OT: I have fleas!! What to do....

[Grendalynn]

This is so , but where else do I turn but to my All Knowing Disney Family.... We've got fleas!!!

My dear sister visited during Christmas with her dog. We noticed that the dog had fleas while at our house for a visit. Then a few weeks later we notice these little black thing on the baby's head... and the cat scratching.... and flea dirt here and there where she has been laying...

Thinking we were taking total control by buying fleas colors for our cat, carpet flea killer and flea spray to rub on our cat as well.... we still have fleas!!!! I bought flea bombs but we all have to vacate the house for an entire day - we will attemptto do it this weekend....

So, I am looking for info and advice from the all knowing pet owners ou there for what to do... Our Cat is an indoor cat and has never had fleas or been subjected to them until now. What should we do next???

 

[!HereWeCome!]

That is SUCH a drag! So sorry to hear you're dealing with fleas. We too had them at our house once and it seemed like it took FORVER to get completely rid of them. We tried everything, so I cannot tell you what in particular it was that finally succeeded in getting rid of them. Here are a few of the things we did: flea bombs, sprinkle Borax (from the laundry department of the grocery store) liberally into the carpet, leave it 1/2 hour or so, vaccuum up...(make sure to get the vaccuum bag out of the house or they escape), shampooed the daylights out of the cat with flea shampoo, and finally ended up using Frontline in addition to everything else. GOOD LUCK!

 

[rt2dz]

I have to say, as soon as I read your thread topic, "take a flea bath" came to mind.

Actually, when I first moved into this house, I had that problem. We were new construction and with all the new pets and new sod, they were rampant. I put the dogs on the flea pill and sprayed the house with the same type of spray for dogs. I also sprayed my yard. Those little buggers travel.

I did also end up bombing the house, but it wasn't a real fix since they were coming from outside. It's the other stuff that did it.

 

[luvsmickeymouse]

I would start with Frontline for your cat . Frontline may also make a spray for the carpets. Frontline works well.

 

[kat08]

I was born and raised in FL, land of many, many bugs. I don't live there any more but I do remember bombing the house.

Make an appointment for the kitty to go to the vet and have a flea bath and stay there until later in the day (the pesticide may be too strong otherwise.) Also ask the vet about what to do with kitty b'c you just flea bombed the house. Kittties walk on the floor and then lick their paws, etc, etc... you see where I'm going with this.

Take everyone out of the house early in the morning and stay out as long as you can. Someone go back in around 1-2 in the afternoon and open up all of the windows to air the place out. Put baby on a blanket to play for several weeks after bombing. The pesticide will stay in the carpet. You could always shampoo but I would want to leave it there in case of any surviving fleas. You will probably want to mop your hard floors that evening, depending on how close the bombs were to the hard floors (if there is any residue on the floor.)

The bombs will usually take care of your problem. Good luck! What a pain!

 

[Darcy03231]

Just make sure that after you bomb you wipe down all hard surfaces, ie countres, tables, etc, especially anything the baby might touch. We had to do it once and while it was a pain it did get rid of the fleas.

 

[donnajz]

Last year my dog had fleas and they were in the house. I could tell they were on him because he has white fur and all I'd have to do was part it and I would see them crawling on him. Yuck! I bathed him with a gentle Oatmeal shampoo for dogs every other day for a week, although it did dry out his skin somewhat. Since I didn't want to use the flea bombs, I also bought several cans of flea spray at Trader Horn in the pet section. (I believe it was about $5 for a large spray can...the same flea spray was in a pet shop for about $18). Look for something that kills all life cycles of the fleas. I vacummed THOROUGHLY every day, paying particular attention to his bed. After vacumming, I would use the flea spray (luckily, I didn't smell any type of odor) all over the carpeting, bedding, couches, chairs, etc. I also combed my dog with a flea comb daily. If you can comb your cats (I've never had cats so I'm not sure if they'll let you comb them), get a bowl with water. Keep dipping the flea comb in the water to get the eggs and fleas off the comb. After about a week, I saw less and less fleas on my dog. From what I understand, if you see one flea on your animal, there are about 100 times that in your house (2 fleas, - 200 in your house). Once I no longer saw fleas on my dog, I continued vacumming and spray for another 2 weeks. Then for a few weeks I started vacumming & spraying every 2-3 days. It was a lot of work but I haven't seen any since this problem last summer. If I can remember when I get home tonight, I'll see what the name of the spray was and will post it. Good Luck!

 

[LJRJR]

My cat (who will occasionally go into the yard a few minutes each day) brought fleas into our house last summer. It took me forever to get rid of them. The first thing I would do is to bring your cat to the vet to have them treated (my vet gave him Frontline), then I would vacuum and spray the house. You have to vacuum constantly, the first time you vacuum the house really good you should THROW AWAY THE VACUUM BAG because it contains the fleas and their eggs, then put a new bag in and spray inside with flea spray. Hopefully they will go away soon. It was so bad with us that I had to get an exterminator to come (around $150)and spray my house (their spray kills both the fleas and eggs, or so they say). Even after they sprayed I still saw a few fleas, but less and less. I think that all of the chemicals continue to kill the fleas as the fleas come in contact with the chemicals, even weeks after you spray. The fleas are like flies, and they lick their little hands (or whatever it is they have) and they continue to take in the chemicals. It was a BIG problem for me last summer. I need to get Frontline for my cat now, so it does not happen again. I hated to use all those chemicals in my house with my children around, but I had no choice.

