Fleas :-(

I use Frontline or Advantage on the cat and I use diatomaceous earth on the floors and upholstery because I am allergic to flea sprays.

Hope you get your fleas under control.

i don't really know about the washing (i know if there's a bed bug problem, you can either wash the clothes and hang them out in the sun, or you can plastic bag them and put them in the freezer. fortunately i have not had to try this out but people say it works) but i was just reading that article that's on here somewhere that says the reason we don't have fleas in our homes in colorado (they exist mostly on wild animals but once they jump to cats or dogs, they perish) is because it's so dry.

if you can buy a humidifier, i wonder if there's anything opposite that would dry the air out. that's probably impossible when the air outside is humid, but i don't know anything about safe flea treatments or even natural ones from my own experience.

cinderflower said:

i don't really know about the washing (i know if there's a bed bug problem, you can either wash the clothes and hang them out in the sun, or you can plastic bag them and put them in the freezer. fortunately i have not had to try this out but people say it works) but i was just reading that article that's on here somewhere that says the reason we don't have fleas in our homes in colorado (they exist mostly on wild animals but once they jump to cats or dogs, they perish) is because it's so dry.

if you can buy a humidifier, i wonder if there's anything opposite that would dry the air out. that's probably impossible when the air outside is humid, but i don't know anything about safe flea treatments or even natural ones from my own experience.

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Incredibly enough, such devices exist! They're even called... wait for it... "DE-humidifiers" :wink

(Apologies for the touch of snark, your comment just made me laugh! :wink

Seems like it would be not a terrible addition to more standard treatments, if you've got a particularly humid house. Depending on where you're living, might also make the summer heat more bearable without turning on the air conditioner. I should note that if you do have an "air conditioner", it will act as a dehumidifier anyway.

I would also note that for pests, freezing's often less than ideal... What works better seems to be a black garbage bag left in full sun; starves them (speeds up their metabolism, and without a food or water source...) instead of preserving them (cold tends to slow metabolism, so they can survive longer without food or water). I'm not sure how long fleas specifically would survive in the freezer, but in general heat treatment's more effective than cold treatment.

Thank you all
Funnily enough we have had to have de humidifiers in our flat as we have had an issue with damp, these have been on the best part of the day and hopefully have helped, I've purchased some indorex to treat house and have washed All bedding and places he has slept, i have bathed TJ and treated him with advocate and combed he the past two days, I haven't come across anymore of the delightful things! I'm assuming that it can be a long process and they won't go straight away but I'm feeling positive as I haven't got Any of TJ only the one the vet seen!
Thanks again!

Incredibly enough, such devices exist! They're even called... wait for it... "DE-humidifiers" :wink

(Apologies for the touch of snark, your comment just made me laugh! :wink

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don't ever apologize for mild snark or even full-on spiky (to me, anyway). that's my general mode of thinking. not in a mean way, it's just generally the first thing that comes to mind. i also say truly idiotic things almost every day.

i thought about that when i wrote it, it seemed like de-humidifiers exist but you'd never see one in denver. if it got any drier, i'd cough and dust would come out. i'm just so used to it that if i'm anywhere even slightly humid, it feels uncomfortable.

I'm dealing with fleas on the new dog....not fun. Poor guy has been crated since he got here so I can minimize the area that they're possibly spread to. Haven't seen any outside of him though, so that's a positive.

It is going to be a bad year for fleas this year. All that moisture we had, the warm winter and not enough hard freezes are going to allow the population to explode. Seeing people with infestations in May and June is really early. Usually people don't see really bad flea problems until July or August around here.

For me it is Frontline every month until the first frost or the fleas will take over, I am sure.

Where can diatomaceous earth be found?

Home Depot, Lowes, hardware stores, healthfood stores, Tractor Supply stores. There is food grade and I use that in case the cats lick it up.

I use Advantage for my cats and Advantix for my dogs. I used to use Frontline but it stopped working for me a couple of years ago and we ended up with fleas that year. I switched to Advantage, powdered the carpet with a powder I got at Petsmart, and sprayed bedding and upholstry with a spray. It was a nightmare, but thankfully it was fall. The fleas were gone by winyer and thankfully never came back in the spring. Advantage has worked well for the last two years. I would still use it even if my cats never went outside because I worry about them coming in on the dogs, even though they're on Advantix, who knows. Don't want to deal w fleas again ever.

jadis said:

I use Advantage for my cats and Advantix for my dogs. I used to use Frontline but it stopped working for me a couple of years ago and we ended up with fleas that year.

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Funny cuz I've had mine on Frontline for almost 2 weeks and I still see flea dirt and one larvae around her area. How soon did Advantage start working? Topical as well?

Sometimes you need the professionals. I had to do that one year when I (all my fault) carried in the fleas from walking through an infested area. I called the best pest control people I could after I did the wash everything etc. (including having the carpet cleaned by professionals.) I hope you don't have to do that.

If you have a dog and cat, please be very aware that some dog treatments are highly poisonous to cats.

One pregnant flea can be all it takes and they can "hibernate" for ages in carpets and so on (especially the edges by walls).

Foggers are good for treating rooms as opposed to animals.

KittyKali said:

Funny cuz I've had mine on Frontline for almost 2 weeks and I still see flea dirt and one larvae around her area. How soon did Advantage start working? Topical as well?

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Yeah the Advantage topical. It started working on the animals pretty quickly, I saw them scratching for about a week after but I didn't see anymore fleas on them. It took me a couple of months to get them out of the house. I think it was winter that finally did it.

Advantix is the one, or one of the ones, that's toxic to cats. My vet told me it would be fine as long as my cats don't groom my dogs.

Please don't assume that indoor cats are immune from fleas. If you walk in wildish areas, for example, it is not impossible to bring home a flea from somewhere where a wild animal has been. One pregnant flea is all it takes. It's important to check een indoor animals.

Combination of frontline combo or advantage spot on and Indorex spray, plus the cleaning! Boil washing, burn any pet bedding and hoover the whole place inside out.

Indorex
Indorex Household Flea Spray 500ml Can - £8.77

So after just 3 weeks of treating her with Capstar and Frontline on top of powdering and vacuuming the house....she still has a pretty good amount of fleas on her. I can see flea dirt all over the area she stays in and even 1 or 2 larvae. Pretty disgusting.

I'm going to try to find the Advantage stuff and get the Diatomaceous Earth powder to treat the carpet. Going to look into collars and sprays as well if I can find something that's not poisonous. Anyone have good recommendations for sprays/collars?

I would hate to even consider letting her go for something so malignant. I need help getting rid of these blood sucking creatures!

Ugh, that sucks. Good luck. We live in town and keep our yard mowed, so do our neighbors, but guess what, we still carry in the occasional flea. I will look down and there is one on my shoe or crawling up my leg. Sneaky little devils.