Help have fleas!!!

[leela21]

I think this is going to give me a nervous breakdown. We have 2 cats 2 dogs. We haven't had fleas in 15 years! We are using the revolution but our dog(one stays outside) is still covered. We are bathing her every 3 days at least. I am vacuming furniture and all. Have put brewers yeast and garlic in the food for the dogs. I don't know what else to do. I don't want to bomb because the way the upstairs is set up one bomb wont reach both bedrooms. Help!!!

[Edelweiss]

I wouldn't advise bombing. Go to the store and get a permethrin product (it will say it's for fleas). Use EXACTLY as directed - with pest control products, more is not better - that's why it doesn't work for some people - the products are formulated to work when they're used correctly. Look for something that you spray on the carpet (permethrin products don't usually stain, but try a test spot first). You'll need to keep everyone (including pets) off the carpet until it's dry. Then, after it's dry, vacuum immediately and again every day for 1 week. After another week, you can retreat the carpet, following the same procedure. That might not be necessary, but fleas hatch in 2-week cycles, so I'd probably do it anyway.

As for your dogs, you might want to dip them to kill the fleas they have, give them a good bath, then reapply the topical treatment.

As for your yard, I can't give you any do-it-yourself advice. I recommend you call a pest control service. If you call the one that starts with T and ends with X, you can ask for a 1-time yard spray for fleas. That will cover you for 30 days, and you can call them back for free within that 30 days to retreat it. (Just keep in mind they can't legally retreat for 2 weeks after the first treatment). They will try to sell you a monthly or quarterly service, but it's not going to cover the yard anyway, so tell them that you only want a 1x yard spray and that you want the 30-day guarantee.

Good luck!

[MOMMYDEAREST]

oh i remember when my dog & cat both had fleas, i was totally stressed!!!!

[marym]

Oh I feel for you! Years ago when we away on vacation we came home to a house full of fleas, the dogs were in the kennel not in the house. Our vet said that eggs had hatched when we were away. We went to a hotel because it was so bad. we had to get a exterminator to get rid of them. SInce then I have been using frontline on the dogs and cats and have not seen a flea, thank God! The vet also told me when I vaccuum to throw the bag out right away because you pick up eggs in the bag and can reinfest the house. I have also heard that you can put a piece of flea collar in the vaccuum, I have never done this, I'm afraid of what I may be breathing.
Good luck to you. I hope you get rid of the nasty bugger quickly.

[3pups]

I have three dogs and I found some fleas on each of them last month. They are inside dogs, but they spend a lot of time outside. I use frontline because it is garanteed to get rid of all the adult fleas in 72 hours. If it doesn't work you get your money back. I applied the frontline- make sure it comes in contact directly with their skin and not just their hair ( make sure they are completly dry). Frontline works by going into their glands, and it is completely waterproof so you can give them a bath, but wait 48 hours. You don't have to worry about washing the product off, because it will come seep out again thru their glands.

I then vacuumed the whole house- couches, carpet, everything. Flea's eggs don't stick, so when a flea lays an egg it can roll off anywhere. I changed our sheets every few days, emptied the vaccum bag, and I haven't seen anymore. I hope you can get rid of your flea problem. I know it is a pain, but you'll eventually get through it. Good luck!

[Droppedonmyhead]

I use Frontline on my dog and cats too. It's wonderful stuff. But one time I did have a flea problem and a friend told me to throw 30 mule Borax powder onto the carpet. . wait a bit. . and vacuum it up. Seemed to fix the immediate problem.

[Lmarietc_2003]

My honey and I had a flea problem a few years back and our vet recommended we sprinkle Borax, (as in the laundry detergent) on our carpet. Then push it in the carpet fibers with a broom or your shoes. Just vacuum first, then lightly sprinkle in all your carpeted areas and then push into carpet fibers with broom.
You need to make sure to get babies and animals out of room your treating. Once in the carpet fibers, no problem. You can let everyone back in.
Then repeat again in a couple of weeks. This worked well for us and even got rid of a roach problem we had as well. For a long time we didnt even have ants. I think this is a very inexpensive and non-toxic solution to getting rid of those pests.

