Fleas

[kittywitty]

I am usually anti-chemicals, but my cats and dog have had major flea issues since we got a new kitten. We tried baths, and usually they go away before I have to resort to the chemical flea stuff. They haven't this time and my cats and dog are losing most of their hair due to the irritation. I broke down and tried Advantage. It didn't work. I just got Frontline and put it on them the 7th of October. They STILL have fleas. What else can I do? Does it just take several, several months before it works? The poor cats are all scabbed and miserable.

[rcr]

A vet friend of mine thinks that fleas have become pretty resistant to frontline an Advantage. We still do it because it tends to keep the fleas down, but it really does not completely work for us either. We do a LOT of vacuming and use borax around the house, and are hoping that the frost comes soon to kill the fleas.

[kittywitty]

I have borax but I have 100 year old hardwood floors. Should I sprinkle it on or do you use it outside around your house? I vacuum 2-3 times a week at least, too. I used to use diatomaceous earth, but I can't find it now. It seemed to work last time I used it, but I had carpet then.

[desertpenguin]

salt outside on the ground will kill plants and grass, etc. you can purchase food-grade DE online for pretty reasonable and i don't think it will kill any of the plants. i have read that beneficial nematodes (which can also be ordered online) are supposed to work, but haven't used them myself...i'm considering it for next spring though as there was definitely a flea issue here when we first moved in a couple weeks ago and i really don't want to have to spray chemicals...and with DE you have to be careful about inhalation.

[SunShineSally]

brewers yeast is the only thing that got rid of them for my cats! Also my aunts dog whom she takes hikeing at least 3 times a week she finds that that is the only thing that will get rid of them for her also. It seemed to make my kitties fur extra shiny!!! I just crushed it up and put it in wet food and we do not really ever give wet food so it is an exciting treat for them my little girl kitty was loseing fur also from the fleas it didn't take long for it to grow back she was the only one who was loseing fur

[Penny4Them]

Originally Posted by SunShineSally

brewers yeast is the only thing that got rid of them for my cats!(

Hi Sally, Where can I get brewer yeast? My grocery store didn't have it and I wasn't even sure what aisle it would be in.

TIA

[Mama2Kayla]

Our dog just picked up fleas from another dog a few weeks ago. After some time battling them with natural methods I finally caved in and put him on Comfortis. I am only giving him one dose--the vet said that would be enough to get rid of a minor flea problem. It has been 3 days and no more itching .

[rhiOrion]

My vet actually just mentioned that she thinks that Frontline isn't working that well anymore.

I took my cat in for itchy skin, and the vet is convinced that he has fleas. I'm less convinced. She found flea dirt on him, which she verified because it turned rusty looking when she put it on a piece of gauze and wet it. BUT, I live in the middle of NC and our DIRT is partially red clay. Also, he gets itchy about once every year or so, and it's NEVER been fleas. Anyhow, she switched us to Revolution, since that will also prevent heart worms (and he does go outside in our fenced patio sometimes).

I still am not convinced my cat had fleas (since I've never seen ANY on him OR the dog or anywhere else in the house), but I thought I'd share that info about the vet thinking Frontline isn't working as well these days.

[Penny4Them]

Interesting. We are in NC too and have had our Lab for 2 years and this is the 1st time he's had fleas.

We resorted to advantix 2 weeks ago and that didn't work. Today we tried to Comfortis and the fleas are dying and falling off him. YUCK! Many more than we thought. I was so sad about it, but we tried so many things (incl'ing baths every other day which was terrible for his skin). We figure we'll do this to help him and then use natural methods to maintain. I read that baking soda mixed with eucalytus essential oil is a good preventative, or even rose geranium EO on collar.

We raked our leaves in the yard, as another thread poster said that seemed to help their dog.

[tessa_s212]

Frontline and Advantage WILL work, but it will take a few months. Truly, ANY method of flea control will take months to work.

You have to understand the flea life cycle to understand why. 95% of ALL The flea population in your home are EGGS. Every day that you have fleas, those adult fleas are adding to those eggs. You must continually kill all the adult fleas EVERY DAY in order to stop the reproduction, and THEN you have to let the eggs hatch into pupa (because you won't get ALL of the eggs not even with sprays and vaccuming), and then the pupa into baby immature fleas (these can't reproduce). Now, if you have a topical flea product on at this time, the immature fleas will bite the animal and will die before they can reproduce more eggs. If you aren't killing these fleas daily, the cycle will go on and on and on and on.

I recommended Advantix or Advantage. The vet I work for is having us stray away form Frontline, because soon it will be available in all retail stores, instead of just vet offices. Stay away from Bio Spot and all the other crummy products you find on the shelves of normal stores. They contain just a wee bit of the chemical that kills fleas, and the fleas can actually build up a resistance.

You'll need to do a LOT of vaccuming, a lot of laundry, a lot of bathing/flea dips (every day) if you want to get rid of fleas without chemicals. Growing up we had fleas with the dogs and we didn't use chemicals. The BEST we could ever do was to keep fleas to a minimum, but we NEVER got rid of them entirely until all the animals were on a topical flea preventative.

[rhiOrion]

Originally Posted by tessa_s212

Frontline and Advantage WILL work, but it will take a few months. Truly, ANY method of flea control will take months to work.

He's been on Frontline the entire 7 years I've had him, except for a couple winters when I lived in Rochester, NY

We use the Advantix on our dog, and she has certainly never gotten any fleas.

But, then again, I'm still not convinced my cat actually had fleas. He sleeps against my face at night, and you'd think I'd know!

So...ummm...nevermind.

[Mommyintraining2]

How much brewers yeast for a kitten?

A friend from England said she sprayed eucalyptus oil around her carpet or even just put eucalyptus leaves around and this deterred fleas.  Interesting idea.

[*Dawn*]

I haven't seen a single flea since switching my dogs to a prey model raw diet. When dogs and cats are fed raw, their blood tastes different to fleas and they don't like it.  You can also use food grade DE in the house and yard and neem in their shampoo, but we haven't needed to use any of it since switching to raw 2 years ago.

Edit: I live in Florida where the fleas are typically really bad year round.