Fleas

[artemisa]

Hey there,

Is there any other way to get rid of fleas, other than using products like Revolution? I'm asking 'cause I'm having to give my cat two baths a week (for a fungus) and after a couple weeks the Revolution doesn't seem to work anymore. He's outdoors, indoors and I'm in South America so the weather's such that we get fleas all year round.

The vet said something about rubbing a bit of alcohol in his back, but I don't think that'll work. There's also the flea comb and getting rid of them that way. Guess I'd have to do that everyday huh?

Any ideas would be appreciated, thanks!

[Adrienne]

I work @ a shetler and we use the flea comb. It works really well. I don't think I would want to use it everyday, but it is a nice addition.

[artemisa]

Yeah it'd be a pain for everyday, but perhaps I can do it every other day while he's having his baths (for two weeks). Is it hard? I just drown them right?

[emrldsky]

Originally Posted by artemisa

Yeah it'd be a pain for everyday, but perhaps I can do it every other day while he's having his baths (for two weeks). Is it hard? I just drown them right?

What you might think about doing is taking one of those horrendous flea collars, place it in a baggie or sealable bag, and then dump the fleas in there. Also, you can use a collar in your vaccum cleaner to eliminate fleas there too (I don't know about bagless, but it works with vaccums that use bags). I'm not sure if fleas drown or not, but if anyone does know, please chime in.

[kristen98]

When I had to use a flea comb for my kitty, I would comb, and then dunk the comb into a glass filled with water and dish detergent. The tricky part is trying to not let any fleas jump off the comb when you bring it over to the glass to dunk it. The dish detergent in the water kills the fleas.

The thing with fleas though is, the fleas that are on the cat are only a small percentage of the flea population. There are many more eggs and larvae on the carpet, bedding, etc that have to be dealt with as well.

[Donaldjr1969]

Originally Posted by kristen98

When I had to use a flea comb for my kitty, I would comb, and then dunk the comb into a glass filled with water and dish detergent. The tricky part is trying to not let any fleas jump off the comb when you bring it over to the glass to dunk it. The dish detergent in the water kills the fleas.

Also, get the water as hot as possible or, if your clothes are colorfast, add some chlorine bleach to the water. I have done this and had fleas die on contact with the water when dunking the flea comb.

The thing with fleas though is, the fleas that are on the cat are only a small percentage of the flea population. There are many more eggs and larvae on the carpet, bedding, etc that have to be dealt with as well.

I am not sure if it is available in Venezuela, but we have the Raid brand insect killers. They make a dry smoke style fogger called the Fumigator. While it is not specifically a flea control fogger, it does a very good job at controlling and killing fleas. Since it uses a dry smoke, it will NOT explode if you have natural gas appliances with pilot lights. Also, it does not leave a sticky residue. Being that it is a dry smoke, it will penetrate into deep crevices and under furniture better than an aerosol fogger.

So your next step would be to purchase sprays or foggers to control the fleas in your home. If you have an all electric home, then no need to worry about aerosol foggers. If you have gas appliances with pilot lights, merely extinguish them before using the foggers.

Lastly, make sure your cat is not in the room or rooms where the fogger is being used.

[coaster]

Originally Posted by Donaldjr1969

Lastly, make sure your cat is not in the room or rooms where the fogger is being used.

best amend that to "any living air-breathing creature (other than the fleas) in the entire building". the fumes can go from one room to another even with the door closed.

[Donaldjr1969]

Originally Posted by timskitties

best amend that to "any living air-breathing creature (other than the fleas) in the entire building". the fumes can go from one room to another even with the door closed.

Very good point, Tim. I did fail to mention that if one MUST keep their pets in the house during fogging, confine them to one room with food water and litter. Also, place towels along the base of the doors.

But if you can remove your pets from the house, that is the best way. I did not have that luxury, so I did the method I mentioned above.

[artemisa]

Yep, I've got one of those aerosol thingies to kill the fleas that may be around on the furniture. Whenever I've applied it I make sure that Taby is out of the house and I shut the doors, just in case. I leave them closed for hours, even though the instructions say to wait 30 minutes.

So I'm gonna give it a try. I bought the comb today, they only had plastic ones, I hope that's good enough.

I freak out whenever I see a flea on him, I have no experience (had never had pets before) with them but I just imagine a horrible infestation and what that'd be like! I'm probably picturing it worse than it is, I'm sure it doesn't happen overnight or does it? Anyway, I'm on top of this.

Thanks so much for the tips!