Hi all..

I've been lurking for a while, and thought I might ask for your
advice...

The deal: I have a really long haired Siamese (mix) cat.  His hair is
between 3 and 4 inches long everywhere, and super fine and cottony.  I
moved recently, and the previous tenants had several cats and dogs.
So...  despite that he's an indoor cat, he has come down with a bad
case of fleas.

I thought it wouldn't be an impossible task to eradicate the fleas,
given all of the products out there, but I'm encountering some
problems. [Especially the fact that I have an uber-strong histamine
response to any bug bites, and have always been a bug magnet. I'm
covered in like 30+ inch-or-so-in-diameter itchy, itchy, itchy,
painful flea bites. I wore stockings and a tight shirt to bed one
night, and so the fleas just decided to attack my neck-- the only
exposed part of my body. This was confusing though, since I thought
that as long as there is a cat around, the fleas would rather bite him
then me... ]

But anyway, I used Frontline Plus on the cat a few weeks ago.
Strangely enough, it didn't seem to work.  The fleas weren't dying.
Last week I took him to the vet, who said that if too much of the
frontline got in his hair, rather than distributed across his skin,
then it is the case that the frontline wouldn't work optimally. I
figured I applied it wrong.

So, the vet applied Advantage to the cat.  I hoped that he would have
better flea product application skills, so more of the product would
end up on the cat's skin than his hair.  But, the Advantage didn't
seem to work either.  I noticed that every time the cat would jump off
of the couch, he would leave two or three alive-and-well fleas behind.
Weirdly, they didn't appear to be incredibly lively and jumpy.  My
theory is that they're getting enough of the pesticide to become weak
enough to fall off the cat, but not enough to kill them.  This is
almost more frustrating, since without their host the errant fleas
then wander over to me and start attacking.  After I discovered this,
and didn't let the cat in the bed with me, which seemed to result in
fewer bites for me.  I mean, it only takes one flea in my bed to bite
me through out the night.

I decided to give the cat Program, which I'm optimistic about.  But, I
don't know what to do about the spot treatments not working. I figure
they're not working because they cover his hair rather than his skin
(what with the capillary action and the fact that his hair has
infinately more surface area than his skin). Or maybe they're not
working because the fleas don't spend as much time on his skin since
he has so much hair to hide in. I don't know. But, I need a solution.
From the first time I applied the stuff to the cat, I did wonder
whether his hair length would preclude it from working.. and it seems
like it does.

I was so excited to use the Program and a spot treatment since
according to some people, these products worked so well that they
didn't need to treat the carpets or bomb the house.  But, I think am
going to buy a carpet spray of some kind tonight, since the stuff
isn't working. :(

So, I think I might have the cat shaved for the summer. (Or given a
"lion cut" as this is much cuter). This will result in the spot
treatments actually working like they're supposed to.  But, it seems
like the fleas won't *be able* to live on the cat as readily since
they won't have any hair to cling to... sort of like how Sphinx cats
don't really get fleas. (Or do they?) This seems bad since they'll
spend less time on him, and more time on me and the carpet, which
isn't fun for me, but could potentially also result in the fleas' not
getting enough of the pesticide. (Or maybe not?) If he does get a
"lion cut", will the fleas just run to where there is fur and
potentially less pesticide? Aurghh.  Any thoughts or suggestions about
this? Any other ideas?

A apologize for the super long post...  I've been needing to vent :)
Thanks for reading my flea saga...

-e