Kitty constantly licking/scatching

[bubbles007]

My 3 1/2 orange tabby has been doing this for close to 3 weeks I would say. Since he goes out everynight, I checked for fleas and sure enough there were some! Well I decided to give him a bath and put a flea collar on him. That was about 10 days ago, since then he has been flea free as far as I can tell but conitues to lick/scatch like nobody's business! I took his flea collar off today since it looks as though the fleas are gone, plus I have heard they don't work that well and are not safe!

What can I do to fix this??

[badger]

OTC remedies rarely work for long or they only half-work, which is as good as useless.
Even if your cat is now flea-free, it's possible that he has developed an allergy to flea saliva, not uncommon. I would take him to the vet to check that out, and get a remedy that actually works. The one I use is Revolution; it also takes care of several parasites, which is a bonus, particularly for an outside cat.
Once this is done, make sure your house/apartment is thoroughly vacuumed or steam cleaned and any bedding (yours or kitty's) is washed in hot soapy water and dried on the highest possible setting. Fleas are opportunists, they hide in warm places and hop out on the nearest suitable blood source. My neighbour was being bitten alive and thought it was mosquitoes!
The vet is your first stop. One or two doses (30 days apart) should do it, although some vets recommend monthly, even when there isn't a flea in sight ($$$).
I am of two minds about flea collars as a preventive measure. My sister swears by them but my cats have never worn them. Anyone?

[14+kitties]

The only times I used flea collars was when I didn't know the damage they could do. And it was many years ago. I used them on a couple of my kitties way back when. After a few days of wearing it both of them had severe rashes on their necks from the collars. The rashes were caused by the concentration of medication in one area.It took quite a while for the fur to grow back in where the rash had been and the cats still had fleas!
Now it's Revolution for mine. Works great!

[kiara]

Since your cat goes outside the best thing to do is have a yearly check-up and vaccines. They protect your cat from diseases. I don't believe in store bought remedies and never used them on any of my cats.

[bubbles007]

Well it turns out there were still fleas on him, albeit not many that I could tell, and going to vet right now is unfortunately not an option. So I bought a topical spray on flea treatment from Walmart, I am hoping it will work better than the collar since you spray the entire body with it.