fleas!

orlyice

Hi all,

for the second time this year we have fleas everywhere in the house. we have 2 cats (and a stray that comes in for a feed and a nap everyday). I hoovered and sprayed the house the last time but I must have missed some as they are back. All 3 cats have up to date spot on but its me and the OH who are getting bitten.

Just wondering if anyone has used a professional company to get rid of the problem and if so, what was the cost involved and what was the procedure.

thanks

BluesBerry

I have the same problem I have vacuumed and washed down surfaces in hot water and disinfectant used flea bombs and sprays and powders with no joy since last year the fleas have been rampant maybe they are getting immune to the usual stuff out there to deal with them Ive treated the dog and cats with the neck stuff and wash the dog every 2 days the fleas are still there but they are a lot slower and you can catch them so I feel its only half killing them.
It was around the same time last year we had the same problem maybe its the weather and "breeding season for them" but anyway OP you are NOt alone

Ive tried everything and the buggers are still floating around

tk123

OP can I ask what spot-on you use? (I'm thinking of changing ours)

orlyice

tk123 we are using frontline spot on we got from the vets, one of our girls gets a bad reaction to bites, she has had a steroid injection already this year to cool the skin, might have to bring her back to get another one even tho i hate the idea of too many steroids, cant be good for her. the little pets skin between the shoulder blades was irritated so we had to put the spot on further done her back, it was great sport having to sit with her for an hour and stop her licking it off!!

bluesberry, sorry to hear you are having the same problem, was at the vets this week and she told me they are everywhere this year and ever second dog and cat are getting steroid injections. at the moment we have the spare bedroom decontaminated. we are washing every single item of clothes we have (on a 60 degree wash), have 7 loads done so far (thank god the weathers good) and they are going back to the spare room. we are being so careful about the spare room, stripping off outside the door so they dont come in on our clothes and keeping the door closed. once the clothes are finished we will spray the rest of the house with the (expensive) stuff we got from the vets. I have made my mind up that if it doesnt work this time i am going to get the professionals in. at this stage i dont care about the cost. the house is completely infested with them :mad: and i am waking up with the itch from bites. they seem to prefer my blood, himself isnt getting half as many bites

Qualitymark

Have you tried steam-cleaning the carpets and bedding? (You could just throw out the duvets and pillows and get new, or put them in big plastic bags and throw them in the freezer for 48 hours to kill larvae.)

Have you got a mothball in your hoover bag so it kills the fleas and larvae when they're sucked up? (Don't keep the hoover in a room where people sleep or spend a lot of time; nasty fumes from mothballs.)

Isn't there an injection that turns the pusscat into a little purring mine of poison for the fleas?

One thought: when we get fleas it's usually when there are mice around.

Two natural solutions touted around the web (haven't tried these myself):

http://www.myfleatrap.com - flea trap that's supposed to attract the little horrors and kill them

http://www.fleabuster.com/Products/Biobusters/nematodes.html - flea nematodes, a parasite of fleas that kills them in your garden (and if you get a population of nematodes going, this can last for years; I use something like this for slugs and it works well

orlyice

Qualitymark, we are lucky enough we dont have carpets in the house, have a steam cleaner, will try that on the mattresses. I have a cut up flea collar in the hoover bag to kill the little buggers as soon as they are sucked up.

had a look at the flea trap. they are out of stock but there are similar ones on amazon that i might invest in, will try anything at this stage.

The killing mice thing makes sense. There is a corn field near the house and they are like kids in a sweetshop at the moment. Its gone so bad that i only let the cats out when himself is home so he can deal with the remains. they have learned not to bring them into the house but leave them outside in the garden.

I asked in the vets if there was any other way to protect the cats against fleas and she told me just the spot on. If there was an injection it would be ideal as it is so hard to put it on one of our cats. might ring the other vets in town and see if they have injections.

Qualitymark

The other thing is to get some lavender oil and/or citronella oil - essential oil, get them in the chemist or health food shop - and wash the floor with hot water with this added, especially around the edges and the little ledges on the skirting boards, and especially corners. Fleas and other insects avoid these smells. Fleas lay their eggs where they can hop onto a friendly ankle when they hatch, but aren't in danger of being washed away or squashed.

The nematodes outside would probably deal with the mice; normally don't have to do this in Ireland because it's so wet, but in the last hot month maybe the fleas are laying on lawns and by walls. And the nematodes will keep a garden clear for the foreseeable future.

i read in a book called Black Gold, about the Fitzwilliam family (English aristocrats) that the housekeeper in their house had lime (linden - you know, those big soft leaves on trees that smell delicious in season) leaves along the sides of the floors to deter mice; half thinking of trying this for a bit.

