks NOT to go to him!

I use regular new flea collars on the dog and cat and this seems to work ok.

thanks for helpful message, I don't like the thought of harmful chemicals if it goes in wrong place, but what do you do with cider vinegar? do you put it on back of neck?

You've scared me a bit there granjura. We applied Frontline to the cats a few weeks ago, but we have a dog who constantly licks the cats' heads and who must have ingested some residue of the spot treatment even though we tried to separate them for 24 hours. The dog seems fine, eating drinking normally, but now you say burning is an issue I will check his throat. Thank you.

I've heard the same about Spot On causing problems too. I think best avoided (although I've used it as I find it effective).

In this case it was PracTix (sp?) and not Frontline, as the French vet preferred it and said it was less toxic than Frontline!!!

Once the flea treatment has been applied, how many of you then actually spray round the house with the can of flea removal stuff? I do occasionally with expensive stuff from the vets, but all these poisons can't be good around the place.

I spray the house once a year (as it says on the tin that's how long it lasts) and have found I only need to treat the cat a couple times then. The less needed the better I think. I last did the cat/house 3 months ago and no sign of anything on her so far.
Would like to know what is done with the Cider vinegar too.

I once had 3 cats at the same time and used Frontline from the vet on them at the specified intervals. I used to comb them as well because two were extravagantly long haired. Once I started doing both these things the flea problem went away. All went outdoors and snoozed around the house as it pleased them. I used the same bribery approach as Gettingonabit. They were so focused on the salmon or tuna, I could have been doing anything to them. They all lived good long lives - 19 being the record, and rarely went to the vet, apart from fighting injuries.
I so miss them but apartment living now and cats don't go with the life style.
Re combing - what about one of those combs that zaps any fleas. I have never tried one, but saw them in one of those Coopers mags.

Honeypot43,
Simply find a clean spray bottle (one that has not been used with cleaning agents or anything similar) and fill it with 1/2 water and 1/2 apple cider vinegar. Just spray on the cats fur.

We've always had a dog and never knowingly had flea problems, until last year when sons dog came to stay ( he got the blame as the first one I found was on him).
Frontline didn't work on either dog and our dog was burnt badly with Advocate. It cost us a fortune in house sprays, various treatments that didn't work or did harm and eventually vets bills. I became paranoid. Since then they both have a monthly tablet and it seems to be doing the trick.

jusnoneed what is the name of the spray you use ?

I've always thought it was enough to put flea drops on skin at the back of cats neck where they can't lick it off
I hadn't realised that it could burn mouth or tongue!
I have inherited my late fathers 2 cats,
they are wormed and flea treated once a year at vets when they have their boosters.
The rest of the time I use frontline as that is what our vet sells.
The vet does them and returns them to their joint carrier with no mention of them licking each other.
In future when I flea treat I will keep them separate.
Although not sure for how long

You certainly know when you've got a flea problem, they don't just stay on the animal. A cat we used to have started it.
We had an invasion once and had to burn all the floor mats - luckily no fitted carpets here.They went on us too.
The main problem here is ticks, and Frontline does seem to work on our pets. But we also do a manual check every evening.
Cat hates it, but as someone said, hold by the scruff of the neck when applying.

I've had an infestation too, when I had 3 cats. We'd gone on holiday, leaving the central heating on a timer (in case the poor darlings got cold), and when we got back the fleas were actually jumping up from the carpet. That was a Rentokil job.

I've got fleas at the moment-we get them every year-but at least dcat has stopped scratching. I'm the only human in the household who gets bitten for some reason.

I`m the only one in this house who gets bitten as well. We treat Mia monthly with the spot on stuff, but we seem to get fleas every 2 years. We`ve found that the Johnson`s Foggers work for the house, plus the occasional spray round with Indorex spray. I do wonder if the spot on treatment is actually working, as it says to put it directly onto the skin, but Mia has such thick fur that I can`t even find her blinking skin! I may give the cider vinegar a try if it really does work?