Fleas. :(

Bexx24 · October 2010

So here's the back story- a couple months ago my strictly indoor cat of two years all of a sudden got fleas for the first time. Fine, whatever, it happens. Since I caught it right away I was told that washing some things and Frontline should do the trick and bombing the house wasn't necessary. Which I was thankful for because I was like 11 weeks pregnant at the time and my husband was in the field at the time and I didn't want to be exposed to all those chemicals of course. The issue seemed to be clearing up.

Out of nowhere, 3 months later, it seems almost as bad as when I first caught it. I'm guessing it's because the weather got cooler, and we quit using the air conditioning and then all of a sudden had a massive heat wave- and I hear heat causes eggs to hatch if there are any lingering in the house.

So now we have to take more drastic measures. I'm nervous about the chemicals, but at least I'm not 1st tri anymore, and my husband is home this time to care of it while I hide in the bedroom with the windows open. Instead of bombing the house we got the carpet poweder so hopefully there won't be fumes and less residue? And I can just wear socks on the carpet for the next couple months till I feel it's worn off? We onle have one room with carpet that we have to do this to, not the whole house.

Sorry this has been long, but does anyone have any advise from their flea experiences? Did the powder work as well as bombing? Any word on what your doctor's concerns were?

Thanks for your wisdom! :-)

TeacherMel · October 2010

We have four dogs and they had fleas about a year ago. We did not bomb or use carpet powder. We put medication on the dogs and washed everything. We also shampooed the carpets. We never had a reoccurance. You might get some more responses on the pets board.

GL!

labooshki · October 2010

Ugh, we're in the same boat. My dog's fleas will NOT go away. We wash everything, give him dips, make sure he's got the meds and these things will not die. I refuse to bomb but my H is going to make me cave I'm sure. We'll just have to spend the weekend away or something. I wish I could be more help, but I'm ready to rip my hair out I'm so frustrated!

Bexx24 · October 2010

labooshki:
Ugh, we're in the same boat. My dog's fleas will NOT go away. We wash everything, give him dips, make sure he's got the meds and these things will not die. I refuse to bomb but my H is going to make me cave I'm sure. We'll just have to spend the weekend away or something. I wish I could be more help, but I'm ready to rip my hair out I'm so frustrated!

I hear ya, they're freaking annoying little buggers aren't they!
And to top it off, my cat has developed a paranoia of all carpets and the floor in general too, so he's taken to jumping from furniture to furniture- or counter top, or kitchen table- to get to wear he wants to go so he won't have to walk on the floor. I hear they do this when the fleas are bothering them, since they are associating the fleas with the ground or whatever. So now I have to deal with cat hairs all over my kitchen SUPER!

PurpleK26 · October 2010

We're having issues with our dog right now too. We have an outdoor cat, so it's really hard to completely get rid of them before snow, because the cat wanders and then brings them into the yard (we live in the country). But, we've found (and it sucks for the dog) that keeping her in one room is starting to work. We're bathing her and dipping her quite frequently, every few days I'd say, but still can't quite get rid of them. We have an 8 month old DD, so that's a big reason we're keeping the dog quarantined.

I read that if the fleas have no food source, they should die in 2--3 weeks. So, keeping the dog out of all other areas for the past few weeks seems to have done the trick to get them out of the carpet. Like I said, it sucks for the dog to have to be away from the family (we do spend some time in her little room with her while DD naps and is asleep for the night), but to me, getting the fleas under control is worth it.

mom2case · October 2010

The flea issue happened to us this summer too and we tried EVERY home remedy we could find. Eventually, we called Orkin and they sprayed. 3 days later, every flea was gone. Not one flea has come back, so I swear by them. You only have to be away for 4 hours and there are no "pregnancy warnings" on flea killing products. That being said, I spent the night at a friends house the night before (with the cats so they could be bathed) and stayed away from our house for 8 hours after it was sprayed. I was about 14 weeks at the time.

vbel714 · October 2010

Fleas=havoc! We recently moved to the Fl panhandle from NY - never once had fleas... tried EVERYTHING but the bombs - I just couldn't bare to do it knowing my now 3yr old DS might some how come in contact with some part of it somehow...

So here's what we did... Dawn dish detergent baths for the dogs (not the cats unfortunately) waited a few days and put them all on Advantage... then here's the stupidest, silliest and CHEAPEST thing that worked 100% never have had another flea! Remember above a said bathed in Dawn... ok so we took a pump sprayer ($10 at home depot - can be used for plant fertilization so that's prob where you will find this item) ADDED DAWN AND WATER!!! Sprayed the caprets - not too much as you don't want them to be sticky - OH and be sure to VACUUM first - this activates the inactive egss and larvae in the carpet - DAWN kills everything - live fleas, larvae and eggs... We used this on our carpets and hard floors (bathrooms, kitchen) and we did it 2 times just to be sure the buggars were GONE!!!

So happy to say this worked AMAZINGLY but so sad to say the amount of $$ we spent originally to get rid of them with attempts that NEVER worked!

DAWN=FREEDOM!!!

Good luck!

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