Is anyone else finding fleas hard to control this year? 

My animals have hardly ever had fleas, occasionaly I have brought them home from a trip to the vet or pet store (fleas love me, yuk!) but I can go months without using treatments as we just don't usually get them.

Last month I brought a flea home from my MIL's farm dog and ended up with about 20 bites, all in a long curling line down my front. She duely used frontline on all her animals, Grandparents-in-law who we visit and have a dog did the same, and I treated all my dogs and cats.  Three weeks later one of my cats is on my window sill and I notice the sill is covered with flea dirt (ewww) and I can see flea dirt on my pale coated dog. They are all brushed and the dogs had a bath 2 weeks after the first treatment.

I have re-applied frontline spot-on just 1 month after first applying it after bringing home one flea.  I know they breed faster than you can say 'Jack Rabbit' but it says it lasts for 2 months and there was (initially) just the one flea. 

Any ideas why it's not working?

Thanks Mel 

I know cats are a pain with fleas, not matter how hard you put the treatment on, especially if they are allowed to roam.
Our one and only standing cat now catches rabbits, rabbits carry fleas and then we are off. For some reason the fleas aren't jumping to the dogs as i know they can and do. But yes the cats are a real pain in the whotsit when they decide to go rabbiting.

> Any ideas why it's not working?

Have you treated your house with anything? Fleas breed in soft fuirnishings & carpets etc, not on the animals themselves. If you use something like Acclaim to treat the house, then you will find a lot less fleas on your animals as it prevents them from breeding.

you sure its the real thing? 
I heard ages back that some companies are having problems with fake products ...

also I do agree with other poster- household treatment is a must if flea outbreak. spray everything in sight paying particular attention to cracks in floor boards and any soft furnishings

> also I do agree with other poster- household treatment is a must if flea outbreak. spray everything in sight paying particular attention to cracks in floor boards and any soft furnishings

I don't use spot-ons at all... my flea regime for my dog and cat consists solely of an annual home treatment with Acclaim and a quick squirt of Frontline Spray (which can be used on both cats & dogs) if I see fleas or ticks. Admittedly I live in an urban area but the dog is walked in rural areas teeming with rabbits & foxes on an almost daily basis. Has worked well for me, with no risk of the fleas becoming resistant, and no unnecessary chemicals on the animals themselves. (As well as being a shedload cheaper!!).

No point doing the animals without doing the house as fleas only spend a bit of time on the animal.

Get a household spray with growth inhibitor like Acclaim or RIP.  This will kill the fleas in the house and stop any larval stages progressing.  Effective between 6 and 12 months depending on product.

The majority of fleas on cats and Dogs are Cat fleas who are not fussy who they bite.

Yes you need to treat carpets etc too to try and break the cycle.  The eggs can lay dormant in your carpets and as soon as you put your heating on in winter, they get active again, and the cycle continues.

Its amazing how many cats we have in to look after who come in with fleas during the winter months, and I always tell the customers when they come to collect them, if they have them.  And most say, 'I didnt think fleas were about during Winter' but once you explain the cycle, they know then, why they treat their cats but the fleas come back :) 

> Yes you need to treat carpets etc too to try and break the cycle.  The eggs can lay dormant in your carpets and as soon as you put your heating on in winter, they get active again, and the cycle continues.

Treat the house and all else follows.
Being cynical, I can see why this isn't promoted as it would cost the drug companies a LOT in terms of not needing spot-ons etc. Fortunately I put my animals first and would rather treat the house (as it stops me getting flea bites as well) than put chemicals directly onto my pets' bodies on a regular basis.

I would do the house with Indorex or similar,spray in all the places the other posters have said but I would also treat any cars that the dogs travel in as the fleas will also live in the carpets and the car seats,even if the dogs are in the back of the car in a cage as if you travel to where you walk this would be the first drop off point for the horrible little things.Good luck.

I haven't treated our two with frontline combo for some time.

The only time I've found fleas was four weeks after treatment and talking a friend who works with dogs we were not the only ones. A number of people had mentioned that their dogs had fleas well within the eight week cover. So gave up using it.

> Fortunately I put my animals first and would rather treat the house (as it stops me getting flea bites as well) than put chemicals directly onto my pets' bodies on a regular basis.

Is this supposed to suggest that I don't put my animals first because I've used a product that is meant to kill fleas?  Why does the answer have to come with a 'put down'.  We are all members of this forum because we want what is best for our animals and we should be able to ask a simple question without remarks such as this.

Thanks for all the advice about treating the house as well, Tbh it never occured to me, my previous house had wooden floors so that was probably the reason I never had a flea problem.  I'm hoping to have got rid of the carpet in this house before the end of the year as it just isn't suitable for our household.

Thanks again
Mel

I had the same problem last year!  I have always used Frontline from my vet as it's what he recomended then last year, my cat became best friends with a flea ridden hedgehog!  He came home literally jumping!  And his bed is under my bed!  Well, I frontlined him, all the dogs, and my house.  Nothing worked and I did it 3 times.  I was pulling my hair out as the kids were getting bitten and my hubby's bites got ifected.  It was horrible.  Then the vet gave me advocate.  It's a spot-on same as frontline but it does the area where the animal lives too.  Within hours, I noticed a difference.  and I have never had to do it since.  I am totally against all the spot-on treatments when they are given all the time (my MIL gives her dog it every month!!).

PS  I have a leather suite and wooden floors throughout my house.  I only have carpet on my stairs.  Helps with the dirt and hair but the fleas were just as hard to get rid of!!

> Is this supposed to suggest that I don't put my animals first because I've used a product that is meant to kill fleas?  Why does the answer have to come with a 'put down'. 

Not at all. It was a comment about the veterinary industry that forever seems to be encouraging us to stuff our pets full of more and more chemicals, whether by over-vaccinating, or using spot-ons all the time.