we have FLEAS, HELP!!

[Thursday Girl]

we have a flea infestation, they jump on you when you walk in a room, they even jump on using our beds ( I suspect the dog getting in the beds has a lot to do with this). My daughter has fleas now and both her and I are getting flea bites, although they leave my husband alone and my older girls seems fine.

We do have a dog and 3 cats, 1 cat comes inside regularly the other 2 are mostly outside. The dog is an inside outside dog with a doggy door to the backyard.  We treat them all with advantage but the lats application didn't seem to do anything at all. Further more our neighborhood has a problem with raccoons, opossums, and rats. they roam the neighborhood and even homes without pets occasionally get infested. Apparently it's our houses turn.

what can we do? I have looked up ways to treat the house, it seems to involve a lot of chemicals. which really I am okay with, anything to get them out of the house and off my daughter.  My husband can do all that and I can take the kids and leave the house and stay with my mom or sister. I don't know if their are other less chemical intensive ways of treating them.

Thanks for any help you can offer.

Courtney

Edited by Thursday Girl - 11/26/11 at 11:14am

[Imakcerka]

Salt, borax.  Bowls of water and light.

Salt the edges of the rooms, then borax the floors, couches and beds.  Give it some time then vacuum.  We do this often and it helps.  Also wash your pets with Skin so soft from Avon.  Or just Dawn.  Much better than all the other junk out there.  If you bomb your house you will have to do it again.  Honestly it's best just to constant poor salt and borax on your floors before vacuuming.  I do this often as part of my cleaning regiment.  Keeps the critters at bay.

[Thursday Girl]

does this work with no carpet? the entire house is wood floors or tile.

is it safe for borax to be on the floors with the kids and pets?

[Imakcerka]

Well you dust it and vacuum.  It does work it gets into the cracks and if you dust mop later it will pick it up.  I do a little bit at a time and close off the room, open windows.  Then I go back in and vacuum.  I have 3 dogs and a cat that melted my heart last winter by staring into the window on a cold night.  Jerk cat!  But I love him.  Vacuum your furniture often as well.  Totally helps.  There are other things out there.  I bombed a small apartment once and then had to do it again within a month.  Eggs I believe lay dormant for about a month or more.  So that's why I do it often.  The salt and borax dry them out.  Also wash your bedding in hot water and depending where you're at you could hang them out to dry or kill them in the dryer.  

I also spray my back yard.  I do you cutter for that and it's a pesticide.  But I see no other way with that one.  I've tried natural ways but it's too expensive. 

[Katielady]

We had fleas when I was 8.5 months pregnant with my second- so stressful! We tried a bunch of natural methods and nothing worked. Tried to hire an exterminator who took one look at my pregnant belly and walked back out the door. I was like I WILL SIGN SOMETHING! I want these fleas OUT!

We bought the chemically flea bomb and spray and my husband bombed the place and then we all stayed in a hotel overnight. Had to do it again a few months later when they came back, and then they were gone for good. *shudder*

good luck.

[Thursday Girl]

thanks. My husband is going to go to the do it yourself pest control guy. I am going to clear out some of my extra fabric, we have no storage for it al lso I have boxes of fabric on my floor. Husband said we would find some solution for storing it if I par it down.

Now what about my mattress and pillows?  The baby wakes up with bites on her. So I am washing all the sheets but what about the mattress and pillow? some are feather pillows so I can't wash them. I WILL wash the cotton stuffed ones though.

[elsie]

The main thing is you need to control the fleas on the pets, or they will just keep coming back into the house.  As far as feather pillows go, either wash them or toss them. Everything need to be washed. Fleas are attracted to light colors and white - as a test place a bowl of water in a clear dish on a white towel in the middle of the floor, you will see them all hop over. Put a dash of dish soap in the water and they won't hop out. Fleas need a blood source to breed, they are getting that mainly from the pets, but you and the baby as well. Once you break the source of breeding, they will be gone in one month. I would check into what else you can do about getting them off the pets. I would also look into a flea comb for any pet that ever enters the house. You'd be surprised how many you can get off that way - flick the loves ones in soapy water. Also about vacuuming - do you have a bag vacuum or a bagless one? If it is a bag, first vacuum up some borax so that it kills the fleas after you vacuum them and they don't crawl out. If it is bagless, be sure to empty the canister away from the house or in a bow or soapy water - do not just toss it in the trash because they will not be dead and hop on out. 

