# Flea issues, Cat scratching, causing bloody wounds!



## the.root (Aug 7, 2009)

I have an indoor 4 year old male cat thats been neutered and front claws removed.

He's been suffering from fleas extremely bad this season. My normal steps to keep them under control aren't helping that much. I "quarantined" him to the laundry room where there is no carpet, clothes, anything like that. I keep everyone out of there so we dont bring in fleas. I vacuumed and steam clean(real steam cleaner not shampooer) all the carpets in the house twice a week(and even the concrete floor in the laundry room). I flea bathe the cat once a week and generally give him a spray and neck drops afterwards. I've sprayed his room, house, perimeter for pesticides a couple times.. The outbreak has been going on for at least a month or so now. Generally all that will get rid of fleas, but it's not now.. If anyone has further suggestions about that let me know. 

Back to the real problem : Because of this he is scratching constantly, but he must stick his claws out and scratch really hard because he rips open his skin. He has several bald spots where he's scratched away the skin/fur and left a nasty bloody wound. I've been spraying them daily with antiseptic spray and some liquid bandage for animals i bought, and trying my hardest to keep his neck/shoulders wrapped with gauze. But he can get that gauze off eventually, and I'll check up on him an hour or two later and there's a new scab, or all the olds ones we spent days healing are reopened!

I have cut his rear claws back as much as I possibly can, i got a pedi-paws and filed them down so they dont even seem that sharp. I dont really know what else i can do, i'm afraid he's going to get an infection from the wounds or just become one of those hypoallergenic looking cats, hah. Any suggestions on how I can stop the fleas, stop him scratching, or block the scratching from irritating the wounds?

Thanks!


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## Heidi n Q (Nov 22, 2006)

Welcome to Cat Forum, and we'll try to help you and your kitty.
First are you sure it is fleas? 
If it is, all it takes (_for an allergic/sensitive cat_) is one bite from one flea to begin the allergic reaction and make the cat feel itchy and want to scratch...even through scabs and wounds. Have you seen any fleas on your cat? In your home? Around your yard? ...and finally, do you live in a known flea problem-area?
I have always had great results using Advantage and Revolution spot-on treatment products with my cats, in addition to treating the home. It sounds like what you have done and are doing, should be eliminating the flea problems properly. I mean, you can't do any better unless you call out the National Guard against the fleas! You _shouldn't_ be having a flea problem with the steps and precautions you've taken.
Next, may I ask what you are feeding the cat?
I apologize, I really do not mean to be insensitive, but most commercial cat foods that are purchased at the grocery stores and/or have budgets to purchase commercial air-time to market their product...really don't *have* the great ingredients they are telling you they do. Well, certainly the food meets the nutrition standards, but in order for these corporations to be able to *afford* all this air-time for advertising, the money must come from somewhere...and it comes out of the profit from selling product with 'cheap' ingredients. 
There are *many* pets who are allergic to fillers like corn, carb-sources like wheat/rice and their protien (meat) ingredients are a little 'suspect' (lots of the left-over 'yucky' parts). In addition, it appears many cats are, or become intolerant of, fish and fish products which are used quite a bit in cat food to help make the food smell appetizing. Also, cats (and dogs) can develop these allergies suddenly. 
I do not have a good working knowledge of cat nutrition, certainly not enough to guide you towards better and non-allergic-source products...but if you would take a general read through this site's Health/Nutrition forum you should be able to get some good ideas. Also, as the day goes on, more and more members who are more knowledgeable than myself will drop in and be able to add their information, too.
Best of luck to you and your cat,
Heidi =^..^=

_PS...just wanted to say I did a little google of your siggie and found you at some other forums. It still didn't help me understand what your siggie 'means'  , but that's okay. I'm certain it would be *beyond* me. Waaaaaaay beyond me. :lol: _


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## the.root (Aug 7, 2009)

Heidi n Q said:


> Welcome to Cat Forum, and we'll try to help you and your kitty.
> First are you sure it is fleas?
> If it is, all it takes (_for an allergic/sensitive cat_) is one bite from one flea to begin the allergic reaction and make the cat feel itchy and want to scratch...even through scabs and wounds. Have you seen any fleas on your cat? In your home? Around your yard? ...and finally, do you live in a known flea problem-area?
> I have always had great results using Advantage and Revolution spot-on treatment products with my cats, in addition to treating the home. It sounds like what you have done and are doing, should be eliminating the flea problems properly. I mean, you can't do any better unless you call out the National Guard against the fleas! You _shouldn't_ be having a flea problem with the steps and precautions you've taken.
> ...



Thanks for the response!

Yes I know it's fleas, I've seen them on him, me, my son, everywhere. No one around me seems to be having the same flea problem I am, i live in the middle of a city and it's a lot worse here then when i lived in the middle of the woods surprisingly.

I always feed him Friskies. I think Indoor Delights is what I have now, sometimes I'll give him some wet food or treats but he doesnt like them as much as the dry food. I also have some of that paw gel with nutrients i give to him occasionally. I know it's probably not the best out there, but i'm not sure what else to get / what else I trust. I've been using Friskies for decades on my various cats, kind of a comfort zone ya know? When all the recall's and poisonous dog/cat food scares went around I believe Purina was generally clean.