This flea killer comb http://www.amazon.co.uk/STV-International-Stv023-Gotcha-Killer/dp/B004NLZUHU/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1347009391&sr=8-2 looks like sadistic fun too.

Pumpkinseeds

Have you tried Advocate spot on? We use it on our cats and never have a problem with fleas. It covers fleas, mites and worms. We get it from our vet. Its also available in two sizes, based on the cats weight. For cats under 4 kilos and cats over 4 kilos.

Clauric

Not strictly pets and animals, but closest forum dealing with problem. Mods please move if necessary.

Long story short, the house I'm living in got infested by fleas. Think one of the housemates was out playing golf, picked it up, and brought it back in.

Tried to spray rooms, hoover, etc but nothing works. Everything I clear one room, they seem to come back. Housemates don't see problem as they aren't being bitten and don't see them, but I can feel them walking on me, biting me, etc. Have 3 showers a day, change clothes, etc but nothing working.

Thankfully all roommates are away from next weekend for 4 days. I want to get somebody professional in to clean the house (I.e. spray house with chemicals and get rid of problem). Does anybody have any suggestions of who to use in the Dublin area?

Also, any ways of getting them off me. Tried everything from long baths to chemicals. Nothing seems to work.

grombomber

You are definitely not alone in this - I came on tonight to give an account of our experience with fleas, because there wasn't anything here when I looked last July. Our cat picked them up and brought them home. She is the sort of cat that wanders freely around the house, sleeping in pretty much any room she felt like. A member of our household started to come out in hives - we thought at first it was a food allergy...then I spotted a flea jumping into my cereal one morning. A quick google of "Fleabite" showed us we had a flea problem. And when you actually see your first flea, your house is already infested.
There is hope - they are difficult to get rid of, but it is possible, and we are finally "ahem", fingers crossed, free of fleas.
We tried the sprays and spot-ons from the big pets stores - NO EFFECT. We tried the spot on from the Vets, and still no effect. Basically the vet spot on killed the fleas when they bit the cat...but we suspected that the cat was picking up "hitchhikers" outside and bringing them back home.
Your flea population is going to look something like this:
Adult Fleas 0000
Coccooned FLeas 000000000000000000000000000
Larval Fleas 000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000
Eggs 000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000

We used traps to give us an indication which rooms were worst affected. A trap is just a lamp surrounded with plates of water with detergent - the detergent is extremely important because it removes surface tension, so the fleas sink and drown.Fleas are attracted to the heat and light of the lamp, and as they jump closer, they land in the traps. But the lamps will only catch a small proportion of your flea population, since most are immature.
Realizing when our traps were catching 2-3 fleas an hour, all day, that we had a massive problem, we called Rentokill. They visited 3 times, with a fourth visit for free if we still had a problem - which we did. The problem with fleas is their Coccoon stage - this coccoon is impervious to pretty much all chemical, so even though the eggs, larvae and adults are dying, these new ones hatch out anywhere between 3 weeks and two years.
At this point I should note we have no carpets, just tiles wooden floors, and one room with lino. However, the fleas are able to hide between the floorboards quite well. For this we used diatomaceous earth - basically this fine powder dessicates all insects, killing them. We swept it between the boards and left it for a few days.
In summary, plus some other things we did:
* hoover every day, the whole house, and use flea spray down the nozzle to kill anything sucked up
* The cat is barred from the house. Lets face it, you are not going to get rid of fleas while sharing your house with a flea magnet. They have coats, they happily live wild and hunt at night. Get them a cosy kennel keep them out.

* Professional exterminators
* diatomaceous earth
* Flea traps - when they stop catchng fleas...you know you've got your house back

Papillon!

Anyone know approximately how much Advocate usually costs?

The blue cross gave me a slip of paper to go out and collect it from Inchicore (as part of the fee I paid for my pups vaccinations) but I cant get out to Inchicore at the moment.

Qualitymark

Papillon! wrote: »

Anyone know approximately how much Advocate usually costs?

The blue cross gave me a slip of paper to go out and collect it from Inchicore (as part of the fee I paid for my pups vaccinations) but I cant get out to Inchicore at the moment.

It's the same stuff as Advantage, I think - take a look on amazon.co.uk - they have various of these flea killers for sale.

Pumpkinseeds

Papillon! wrote: »

Anyone know approximately how much Advocate usually costs?

The blue cross gave me a slip of paper to go out and collect it from Inchicore (as part of the fee I paid for my pups vaccinations) but I cant get out to Inchicore at the moment.

Advocate comes in 2 different sizes. One for cats under 4 kilos and one for cats over 4 kilos. It costs about 7 euro per individual treatment. Our vet sells them individually but you can get them by box.