Flea treatment

[yaM yaM]

I am wanting to stay away from routine or otherwise unnecessary flea treatment for the same reasons I don't do anything routine or unnecessary with my children. Recently, I found one flea each on my two orange cats. I checked them further and there weren't any more that I could find.


Would you use a flea product like the Advantage stuff after finding one flea or is it better to wait for ...?? in the way of symptoms?


Also, our dog, a German Shepherd, is harder to find fleas on because of the dark colors of his fur and his very large size. What should I watch out for with him in the way of fleas?


How do you treat your cats and dogs for fleas?

[Arduinna]

It depends. IF they picked them up while were out of town traveling and we still lived in the desert, I wouldn't do anything because I know they can't survive where we were. I've never seen a flea there in over 10 years.

But we have since moved to flea country so we use advantage monthly and use sentinal for heartworm and flea birth control. I use both because we still have them in the yard and fleas really really like me so I want them to be unable to bite ASAP so we use advantage too.

[litanyagainstfear]

DH works maintenance at an apartment complex, and brought home some fleas from a badly infested apartment. They had flea-bombed, but the previous tenants had allowed their ferrets to defecate EVERYWHERE -- the corners of the carpets were deep red from so much flea excrement.

Anyway, even though he was careful, we still ended up with some fleas in our house. We've been using organic flea/pest control on our home from Home Depot (I think it smells really nice, and it kills on contact), along with thorough baths every time I find fleas on the cats. I also vacuum every day. It's a mixed success. None of us humans have had any flea bites, though, and I've never seen a flea anywhere but on the cats, though I know they're probably around. I have to spray the organic pesticide everyday, which I don't like, but I also don't like the idea of Frontline. A friend of my husband's suggested CapStar? I don't know much about it, but it works quickly and you can use it as needed. Evidently, here, we can purchase at the Co-op. I may give that a try if the numbers rise.

[lonegirl]

Just remember each adult female can lay 50 eggs a day....what you see today may not be what you see tomorrow..
REvolution, Advantage, Capstar are all good choices.

[Pepper44]

We are fighting fleas at our house. I hate fleas!

We started out trying just diatomaceous earth on their fur kill fleas on contact. That helps some, but it's not enough for our long haired cats. We got fleas started when we pet sit a flea infested kitten.

Now we have to treat with Frontline monthly, and even then we still see fleas. (We live in a very flea prone area...) We just got Nylar to spray all over the house--it's a hormone growth regulator that isn't supposed to harm mammals since it just controls an insect hormone. That keeps the fleas from growing into adults.

The vet told us nothing can kill the fleas when they're in their pupa form (like in invisible cocoons, before they turn into adult fleas) so you have to keep treating your house and pets because as they hatch they'll pop up over and over. They multiply so fast, ugh.

I wish we didn't have fleas. I haven't found any natural products that work, and believe me I've tried a lot over the past few years we've been battling them.

Oh and as far as what to look for--look for flea dirt! It's little black specs, which I think are actually flea poop. If you get them wet they turn to blood specs. When our fleas are bad we find them where the cats have laid or around their food dish.

[Pepper44]

One last thing--Capstar kills fleas that are currently on the animal, but doesn't provide any lasting protection past 24-48 hours, so if you have fleas in your home more can just hop on to your pet...

[yaM yaM]

Thanks for sharing your experiences. I have been checking the two cats daily and haven't found other fleas since the first time when I found the one flea on each of them. What else would I look for to know there are fleas in my house? I mean, this may sound ignorant, but I am not seeing flea dirt, my children and I are not itching, and I'm not seeing any other evidence.

So, that is why I am confused. I really hear you that each flea can lay lots of eggs, but I am not seeing anything else, so that's why I'm asking about what else to look for.

Arduinna, we live in the Sonoran desert where it is almost always over 100 degrees for several months straight this time of year. Is it your experience that the high temps = less fleas?

[litanyagainstfear]

It very well could have been an isolated incident. Just keep a look out -- flea bites itch, but more than itch, they /hurt/. Fleas have to chew on you to break the skin, and it's normally pretty painful. Or, at least IME. I haven't had any flea bites in this house yet though.

I'm not a big fan of heavy chemical treatments, but one piece of advice I did take was to put a flea collar in my vacuum bag. Any eggs/fleas that survive (if you have carpets/rugs, that it), the collar should take care of.

[yaM yaM]

That is good to know, thanks for elaborating on the experience. None of us humans around here have had itching or painful mysterious bites.

Do fleas usually always bite the humans that live around affected animals, too, or is it the case that the fleas only get to the humans after the animals are infested or something?

[litanyagainstfear]

Here's a pretty good, if old, article with some general information about the life cycle of fleas.

http://www.motherearthnews.com/Susta...a-Control.aspx

I think a flea will take what it can get, but instinctively prefers the coats of animals. The important part is vacuuming/laundering the areas that pets tend to lounge the most to get the eggs and interrupt the life cycle. I vacuumed TONS yesterday, and it seems to be helping, as I have yet to see a flea today.

[Arduinna]

Originally Posted by May May

Arduinna, we live in the Sonoran desert where it is almost always over 100 degrees for several months straight this time of year. Is it your experience that the high temps = less fleas?

Yes, I was in the Mohave desert and we moved to the Sonoran for awhile and I never saw a flea in those 10+ years. I remember reading somewhere that the super low humidity combined with the high heat makes it so fleas can't survive.