My cats still have fleas after Bravecto. What should I do next?

Thanks for using Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach! I certainly understand your frustration. There are 2 products that I particularly like in these cases where different therapies have failed to help. I like Bravecto as a preventative and Capstar to be used concurrently as needed for fleas. Capstar is crucial because it can help kill a lot of fleas at once and it can be used as often as once daily to effect. Also, it is important to vacuum the house and all things that have contact with them frequently. Try this for 1-3 months and if does not make a difference, they may have another type of allergy such as a food allergy or environmental allergy. This is likely going to help. Good luck and have a good night!

Hi and thanks for using Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach! Fleas can be frustrating to eradicate even when using a quality product like Bravecto. You may wish to consider a product like Capstar or even a topical flea medication in addition to the Bravecto. Products like Frontline Gold, Vectra and Advantix tend to work well. The flea life cycle sometimes necessitates that you also treat your household and even your yard to fully eradicate the infestation. Regular laundering of pet bedding can help but you may still end up needing to have an exterminators help. Finally, make sure all pets in the household are treated with a safe, quality flea preventative as often house cats that have not been treated can harbor fleas. Good luck!

Capstar will only kill those fleas that are on the dog and sucking blood once. Getting rid of fleas is relatively easy but entails work for a few months: Unfortunately fleas only hop on the body of your pet when they want to feed, then they hop off again and stay in your pet's environment. So you need to treat all pets in the household as well as the environment (which contains the fleas, their eggs and larvae). Flea treatment:  1) Get some flea medication such as a Flea spray or a spot on from a pet shop or your veterinarian and apply monthly )Bravecto/Nexgard/Seresto will last longer) 2) get flea powder, put some in your vacuum cleaner bag and vacuum your house and furniture and also non-carpeted areas frequently to remove flea larvae and eggs which live off house dust., Dispose of the bag in the trash outside. Hot-wash all the pet's bedding, If you do this diligently for a few months you will get rid of the fleas. Flea products: Spot-ons: Advantage, Advantix Advantage Multi (Advocate in the UK) Frontline (ticks as well) Bravecto/Nexgard spot on (ticks as well) - for cats, in tablet form for dogs Revolution (stronghold in the UK) Tablets: comfortis (will only kill fleas once) Collar: Seresto (ticks as well) House spray: Indoorex Please let me know if you have any other questions or concerns and I would be more than happy to help you further. Please take the time to mark this question as helpful or not as it helps us to improve on the quality of our answers to other pet owners. Thank you so much!

I would wait another week before adding another flea medication. Also, you need to treat your home environment. If you use a pest control service, tell them you are having a flea problem and they can adjust their treatment. Use a premise spray that also contains an IGR, insect growth regulator. This will keep eggs and larvae from maturing into adults and helps break the life cycle. Also, vacuum EVERY DAY, throwing out the bag or emptying the canister every time into an outside receptacle and spraying the contents with insecticide to kill the fleas you’ve vacuumed up. Treat your yard as well, since fleas are opportunistic and will hop a ride into your home on your pant leg without you knowing it. Concentrate on areas under bushes, in the shade. Fleas are less likely to be located in open sunny areas where it gets hot. If chemicals are a problem for you, you can use borax in your home. Sprinkle it into rugs, into corners and under furniture, use a broom to work it into the fibers and let it sit for hours, days even. It won't hurt you or your cat to have it present. Then vacuum it up, reapply as needed. Food grade diatomaceous earth can be gotten from a health food store and worked into the rugs and corners in the same way as borax. These treatments aren't as fast and effective as chemical insecticides but they can help. You might want to consider boarding your pet for the day at your vet, to give you the opportunity to flea bomb your house without having to worry about your pet being exposed. They can bathe your pet and give a dose of Capstar while you treat your home. Be patient, you may have to repeat these steps multiple times 10-14 days apart to help break the flea life cycle.

That's not good at all. Fleas can make Catty very sick, and cause anemia. She has to be treated for it. First, I would give her Capstar. It's a one time pill that starts killing fleas within 30. minutes. Then follow up with a spot on treatment, such as Advantage or Revolution. This is a treatment that has to be used once a month. You will also have to disinfect the environment. Wash her bedding in hot soapy water, and vacuum the furniture and carpet surfaces. You can use a spray to kill fleas in the house, such as Indorex, or a flea bomb would work well to kill the fleas in the home.

Thanks for using Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach! Yes, you may in about 5-6 days. However, I would highly recommend you use a stronger and likely more efficacious product. There are plenty of flea products in the market and a lot of them are very effective. I prefer Bravecto and Frontline plus. You can pick one of those products. The nice thing about Bravecto is that it is very effective and it is only applied once every 3 months. You can also use a product called Capstar along with one of the previously mentioned products which can help kill a lot of fleas at once. Remember to vacuum all the surfaces that have contact with your pup regularly. This is very likely going to work well. Good luck and have a great day!

If you used a topical preventative and applied it soon after bathing, it won't have been as effective as it should be. These produce use the oils in the skin to spread. When you bathe a pet, these oils are stripped and you have to wait for them to build up again. Typically, it recommended to apply a topical 3 days before or 3 days after a bath or getting wet. It should then be used monthly for at least 3 consecutive months, preferably year round. You should also treat the environment, since most fleas live off of the pet and only hop on for feeding. Vacuum everywhere the cats have been. Discard of the bag or empty the canister outdoors immediately after. Wash all bedding in the hottest water allowable by fabric and dry in the dryer. Use a cat safe area treatment to prevent reinfestation. An oral preventative, such as CapStar, can be given to quickly kill any adult fleas on the cats. Get it from your vet or from the local Petco.