My cat's flea medicine isn't working. Should I use a flea collar?
Updated On September 23rd, 2025
Pet's info: Cat | Mixed Breed | Male | neutered | 3 years and 2 months old
We put a flea medication on our cats that didn’t do anything at all and a few weeks later got advantage. The fleas aren’t dying and we were looking at getting a flea collar. Do we need to wait until next month to do this?
2 Answers
Most Helpful Answer
Published on July 18th, 2019
I'm sorry to hear you've had trouble finding an effective flea med! Most over-the-counter options are not very effective in my experience, including Advantage - although it's probably the best of the currently available OTC options! Flea collars do not work well, and can often be toxic to cats. Instead, I would recommend getting a prescription flea medication like Revolution or Bravecto from your veterinarian. This will be safe for your kitty, and much more effective. If it's been at least 1-2 weeks since you applied the Advantage, it should be safe to go ahead and use a new medication from your vet.
1Pet Parents found this answer helpful
Related Answers from Veterinarians
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Published on July 18th, 2017
Advantage is generally a pretty effective flea medication for cats, so I'm surprised to hear that it hasn't been working well for Lily. If you want to try a different medication for her, I would suggest Revolution - I usually see good results with it for flea control, and it also prevents heartworms and intestinal parasites. As long as it's been at least two weeks since you applied the Advantage, it should be fine to go ahead and apply a dose of Revolution. I don't generally recommend flea collars for cats, as they tend not to work very well and can often be toxic for them. You may also want to use a flea spray such as Knock-Out to treat your house and yard, as it's possible that Lily is continuing to pick up fleas from the environment - this can make it much more difficult for any flea medication to work correctly.
1Pet Parents found this answer helpful
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