fleas, my plan of attack. am i missing anything?

[meg-momto2]

we've never had fleas in the 15+ years we've had pets. we moved to Georgia last year and our one of our cats goes outside. i suspected she had fleas and last night it was confirmed when i watch one bite my arm. i did a search last night and found lots of info on MDC. here's my plan. both cats will get flea baths if they allow us(can you recommend a shampoo?). i'll be picking up some Advantage flea treatments. i'm going to get some diatomaceous earth and mix it with borax to treat the sofa and place it along windows and doors(this should help with the roaches too). i'm going to take sofa pillows, blankets and our bed linens to the laundry mat for a hot wash. vacuum daily with my Dyson and leave the canister outside with a flea collar in the canister. am i missing anything? is there anything else i need to treat? as far as i can tell we're not infested but there's a few hoping around on the sofa. i haven't noticed any bits on the kids or myself other then last night.

[TXmommy2be]

I saw this and was wondering how things are going? We seem to be suddenly infested with fleas, and having a very hard time getting rid of them! I have a three week old and 23 month old in the house, and DH keeps spraying chemicals even though I've begged him not to! : I'm afraid of what it may do to the kids, but I'm the first to admit we HAVE to do something!! I would love to do what you've done if you've had good luck.

[Ola_]

When doing flea treatments keep in mind that topicals like Advantage should not be applied within a couple of days before or after a bath, something about needing the natural oils to spread it or something? I would also be weary of doubling up on the chemicals (flea bath and topical) that way.

I have heard that you can use Capstar as an immediate way to kill the stuff on the animals (vs. making them infertile like some of the topicals do), but not sure about it's safety.

[Peace+Hope]

meg, any updates? i read that just combing and using the diotomaceous earth like you said can be enough to take care of a flea problem.

did you see anything about putting the diotomaceous earth ON the cats?

i'd be ok to be relaxed about this, but we have house guests coming tomorrow with their 4 month old - eek! i've ONLY seen flea poop on one of my two cats so far, and i flea comb them weekly.

thanks for any advice, ladies!