Oh No! I just found a flea!

[bitohoney]

So I'm on the couch letting my nails dry and I felt something on my hand. I pinched it between my fingers and I was like...'Please don't let it be a flea'. IT WAS! I have 3 indoor cats so how would there be a flea? And it's been too hot for the windows to be open.
AHHHH! I just found another one...unless that's the same one that just got away. This time I ran hot water over it and down the drain.
So last time there were fleas in the house I couldn't get rid of them. I had to move (not because of the fleas but it got rid of them).
Please tell me how to get rid of them if there are more...and usually where there's one flea, there's more.
I'm in a small panic! I don't want these all over my house. I just got rid of fruit flies last year.

 

[Michelle67]

Fleas come in on people's shoes and pantlegs just as well as on the pets. They can't live on you, but they can certainly hitch a ride.

Get some Advantage or something comparable and dose the cats. Since the fleas are going to look for food, the cats can usually take care of the problem for you if it is not a major infestation already (which it doesn't sound like it is).

 

[tessiemez]

I concur with Michelle67! Get some monthly flea treatment for you cats and, as long as the problem's not massive, that should work. You can check their tummies closer to the hind quarters for fleas--if there's a problem, it should be evident their because their lower tummies stay so warm. If you don't see a problem there, that's a positive sign!

 

[ohiomom28]

Some friends of ours had to have their house sprayed last weekend after their indoor cat got out. Nobody in the house was bitten but my friends DH

I saw one on me at home one day last week after we were at their house and I freaked out! But, that was the only one I ever saw

Good luck!

 

[Lanshark]

Sprinkle 20 Mule Team Borax over your carpets. Use a broom to work it into the carpet and vacuum it up. I learned this after paying a local service to do the same thing to rid the house of fleas. My vet told me the borax trick. Also treat your kitties with Frontline. My cats are indoor also but a have dogs that go in and out. They can carry a flea

Make sure to treat both the cat and the carpets

 

[Principessa1284]

I have indoor kitties, and I NEVER thought we'd have to treat them with flea meds until one of them got worms.. and then I noticed some fleas on their back legs and neck. I never knew that they get certain types of worms from swallowing a flea or egg. From then on, I've treated all of my animals (they're all indoor cats) with advantage and have never had a problem with fleas or worms. Just a small dose on their backs once a month and you're all set.

 

[marie1203]

First treat your animals then more to the rest of your house. Indoor pets need to be treated monthly too for fleas/ticks and heart worm.

 

[AlwaysMoving]

I don't know about cats (so I suggest you ask your vet), but we wash our dog with black bottle Tressemme human shampoo if we suspect he has fleas. The stuff will kill a flea on contact.

 

[surfergirl602]

you can also put out a desk lamp with a bowl of soapy water under it at night. The fleas will be attracted to the light and jump in the water. It works!

If you have a desk lamp with a bendable neck, place it on the floor with the bowl of water under the light.

 

[LuvOrlando]

I'd get the cats to a groomer for a flea dip and with the cats safely out of the home I'd set off a few bug bombs with flea control. after dropping the animals off I'd stop home to air out the place. I suppose I'd wash all the bedding, mine & theirs at the laundromat for the high heat dryers and volume while the cats were being groomed and the house unbugged then borax the floors once I got home, especially where they like to rest and lay in the sun. after that I'd have to rewash the bug stuff all everything but it would be bug free & spotless, maybe I'd cover all the furniture with sheets for a few days so Icould see new fleas.

 

[snarlingcoyote]

I don't know about cats (so I suggest you ask your vet), but we wash our dog with black bottle Tressemme human shampoo if we suspect he has fleas. The stuff will kill a flea on contact.

Huh! The things you learn on the DIS boards! Thank you. I don't currently have any fleas in the house, but if I ever get any. . I can now safely say one of my first purchases will be black bottle Tressemme shampoo!

 

[dandave]

Sprinkle 20 Mule Team Borax over your carpets. Use a broom to work it into the carpet and vacuum it up. I learned this after paying a local service to do the same thing to rid the house of fleas. My vet told me the borax trick.

I agree! I use Boric Acid in my home. Like Borax, it's a boron product. Boric Acid is one of the few products allowed in commercial kitchens.
I sprinkle it around the carpet line/baseboards all inside my house. That's where fleas go to breed. I also sprinkle it behind the refrigerator, in the garage corners, around water pipes, etc. It also kills roaches and other bugs. I don't have any bugs of any kind in my home in Florida, and that's saying something. We grow bugs here for transport to the rest of the US!

 

[dyna]

Yep indoor cats do get fleas when we humans bring them in to them.....found that out the hard way myself.