[miss_thrifty]

The permeithen really works to get rid of the fleas in your furniture and carpets, amske sure you do all corners, underb the frisge , stove tec. Vacumn right away, throw away bag every time you vacumn, and dont let anyone or the dogs on it, till dry and vacumned. repeat as many times as neceesary, keepp windows open, this stuff is strong, but it works. My neighbour at the old apartmenst had them, and the whole house was lousey with them. It worked.

[Jerseygirl]

Years ago I had a little beach cottage where we got terrible fleas and sand fleas, I would bathe the animals, bleach out their crates, then while every one of them was crated on the front porch drying I would put flea powder on every carpet, couch chair etc in the house, let it sit for an hour or so, vacumme and throw out the bag. Make sure you wash all bed linens in very hot water too.
I would do this 2-3 xs per summer and remained flea free, and the cost wasn't bad, 'cause I was extremely low on funds at this time. Good Luck

[bumplett]

I much prefer Frontline over Revolution, but remember if you switch to Frontline - It is NOT a heartworm preventative like Revolution, so you will NEED to use a seperate product to prevent heartworms -

I personally use Frontline & Triheart for the dogs.(the Revolution rep gave us sample boxes of Revolution @ work & I did try it, but I really don't care for it!)

Good Luck!!

[Sari]

I wouldn't advise bombing. Go to the store and get a permethrin product (it will say it's for fleas). Use EXACTLY as directed - with pest control products, more is not better - that's why it doesn't work for some people - the products are formulated to work when they're used correctly. Look for something that you spray on the carpet (permethrin products don't usually stain, but try a test spot first). You'll need to keep everyone (including pets) off the carpet until it's dry. Then, after it's dry, vacuum immediately and again every day for 1 week. After another week, you can retreat the carpet, following the same procedure. That might not be necessary, but fleas hatch in 2-week cycles, so I'd probably do it anyway.

As for your dogs, you might want to dip them to kill the fleas they have, give them a good bath, then reapply the topical treatment.

As for your yard, I can't give you any do-it-yourself advice. I recommend you call a pest control service. If you call the one that starts with T and ends with X, you can ask for a 1-time yard spray for fleas. That will cover you for 30 days, and you can call them back for free within that 30 days to retreat it. (Just keep in mind they can't legally retreat for 2 weeks after the first treatment). They will try to sell you a monthly or quarterly service, but it's not going to cover the yard anyway, so tell them that you only want a 1x yard spray and that you want the 30-day guarantee.

Good luck!

The permethrin products are toxic to cats. They should NOT be used on dogs either that have ANY contact with cats. Plus, they suck. They don't work well, and fleas have developed a resistance to them. Go to your vet, get Advantage or Frontline, problem solved.

Check out this article...
http://www.veterinarypartner.com/Con...&S=0&C=0&A=626

[leela21]

Frontline seems to be killing the fleas on the dog this is day 2. But won't the eggs that are around the house continue to hatch and multiply?

[cspp04]

My honey and I had a flea problem a few years back and our vet recommended we sprinkle Borax, (as in the laundry detergent) on our carpet. Then push it in the carpet fibers with a broom or your shoes. Just vacuum first, then lightly sprinkle in all your carpeted areas and then push into carpet fibers with broom.
You need to make sure to get babies and animals out of room your treating. Once in the carpet fibers, no problem. You can let everyone back in.
Then repeat again in a couple of weeks. This worked well for us and even got rid of a roach problem we had as well. For a long time we didnt even have ants. I think this is a very inexpensive and non-toxic solution to getting rid of those pests.

this is a tried and true solution. borax kills fleas.....dead! lol

[Sari]

this is a tried and true solution. borax kills fleas.....dead! lol

That's very cool. I'll have to remember that.

[FrugalWitch]

I have 7 indoor cats and live out in the country (nuttin but woods all around). The best I've found is to use Frontline on the cats and a product called Bengal on the floors. I confine the cats to two rooms for three days while the rest of the house gets sprayed with the Bengal, then let the cats out and Bengal the two rooms the cats had been in. I usually only need to do this once a year...no fleas.

(The Bengal info says just to keep pets away for 1 hour, but I figure better safe than sorry) I buy it in double packs at WalMart for about $8.79 for 2 cans.

FrugalWitch