 

[meeskamouska]

Make sure you also take your cat to the vet to have him checked for tape worms....they come from ingesting infested fleas!!

Not, trying to scare you but I just posted last night on CB about how our rescued kitty had been leaving little tapeworm dropping around!!! I am freaking out again!!!!

GOOD LUCK!!!

*

 

[HappyStamper]

I just wanted to add that if you purchased the flea bombs at the store (even a pet supplies store) you've likely wasted your money and might want to consider returning them. In my experience the flea bombs purchased off the shelf didn't do the trick. I bought bombs from the vet and those did work.

 

[kat08]

Make sure you also take your cat to the vet to have him checked for tape worms....they come from ingesting infested fleas!!

Not, trying to scare you but I just posted last night on CB about how our rescued kitty had been leaving little tapeworm dropping around!!! I am freaking out again!!!!

GOOD LUCK!!!

*

ITA! The medication is not expensive...and well worth it to make sure that kitty doesn't have any yucky tape worms.

 

[NotUrsula]

You need to bomb three times, waiting 2 weeks between bombings. Bombs don't kill the eggs, only the adults, so you need to give all the eggs you now have in the house time to hatch out, but not so much time that they can get to the point of laying new eggs.

Be sure to bag up or store (in something non-porous like a taped-up ice chest -- NOT a cardboard box) all dishes and utensils that you use for handling food -- especially anything made of plastic, which can absorb chemicals in pesticides. Wash them after bombing, anyway.

Books and papers can also absorb pesticides. Be careful with the children's books, because fleas may hide in them, but you need to let them air after treatment before the children handle them.

Take the day to go to a museum or a state park.

 

[TheRatPack]

I know this will sound strange but it worked for us. We set out a shallow pan filled with water (we bought the cheap throw away aluminum pans from the grocery store). Add one or two drops of dishwashing detergent (we used Dawn...don't know if it makes a difference) and set a lamp behind the pan at night. The light draws the fleas to it and then when they jump they go in to the water, get coated with the soap and drown. We set one up in the living room floor, and made sure we put up our cat at night so it wouldn't get in the water, but we had lots and lots of fleas in the water the next morning for about a week. We now have the yard sprayed every three months, and we no longer have a cat, just two dogs. Oh and they are on monthly flea meds, so we've not had any issues since that time. We didn't have carpet at the old house though, so it wasn't too difficult ridding the house of them. I can't imagine how hard it would be with a houseful of carpet. Best of luck!

 

[sha_lyn]

Stay awayfrom the flea bombs please, especially with a baby in the house. Those things are very toxic.
Use pure boric acid (not borax, it is not the same thing)
Sprinkle all over the carpets and rub into them with a broom. Let set over night before vacuuming. Youcan also use it on the cat.
Wash all your bed linens in the hottest water the fabric will allow.
Place any stuffed animals in a garbage bag with boric acid.

Either purchase the flea traps that are nighlights with sticky paper (basically fly paper) or use the light/soapy water that TheRatPack described.

 

[madcat]

the pan with the dishwashing detergent works! I also had to use the carpet powder that you sprinkle on the carpet and then vaccume up. it really is a pain!

 

[momof5boys]

vacuum,vacuum,vacuum!!! We had fleas a couple years ago, It took a month to get rid of them. You need to vacuum twice a day but vacuum the second time as soon as you finish the first! Why you ask? Because the flea eggs are hard to kill with pesticide but they will hatch when they feel vibrations(like people or animals walking or...the vacuum) Once they hatch you suck them up in the vacuum and take the bag out right away(they can live in your vacuum bag) Vacuum grooves in hardwood floors. Spray everything with flea spray every 7 days especially where your cat likes to sit! Good Luck!

 

[jessica52877]

The child I sat brought fleas to our house! YIKES is all I can say. I am NOT a pet person so freaked out! Immediately upon noticing called husband to get home NOW and the mother to pick up child NOW!

We then bombed the house, I turned literally everything upside down, vacuumed, cleaned with clorox wipes, all toys went through the dishwasher, all clothes and bedding washed!

I must say they were gone! We did have to leave for the entire day and upon arriving home I was NOT a happy camper! I was worried about the toys because of the bomb, not so much the fleas on plastic. Good luck!

 

[sha_lyn]

oh to avoid having to empty the vacuum everytime, throw a flea collar in the bag(or in the container for a bagless)

 

[Grendalynn]

I was born and raised in FL, land of many, many bugs.

How funny - My sister lives in Florida...

Thanks so much for all the great advice abd how to's! Its very helpful and encouraging to know thatthe problem is solveable!! Will take a little bit of work, but what else is new!!

I knew I culd count on the folks on The Dis to help me!!