[rcr]

We are in the south, so fleas are just a constant way of life for us. We just try to control them, but they never really go away completely. Borax around the baseboards of the house help (inside and outside)s, and flea prevention on all the animals helps (even the indoor cats because the dogs bring the fleas inside to them). We got rid of all of our carpet for this reason too - so there is less of a place for the fleas to hide.

[Thursday Girl]

we have been using advantage on all the cats and the dog. It seemed to work for a bout a week this time and then they had fleas again. What else can we use? What works?

We do have a bagged vacumn and we will be vacumning daily or evry other day. and of course vacumn up some borax first.

as for the light thing I think that is why the baby was attacked so badly. She was wearing a necklace covered in rhinestones and the majority of her bites (and there were a lot) were near the necklace. I of course took it off.

rcr, we are in the south too, Florida, even peolple on my street without pets have gotten  flea infestations.  I think once we poison and get it under control I will continue with preventitive care.  My husband is goginto cover the yard in diatamacous earth and spray in the house and borax in the attic. Off to the pet forum to find the best flea medicine for the animals.

[Thursday Girl]

well we used poison and reapplied advantage to all the animals and the fleas were gone for a day!  the animals are itching the fleas are jumping on us.

[Thursday Girl]

well we used poison and reapplied advantage to all the animals and the fleas were gone for a day!  the animals are itching the fleas are jumping on us.

[Imakcerka]

Did you apply the advantage outside?  I know kind of dumb question but I once put that crap on my dog inside and regretted it.  Have you tried borax yet?  What a nightmare!  I hate fleas.  We actually spray our yard and the fence line.  My neighbor had a flea ridden dog and when he was at work I took his dog to my yard and then sprayed his yard.  I cleaned his dog too.  It helped so much!

[Thursday Girl]

we applied inside, have not done the yard. sprinkled floor with borax, vacumned then sprayed chemicals. I found  them hiding in the kids dress up trunk and have started pulling out all their dress up clothes (god they have at least 8 loads f laundry in just dress up clothes. I have sprinkled borax on all the laundry we haven't gotten to. (just did that today). Have not done the yard yet. URRGGH we don't have the money we need to throw at this problem.  we used up the money we have getting poison and borax and laundry detergent and vinegar and more advantage. now we have to wait until we get more money and get more poison, yard treatment, more flea medicatin, i think frontline this time and take all the laundry to a laundry mat to wash all at once.  I will be doing borax all through the house and vacuming it over the next 2 days. will have Hubs do the back room. It's a construction zone so will maybe just lay down the borax and leave it except for the path we need to get to the backyard and the laundry machines. this is so going to mess up Christmas and our bills.

[Imakcerka]

Honestly you can go cheaper.  The poison will only help so much.  You can also pour salt around as well.  Sorry you're dealing with this.  It sucks.

[Thursday Girl]

I'm going to pick up salt and baking soda at sam's club.

[Katielady]

Will it help if I shake my fist menacingly at those fleas from up north on your behalf? GRRR! I feel for ya, I HATE fleas!

[Thursday Girl]

oddly, it does make me feel better.

[Imakcerka]

I actually had a mental picture of some lady shaking her fist with an angry face... that made my day!

[Thursday Girl]

me too. yesterday at the playground my oldest daughter accidentally hit my middle daughter on the head. Middlest was upset but it was an accident so i said "Raise your fist like this" she did "then shake it at her!" she did and bursts into giggles. shaking your fist always makes things better!

[SunRise]

Our vet recommended switching from advantage to frontline and back to make sure your pet doesn't get immune to one kind of flea treatment. Also, there is another brand called Revolution. This  protects against fleas+ and also mites that cause mange. We are trying that as soon as it arrives.