Fleas

[kittywitty]

Frontline and advantage did not work for us last year, but we got more to try. The fleas right now are INSANE. I bought some DE. Is it ok for me to spread all over the house (hardwood floors, 2 tile and 1 carpeted room) and then vacuum up in the morning? I can't leave it around and be gone 3 days like some things I've seen. Should I put the DE over our couches and mattresses? I will be washing and vacuuming everything every day, and my cats are indoor only (dog only goes for walks). I will put the DE in their fur, should I wear a dustmask and goggles? I have seen to use borax, too. I am pg, can I sprinkle it everywere and wait an hour to vacuum? Should I keep the cats and dog all in one room while I do this? Or can they walk around on the DE or Borax?

[Arduinna]

If the fleas are that bad I'd bomb the house, use advantage ( because it stops the fleas from being able to bite within 5 minutes of contact), use sentinal as long term maintenance and DE in the yard.

[North_Of_60]

DE is NOT waterproof and needs to be reapplied after rain. I would use a waterproof chemical that continues to kill up to 6 weeks, like Tempo.

[awalshe09]

what if you have a baby crawling around - are these methods safe? i have an 11-month old crawling everywhere and bad fleas. i'm not sure i want him breathing in this stuff..

[kittywitty]

DE did not work. We also used advantage. I think these are nuclear tolerant fleas. I am ready to run away and live in a pool so I never have to see another flea again.

[Bebe's Mom]

I am having the same problem, going to try borax. Not sure where the fleas are coming from since cats are outside, ever since DD started crawling. I have also heard that steam cleaning works, gonna try that with borax.

[kittywitty]

I only have one room with carpet, and 2 tile rooms besides the hardwood. My cats are entirely inside and my dog only goes for walks and has Advantix on. We got them at the last house we lived in-moved in to them, and still can't get rid of them!

[North_Of_60]

DE works by dehydrating adult fleas. It takes up to 3 days to kill them, and then you have to continually reapply to make sure you reach all life stages of the flea. Also keep in mind that environmental conditions must right, it must applied in the right places, reapplied if the dog gets wet or muddy, etc.

Realistically, it can work for small flea problems. But if you have an infestation you are not going to see great success unless you use a product that has an IGR (insect growth regulator) in it. This will stop flea/larvae from developing into an adult flea, rather than you waiting for them to mature so you can kill it as an adult, which essentially only prolongs the life cycle, as there will undoubtedly be another batch of eggs/larvae waiting to mature.

I have never had luck successfully stopping a full blow flea infestation where it is obvious there are varying life cycles of the fleas in the house/yard/etc naturally. Ever. I have successfully killed fleas that were obviously picked up at a dog park or at a friends place. But the few times we've had a true infestation, of we're dealing with now ( ), I have had to resort to industrial chemicals. This time I didn't even bother with DE or bathing. I went straight for the advantix/advantage/permethrin/capstar with lots and lots of tempo in the yard and permethrin dust in the house, with an IGR spray every 3 weeks in the house.

The hardest battle I'm fighting right now is the yard. I know the fleas have come from cats that got abandoned when the house next door foreclosed, and since they are obviously in the environment, even if I keep treating the yard, the dogs, and the cats if I trap them, the wild animals (like possums, squirrels, and raccoons) will probably just bring them back. And I live in the tropics, so I can't even wait until winter for them to freeze and die. I just have to keep spraying outside and hope the population continues to dwindle. I keep seeing the occasional flea on the dogs, but they're no longer crawling, and I haven't seen one jump on me in the house in over a month. Progress!!

Unfortunately where I live people just live with them, which pisses me off because if people treated their indoor/outdoor animals, then when a cat wondered into someone's yard they wouldn't be spreading their parasites when they visit (one of the reasons I LOATH outdoor cats).

Down here fleas, especially during the summer time, are something people expect and just live with. Drives me insane. They give me the heebee jeebies.

[Bebe's Mom]

steamcleaned with borax yesterday and I have only seen two fleas since then. Here's hoping we have at least gotten them under control. I don't believe I will be able to completely get rid of them since they are in the yard as well, and we have a BIG yard. But as long as I am not picking fleas off DD every five minutes, I am happy. I hope you all have success. I am going to get some DE or other flea treatment for the yard and see if I can get rid of them. My neighbors say they are not having any trouble, so I believe the fleas were in the house when we moved in. the former tenant had many dogs and cats, and was not a clean person....

Update: day 2 of steamcleaning, no flea sightings today! still have to do yard, hope this works. I have heard good things about DE, apparently if you use chemicals they become resistant, not so with DE, since it is not a chemical. We are having a dry summer so far, so hopefully we will not have to keep reapplying DE every other day.

[SquishyKitty]

Also, put a flea collar in your vacuum bag/canister. It kills the eggs.

[~Adorkable~]

Advantage works on the skin so says my vet, we use revolution witch in systemic and I found to work better. The reason they explained advantage is I have an elderly cat and was asking for less body effect

[kittywitty]

4 of my cats are over 10 years, so it sounds like advantage would be safer. So far we have seen drastically less fleas between the DE disaster, advantage, and vacuuming every other day or so. Yay! Still seeing some. I think I'll bomb the basement since every time I go down there I get covered. Any ideas for the safest fogger/flea bomb for an unfinished basement noone ever really goes in but may have the stuff drift upstairs through hardwood floors?