Help! Sylvester is turning into a giant flea resort

Hi there
I need help. Recently I noticed a bit of flea dirt in Sylvester's fur and when I brush him there is plenty in the brush. I've tried frontline spot on, bob martin spot on and spray and nothing seems to work. I've got a bit obsessed with sorting through his fur on the search for fleas and just recently I see a flea about everytime I look! His stomach is covered in black flea dirt and he gets really grumpy when I try and brush his belly. Not sure what to do next really- his fur is so long and thick that I'm not sure the spray is really getting all the way to the skin. I hate the thought of him crawling with fleas!!!

Have you tried frontline combo? It's a bit more effective than the normal one. You may also have to treat your house!! Flea eggs survive in carpets and in between floorboards etc...

I never had a flea problem until I used the Frontline Combo then all hell broke loose, as Bethy_boo suggests at this point do your house as well,also don't forget to spray whatever you use onto a bit of tissue & suck it up your hoover,even if you have something like a dyson where you empty out the container the bugs can still get in there.
I finally got my under control by doing the house & switching to Stronghold.
What was you using up until you got the problem....?

never got on with the spot on didnt seem to work all ,- i use the spray bottle on mine and cleared them up really quickly despite being told its should be no different to the spot on . Be careful using Bob Martins as i have heard so poor things about it

I've started spraying the house with Bob Martin spray but maybe I should look at something else if it has a bad rep?

To be honest, we got Sylvester in Sept last year and he had no evidence of fleas and he's had a couple of doses of frontline since then- I wrongly assumed that fleas would't be a problem since he is indoors. We've been taking him out on the harness recently and he's been rolling around in the grass so maybe that's why he's suddenly got so many. Haven't tried stronghold yet....

When we had them the we got some spray stuff from the vets, it was silver with a purple lid if that helps? it was amazing for treating the house! When we were south we used to treat the house yearly after that as well as the animals never had an issue with fleas here, not sure if it because there are less animals about to catch them from or the temp deters them?

Fleas have 4 life stages and no shop bought product works on all stages. Firstly you have the eggs which aren't sticky so will fall off kitty. The next stage is larva when they are almost transparent and can be 6 - 7 mms. Larva eat the adult flea poop. Next is the pupa when it basically cocoons. From then it can take up to a year before it emerges as an adult flea and the cycle starts again. You need to break this cycle using a number of different ways / products.

Everyone has different ways of dealing with fleas but personally I would firstly bath the cat in a flea treatment shampoo. I would then use one of the tablets like Sentinel (or in jab form at vets). This works by stopping eggs from hatching. Continue with spray or I prefer powder as I think its easier to get it right through the fur. These only kill the adults. If you kill the adults the larva can't feed and die.

Put a flea collar in your hoover and hoover at least once a day. Hoover beds, sofas etc as well. Wash all cushion covers, bedding etc. If you put teddys, cushions etc in freezer it will kill anything flea wise). You could use an insectacide in the garden if you think that's where they have come from.

Thanks for all the suggestions guys. Candes- I like the sound of the natural approach, I just don't think Sylvester would tolerate me combing him enough to make it work. I had a look on amazon for a house spray with decent reviews and bought a couple of cans (indorex). I hoovered the whole house really thoroughly then sprayed. We also shaves a small patch of hair off both Dudley and Sylvester just above the shoulder blades and treated them with frontline again (we can now be sure it got to the skin). The poor boys just look a bit sad with their bald patches. Dudley is acting really strangely- we have only one carpetted area in the house (the stairs and landing) and a rug in the living room and he avoids standing on these at all costs. He jumps from high spot to high spot to get about and then slides down the bannister to get downstairs- really comical but worrying! What can he see on the carpet!! Actually now I come to think of it, he's even started to avoid standing on the kitchen floor which is tiled. Really odd.

The one good thing with using Frontline is it is non systemic so it does not go into the animals blood stream the flea killing is done by it coming in contact with the coat,thats why I prefered using that to any of the other products,I always had success with the spray but my problems started when I went to the spot on & even reverting back to spray didn't seem to work after that so had to change products.Indorex is good thats also what I had to use,I put the cats in their pen outside sprayed all round went & had coffee with a friend,came back opened everywhere up went had coffee with another friend opposite so I could keep an eye on the place then after a couple of hours came back & hoovered right through {hope you remembered to put some indorex on tissue up the hoover}I also gave the cat pen a quick squirt round when the cats were in for the night & thank goodness it seemed to work,I had spent the previous few days combing & getting no end of fleas off of them but unforunatley the little buggers have the ability to out run you on the breeding stakes.Makes you think that Sylvester has got it into his head the the little b's came at him from out of the carpet,chances are they did & our bright little sparks soon put two & two together,poor little fella especially if he is now doing the same with the kitchen floor,play with"tickle stick" & get him to the areas with that & see if by playing on it he will forget about the hop & jumping.
Good luck,I know I shouldn't but I have also had to sit here with a smile picturing him....x

Hoping things are better today. I will admit to giggling at the image of a coonie sliding down the banisters, sorry.

I would also like to thank you for starting this thread, as like you I wrongly assumed indoor cats didn't get fleas.

The frontline seems to be having some effect- less flea dirt on the cats and I'm brushing some dead ones out. I've also invested in a steam cleaner and have steam cleaned the carpet on the stairs. Apparently this will kill the fleas and hatchlings but cause any eggs to hatch in 2 days time so I plan to do another steam clean then!! I've been trying encourage dudley to stand on the stairs but he really does not want to. His litter tray is upstairs in the bathroom so that's a big problem!!! Thanks for all the suggestions folks. When I lived in scotland fleas didn't even seem to exist- must be to cold for the wee blighters!!

Really happy things are getting better. After reading your posts I checked Buddy and found a couple of fleas, how does a housecat get them? Went to only place open - sainsburys and bought the Bob Martins tablets and house spray. The tablets made Buddy hyper for an hour but end result is no more fleas, no more bitten ankles (mine) and a much happier, cuddly coonie.