# Effectiveness of Frontline?



## siberiankiss (Sep 24, 2010)

Afternoon everyone, 

I gave Rufus a Frontline spot-on treatment four weeks ago. He's just been sat with me and I am SURE I saw something crawling in the fur around his cheek. I had a good root through his fur but couldn't see anything, but I am convinced that there was something there. 

Could it have been a flea? It certainly looked like one. Does this mean his Frontline treatment didn't work? Should I treat again now?

Is there anything I need to do to the house to prevent anything flaring up? (I once moved into a house which was flea infested and it was the WORST few weeks!)

We have Oscar the dog too, he is up to date with Frontline too (as of last Monday).


----------



## spid (Nov 4, 2008)

Frontine is becoming less and less effective - it is over 20 years old now


----------



## siberiankiss (Sep 24, 2010)

Okay so I put more spot-on on him yesterday afternoon and today Rufus is crawling in fleas. :mad2:


----------



## broccoli (Jul 1, 2011)

my neighbours had a flea infestation this summer , despite monthly frontline - i use advocate and had none!..........


----------



## siberiankiss (Sep 24, 2010)

I've just been reading about Advocate. 

I applied Frontline yesterday. How soon can I apply Advocate do you think? 

I'm all itchy


----------



## Clare7435 (Dec 17, 2009)

Frontline used to work for my lot every time no probs but this last year it has done nothing at all...I use the vets treatment now which i believe is strong hold but not 100% sure till I dig the recipt out..I have heard however tht Bob martins are now doing a treatment which is supposed to be really good althogh i have yet to look into it...my vet says he's heard good report from owners though..it's not the cheap bob martin one it's about 8 pounds for the pill and 13 for the spot on...and it's back to the old pill one day spot on the next way of doing it. Anyone else heard of it? would be interesting to hear some views from those who have actually used it. [email protected] conned me into using their fipronal or whatever it's called a few months ago...almost as expensive as frontline prescription strength apparently and it ruined poor Fizz's skin then 2 days later i found a flea or 10 on Penny! The vet said yes it kills fleas but it doesn't keep them away....but when it's warm i don't think it matters what we do...fleas are rife and I always treat 2 weeks earlier that the pack says and regularly use the comb.x


----------



## Dragonlady (Jul 5, 2010)

Hi,
I had my doubts about FrontLine this summer. After the first treatment there were still fleas on my cats on my indoor cats. But you learn from experience - the next time I frontlined the cats and next day sprayed the whole flat with a better spray ("Staykill", "Defest" was not that effective").
Cat treatment and the house treatment at the same time are crucial. This year has been extreme with fleas and for the reason only drops-on can be not sufficient. About 80-90% of the fleas live in the environment and not on cats.

Now I think FrontLine is still fine and effective but if you have a big infestation in the house new fleas will jump on your cat again and again.


----------



## Dragonlady (Jul 5, 2010)

siberiankiss said:


> I've just been reading about Advocate.
> 
> I applied Frontline yesterday. How soon can I apply Advocate do you think?
> 
> I'm all itchy


You have to wait about 5 weeks between treatments.
In the meantime vacuum and spray your house. Most of fleas are in your house and not on your cats!!!
You could also have a look at flea traps on Youtube. There are some good suggestions how to build your own flea trap for the indoors. I ordered a flea killer from Amazon Flea Killer: Amazon.co.uk: Pet Supplies and have been happy with the product.


----------



## Faerie Queene (Dec 30, 2008)

Okay - here's a question.....

What if I was to spray the house, but not treat the cats?
In theory, would that work?

My cats detest 'spot-on' and seeing that it doesn't seem to be very effective, I don't want to treat them needlessly.

I've not used any Spot-On and RIP for 2 years and the flea problem has only arisen this summer.

Thanks in advance.


----------



## 1290423 (Aug 11, 2011)

siberiankiss said:


> Afternoon everyone,
> 
> I gave Rufus a Frontline spot-on treatment four weeks ago. He's just been sat with me and I am SURE I saw something crawling in the fur around his cheek. I had a good root through his fur but couldn't see anything, but I am convinced that there was something there.
> 
> ...


I have it from a very very reliable scource and an ex member that no longer posts that fleas have become immune to the frontline in SOME areas in the UK. Think you MAY be able to google it to find out where these area are - but not sure - perhaps another member can advise on that one!
DT


----------



## Dragonlady (Jul 5, 2010)

Faerie Queene said:


> Okay - here's a question.....
> 
> What if I was to spray the house, but not treat the cats?
> In theory, would that work?
> ...


A good question. My experience says no, it won't work and this year is extreme what doesn't make things easier. 
Normally you have to treat both: cats and environment. My friend bathed her cats as they are allergic to most common flea treatments. At the same time, she sprayed he flat and it helped.
Important is the timing - first spray the house and bath your cats at the same day. Bathing gives no protection, it only kills fleas on the cat.
Of course, it's more difficult to bath a cat than put some spot-on but I personally would give a try to this method if a had an allergic cat.


----------



## Myanimalmadhouse (Mar 6, 2011)

Have been reading and hearing that frontline seems to be losing its effectiveness but I am quite interested to know where people buy it from?

I tried effipro and it was useless 

So as soon as it was safe I got the frontline combo direct from my vets and had a long conversation about it as its quite a bit more expensive from him than online.

His explination was that the stuff online is actually a diluted version?

Now yeah it could be that he's just trying to make sure he sells it and profit etc however after the effipro being completley useless and few weeks of really nice weather we ended up with quite an infestation :mad2:

BUT after using the fronline from the vets (and the super dooper spray for the house ) 48hours later and they and the house are all clear!

So could it actually be that its down to the "online" frontline being actually of lesser quality and hence why its so much cheaper?


----------



## hayleyj08 (Jul 26, 2011)

Could it be that the stuff you got online was frontline and not frontline combo? We had this not realising there was a difference and my parents' cat got fleas! You can buy frontline easily online but combo, like advocate, is a prescription only medicine


----------



## Marsha1 (Sep 28, 2011)

Hi - I've used the Bob Martin flea tablets and they're great, much better than the Johnsons 4 Fleas. Asda & Morrisions supermarkets sell them for around £6.00 for a box of 3.
I've never rated Frontline.


----------



## buffie (May 31, 2010)

Marsha1 said:


> Hi - I've used the Bob Martin flea tablets and they're great, much better than the Johnsons 4 Fleas. Asda & Morrisions supermarkets sell them for around £6.00 for a box of 3.
> I've never rated Frontline.


Please be very careful when choosing a flea/wormer for your cat .Most if not all over the counter products are at best useless some can be dangerous,read this link http://www.petforums.co.uk/cat-health-nutrition/55693-warning-bob-martin-spot-dewormer-3.html ,the problem is not just with the wormer,flea treatments are also considered to have the ability to harm.It is much better to go to your vet for treatments or at least to get a prescripion from them and buy on line.


----------