I've been on the same specific kind of cat food (buy it in bulk) for several months now, altho I guess he could've developed an allergy to it, but since I do see fleas, i'm going to assume that's the problem.

Normally the flea control steps I take work great, within 1-2 week they're gone. I've tried Advantage, FrontLine, Biospot (i dont really like those, but tried anything), and Sergants Natural Defense (my favorite/what i regularly use). On top of all the cleaning, perimeter insecticides, and containment I don't see how they're still coming back.

Thanks for the response! Anymore suggestions would be greatly appreciated!


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## PeaceLoveRescue (Feb 15, 2008)

Have you flea bombed?


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## the.root (Aug 7, 2009)

Lilac* said:


> Have you flea bombed?


I can't, I have a 10 month old and another one on the way. The insecticide would get over all the carpets, toys, clothes, everything that he can touch he puts in his mouth. I'm paranoid about pesticides (and just about everything for that matter) and my son.

Which is why i bought the steam cleaner, which should kill all fleas, eggs, all stages on contact in the carpet. I use powder on the carpets and perimeter defense in the rooms he can't go in.

Thanks!


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## Nell (Apr 7, 2005)

Maybe your resident fleas have become resistant to the treatments you typically use. I think its time to try something different. How long has it been since you've tried the Advantage & Frontline? You may want to give one of those a try again. You can also try Revolution. I like to call these The Big Three. They're the ones that most people consider the safest and most effective. Each has a different active ingredient, so if one of them doesn't work, move on to another. Just stay away from the OTC grocery store brands, which at best are usually ineffective but at worst can be seriously dangerous to your pet's health.

Have you tried borax? It won't get rid of fleas completely but it may help to control them. If you liberally sprinkle it all over the carpet, it will work to dehydrate and kill flea larvae that are living there. Its not a pesticide, but a laundry detergent.


As a side note, the Friskies is a pretty bottom-of-the-barrel lousy food. I won't go into it anymore here, but if you're interested in upgrading his diet, you may want to have a look around the heath & nutrition forun.


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## the.root (Aug 7, 2009)

Nell said:


> Maybe your resident fleas have become resistant to the treatments you typically use. I think its time to try something different. How long has it been since you've tried the Advantage & Frontline? You may want to give one of those a try again. You can also try Revolution. I like to call these The Big Three. They're the ones that most people consider the safest and most effective. Each has a different active ingredient, so if one of them doesn't work, move on to another. Just stay away from the OTC grocery store brands, which at best are usually ineffective but at worst can be seriously dangerous to your pet's health.
> 
> Have you tried borax? It won't get rid of fleas completely but it may help to control them. If you liberally sprinkle it all over the carpet, it will work to dehydrate and kill flea larvae that are living there. Its not a pesticide, but a laundry detergent.
> 
> ...


I really never use real pesticides, generally try to stay all natural. I haven't really had to use any real pesticides previous to this in over a year at least (and then it was just one treatment). I've used frontline, advantage, and biospot in the past 2 months though, and i'd say within 48-72hours i saw fleas on his neck area. Haven't heard of/seen Revolution, I'll see if I can pick some up.

Haven't tried borax, I'll look into it to see how safe it is in the living rooms. I've been using Sergants and Hertz carpet powder in the non-baby rooms. Also like I said the +220*F steam should work pretty well to kill them in the other rooms, just doesn't help on keeping them from coming back.

Yeah, I'm sure their are more natural and better diet foods the Friskies, just like their are better places to eat then McDonalds (but it just taste so good!). I would definitely be interested in looking into switching to something more natural/healthier when everything is going better for him. I will say I've had dozens of dogs and cats all on Purina brand and virtually none were ever sick or had any other real problems (so I can vouch for it at least not being "harmful" or "bad")

Thank you very much for your suggestions!!


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## Heidi n Q (Nov 22, 2006)

the.root said:


> I'm sure their are more natural and better diet foods the Friskies, just like their are better places to eat then McDonalds (but it just taste so good!).


I only wanted to point this out, because it made me smile...  
Your comparison of better dining compared to good-tasting McD's made me laugh, because I *do* compare most of the cat foods with McDonalds; calling the foods McFriskies or McKittyCrack. The greatest difference, is even with as good tasting as McD's is, you know that to remain healthy you cannot eat there every meal...yet that is what (IMO) the McKittyCrack food is doing. The kitties are eating 'junk food' at every meal because it tastes great, not that it is great for them. 
...and of course...
There will always be cats who do just fine on those foods. Heck, ALL of the cats we had when I was growing up were fed a steady diet of Friskies, Alley Cat or Meow Mix, and my childhood cat lived to be 21yrs old. Most do fine all their long lives. Some don't. And a few can develop problems with the food suddenly. However, I do think your current problem is with the flea infestation and not his diet. 
I'll give my friend a call tonight and see what she is doing, her YARD was infested with fleas and she has sprayed and laid out granules and what-not. Her home appeared flea-free, but every time she had to let her Papillons (2) out for bathroom breaks, they came in scratching and she'd pick fleas off of them. It got very bad when her large yard-dog showed signs of anemia due to the large amount of fleas feeding off of the dog. I *think* she finally just got it under control, let me ask and see what she used.


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