Help? Fleas?

[Allegory]

Ug. Just..ug.

I have a dog and 3 rattie boys (and two birds..but thankfully they're alright right now). We've gotten a major overpopulation of stray cats and they're bringing fleas to the yard. Loki (the dog) goes outside to potty and is bringing in fleas. He's on Frontline but it's not able to keep up.

Anyway. I was playing with one of my rattie boys, Jester, and I saw a flea on his back. I tried to catch it but Jester thought I was playing with him and twisted around and I lost it.

I have no idea what to do. I've been watching these forums for awhile and ya'll are awesome so I thought I'd ask you for help. My vet is closed today (of freakin' course) and my partner is going to treat the yard but I'm not sure what to do with my ratties.

And I promise after I've rid the house of fleas I can take pictures of the boys because I've been lazy about it.

 

[Riana]

I worked at two vet clinics, but neither stocked frontline... I don't know if it's only in the US or not... I know some flea products are. I wonder, does Frontline claim to kill adult fleas as well? I know of a few brands of flea products that only kill the other stages in the cycle, but not the adults. Advantage kills all stages, including adults, so if the frontline isn't working, you may want to ask your vet about how to get on a different product.

I've read that in cases with fleas, that it says to treat your home effectively and thoroughly, rather than treat the rats. I wonder if that's because the certain breed of flea doesn't normally inhabit rats? I wonder...

Sorry I couldn't give any help

 

[lilspaz68]

Most fleas have one animal they are made for. Rat fleas will always prefer to live on our rats. Cat fleas on the other hand wish to stay on Cats and so on through all the animals, but cat fleas are one of those that will hop onto other animals like your dog and if desperately hungry will stay a while on rats.

http://ratguide.com/health/integumentar ... asites.php

 

[Allegory]

I hate fleas. They're all over my poor Loki-dog. I know they're coming from the stray cats in the neighborhood because this is the first month the cats have been around and the first time that I've seen fleas.

I'm not sure why I saw the one on Jester. Thank you lilspaz. I feel better now. I've found a vet that's open for another hour so I'm going to go get Loki some Capstar to just get rid of what's on him and then I'm going to attack my house to make sure it's clean.

Fleas make me feel icky. I don't know why. It's one of the few things in this world that does.

Oh! And Frontline claims to kill all stages of fleas even adults, Riana..but it sure doesn't seem to be working right now. I might switch him.

 

[lilspaz68]

get Revolution instead?

 

[SQ]

If you need to treat the rats for fleas, advantage or program are suposed to be ok.

Frontline is not recommended for rats as it can be very toxic for them if injested. (p.23 rat health care book)

 

[Riana]

Good luck! Capstar is a good product to use in conjunction with another product, especially if you're overwhelmed with fleas... it'll give your other stuff a chance to kick in.

Oh! And Frontline claims to kill all stages of fleas even adults, Riana..but it sure doesn't seem to be working right now. I might switch him.

As I said, I've never had any experience with Frontline. It may very well be a worthwhile product, but it could be that it hasn't had the chance to overcome the vast amount of fleas yet. I know that's the case with some other products... hopefully it'll work!