Not only did I use the lamp on floor with soapy water. BTW desk lamp works wonders for that. I also got down on hands an knees looked for fleas an picked them up put them in the soapy water. Some jumped on me when I caught them I helped them into the soapy water as well.

Dawn on a little styrofoam saucer works great thicker than water the fleas gets stuck an can not crawl out I added very little water as it dried out added little more water it took weeks but worked.

DD an I have asthma having house sprayed not the answer cause of our asthma we'd prolly ended up in hospital. I did the borax treatment can not say it did that much. BE SURE TO EITHER EMPUTY VACUUM CLEANER OR TAPE THE HOLE OVER WHERE HOSE GOES INTO THE BAG. I taped an always found fleas stuck to tape an know had I not taped fleas would have found their way into my house again.

1 of our cats is highlt allergic to fleas an seems to me all flea products... a hairless long haired cat is not a pretty sight.

 

[AlwaysMoving]

Huh! The things you learn on the DIS boards! Thank you. I don't currently have any fleas in the house, but if I ever get any. . I can now safely say one of my first purchases will be black bottle Tressemme shampoo!

I discovered it by accident. We ran out of dog shampoo so used my shampoo. We noticed the fleas coming off onto the pavement. They were not moving. We figured they were just stunned the way fleas are when they get in water. Nope. They were dead. Been using it since. It actually took care of the flea problem better than Frontline. The fleas seemed to be immune to that product for some reason. I should add that we did not have carpet, so defeating the flea problem was easier.

 

[dandave]

I did the borax treatment can not say it did that much. BE SURE TO EITHER EMPUTY VACUUM CLEANER OR TAPE THE HOLE OVER WHERE HOSE GOES INTO THE BAG. I taped an always found fleas stuck to tape an know had I not taped fleas would have found their way into my house again.

The borax and boric acid applications described in this thread could not have possibly worked by just putting it down and then vacuuming it up. When you put the borax in your carpet as another poster described or around the perimeter of an area as I described, then you are using it as a desiccant - not a pesticide. Dessicants work over time by drying out the fleas and their eggs. In order to use it as a pesticide, you would have to mix it with food such as a bit of corn meal and/or sugar. Then you would place it in areas that it could be eaten. That's not really as good for fleas as for roaches.

I suggest that you shake a tiny bit of boric acid around the perimeter of a room, and leave it there. If you vacuum it up, then put some more down. It takes time to dehydrate a bug.

 

[nowellsl]

Comfortis works great for my dog, I think they make a cat version. Just one pill a month.

 

[snowy76]

OMG... I read this thread last week and now I am dealing with the same thing!

Kitty was laying on the floor and I rolled him onto his back to rub his belly. He's a tuxedo cat so what do I see in the white fur on his belly? A FLEA. First one I've ever seen and he's a 14 year old indoor cat.

So naturally I freaked out. I got it off him and then it jumped and I lost it.

Called the vet and they're getting some Advantage for me to pick up in the morning. They told me not to worry too much about the house since I just found the one on him, and the Advantage should take care of anything else over time... but of course I was still freaked out. So tonight I vacuumed the whole house (baseboards too) and I'm washing all the removable covers of our family room furniture. I vacuumed what I couldn't remove. I vacuumed under out bed. In our closet. Behind the TV. And on and on. I should have a right bicep like a UFC fighter when I wake up tomorrow.

Luckily it's trash night, so the vacuum bag went right out!

The poor baby keeps looking at me because he KNOWS something is up, and you can see on his face he knows he has something to do with it! He's been walking around with a droopy little tail.

 

[walden]

Treat the cats with Advantage and vacuum everywhere daily for a while. It helps to put a piece of flea collar in the vacuum bag, but also dispose of the bag immediately outside once you finish vacuuming.

 

[snowy76]

Treat the cats with Advantage and vacuum everywhere daily for a while. It helps to put a piece of flea collar in the vacuum bag, but also dispose of the bag immediately outside once you finish vacuuming.

Thanks, walden. Will do!

Just washed the cat bed cover... now looking at the nasty, hairy foam insert waiting to go in, and just thinking I should send it out to the trash tonight too. Yuck.

New dilemma to add: we go out of town in just over a week and the cat is supposed to stay with my MIL... she ADORES him and has been looking forward to her "guest" for months. I THINK the Advantage will take care of things on him before then... I guess I'll be asking the vet in the morning!

 

[ChiCat]

My cats have gotten fleas a couple of times over the years. I never bomb or treat anything my house with anything. I use nothing but Advantage on them for a few months and your cats turn into walking flea bombs seriously, read reviews on amazon, its amazing!