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Post by womble on Nov 16, 2015 21:29:56 GMT -5
I could really do with a flea buddy  I've been battling the horrors for months, I think they're gone and then they're back, I tried natural and now I'm using chemical warfare, but boy they're resilient  I'm going all out now, I read it can take 3 months to clear the cycle so going to keep up the vacuuming rather than relax about it when I think they've gone, which I have been doing.. I've put a flea collar in the vacuum, dogs have been treated monthly with the best stuff from the vet, house fully sprayed, some areas twice until I ran out. I read there's no point in keeping spraying as it works for a few months, but it makes me feel better and I have 3 more bottles on order. Everything possible has been washed, including dog toys. It's the vacuuming I really need to keep up I think and we have a second hand leather sofa that weighs a tonne and none of the cushions come off, I do wonder if they're inside. If it's still a problem in a few weeks we're going to take the bottom off to spray inside. I have checked with a flea hubby caught that the spray is working and it killed it instantly so at least I know they're not resistant to it. Years ago I used a salt and borax mix with success so I'll keep that in mind too. So if anyone else wants to share what they're doing and what's working, I'm interested  |
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Post by dtesposito on Nov 16, 2015 21:54:17 GMT -5
Womble, I don't think you're in the US, so your problem might be different, but I found this year that the fleas here have become immune to Frontline. It always worked fine before, but this year it didn't work on my cats or one of my client's cats and dog. After a couple miserable months I switched to Advantage II (after Chris let me know that a prescription wasn't required) and it worked beautifully! My client still has some fleas in her house, but that's because she let it get to such a terrible point, and she has a house full of so much stuff that vacuuming is very difficult.
After trying the Advantage II, I ran into a couple of other dog owners who said they were having a problem with Frontline not working also.
You said you were trying natural remedies--did you just start the topical medication? If so, it might just be that it takes time to work. But if you've given it time and it's not working, it's possible that the fleas are becoming immune.
Diane
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Post by Unswamping on Nov 16, 2015 22:45:28 GMT -5
womble im not currently battling it now but i have in the past. Fleas can be tenacious. I agree with Diane, a couple of years ago, my vet told me the same thing, that fleas have become immune to frontline. Fortunately i can get Advantage II at target and the pet store without a prescription. It sounds like you are doing the right things. It takes time for the eggs to hatch, the larva to develop into adults. Cold weather can kill the adults, the eggs will survive. You might think keeping the room cold would be helpful but its not. Actually a warm room will help hatch any remaining eggs. I dont think the spray kills the eggs just the adults (maybe the larva too). So getting any hidden eggs to hatch is actually a good thing, the sooner they hatch, the soon they die. The worst flea infestation i ever had also stuck my neighbors house. He didnt have any pets and accused me of having such a bad infestation that they were going through the wall into his house (it was a semi attached twin). In actuality, we were bringing the fleas in to the house. There was a weedy area that also of people walked their dogs. You could actually seeing the fleas jumping out onto people as they walked past. He was actually bringing them into his house. Im telling you this because maybe part of the problem is you and /or your dog are bringing new ones in. If you have a fenced yard that you let your dog out in, you might want to spray outside. If you are walking your dog, you may want to change your route to avoid any areas that might be flea infested. The first hard frost should kill the adults and you can go back to your normal routine. In the spring, you might want to spray outside as soon as the temps warm up to kill any emerging adults and break the cycle.  i know how miserable it can be.
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Post by papermoon on Nov 16, 2015 22:48:19 GMT -5
My cat is strictly indoors and has never had a flea in 10 years until just 3 months ago. I don't know how she got fleas unless they hitch-hiked in here on my clothes from the street or the bus.
My poor baby! I didn't use chemicals... instead I went over her thoroughly several times a day with a fine flea comb, and killed every single flea between my thumbnails. Ew gross, I know, but it works better than anything, and my cat didn't suffer from any chemical gases, and I didn't create chemical-resistant fleas. All our bedding was washed in hot water and blasted in a hot dryer. Everything was thoroughly vacuumed and the bag thrown out immediately. It took 4 days of vigilance but I guess I got them all, including eggs, because they haven't come back.
btw, my kitty absolutely *loves* flea-combing, even more than catnip. Who knew!
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Post by sue5000 on Nov 16, 2015 22:59:27 GMT -5
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Post by papermoon on Nov 16, 2015 23:01:07 GMT -5
And do not use it around animals! |
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Post by sue5000 on Nov 16, 2015 23:04:59 GMT -5
Food grade diatomaceous earth is used in animal feed.
You can usually buy it at the feed store or your local farm co-op. It's not expensive.
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Post by Fivecat on Nov 16, 2015 23:28:38 GMT -5
I tried all that stuff, vacuuming, spraying, flea dip, collars, diatamaceous earth, yada yada yada. The ONLY thing that work was spot treatment on the animal. We use advantage or advantix. BTW, one of mycats was at the brink of death from all the other chemical stuff and was still almost exsanguinated from the fleasy. Bite the bullet. Buy the vets approved treatment and be done with it.
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Post by womble on Nov 17, 2015 5:55:35 GMT -5
Thank you all Yes same here with frontline, fleas have obviously compared notes across the water one dog is on advantage and the other advocate, that has been for months now so the house is the problem. I even had brand new carpets right through a few months ago so I do wonder about the sofa as that stayed the same, it think it's going to have to be opened up. Oh my diatomaceous earth! I have tried that and have a huge bag left, I think hubby would move out if I used it again though, it really is awful to breathe in, worse than the chemicals and hoovering it up took a week as its so fine it kept breaking my vacuum. I know I've read online to put it on your pet, I wouldn't as it must be dangerous for the animal to breathe in. I know it has a huge fan club though. I think the problem is that each time I have a deep denial that we have them, ignoring obvious signs so the problem becomes much harder to tackle as they've taken hold. Even this time hubby found one on Honey and took it to the vet to confirm it was a flea so we're both as bad as each other! Unswamping (love the new name:) ) thank you, yes I need to work out how they keep coming in. DDs work has fleas, it's an office, I don't know if we gave them fleas though or she could have brought some home  it's an office open 24 hours so they can't treat and are just using the infra red flea catchers. Other DD stays a lot at her partners home and she has said in the past that their dog had fleas, but they don't treat the house just comb the dog. I asked yesterday if they had fleas again, but she didn't know. My Dad walks honey a lot with a dog he pet sits, I asked and he doesn't think the dog is fleaed or wormed as he normally takes it to the vet for the owner. I will ask him if he can get her done just in case as she could pick them up from us. We do walk the dogs on the main dog walking route of our estate or they could easily be in our garden as it's big, that's the hardest to sort I suppose. Today I have to Hoover right through, New flea stuff arriving, but I won't have chance for that. No fleas found for a couple of days now so fingers crossed. Thank you again xxxx |
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Post by stevie on Nov 17, 2015 6:03:12 GMT -5
This summer was monumentally bad for fleas here in Michigan, everyone I know with pets had them no matter what. I'm sort of rural and with lots of wild animals, there are fleas in the environment. I can go a few years without having to treat the dogs or cats, then there's a flea explosion and they're everywhere.
With three cats and three dogs (plus a litter of kittens I fostered and bottle-fed) - can't use anything much on them - I waged all-out war, including the flea spray from the vet for the carpet. The house and the critters are now flea-free but it was a battle for a few months!
Personally I swear by diatomaceous earth; it kills any bug with an exoskeleton. I had tiny week-old feral kittens crawling with fleas, I rubbed it into their fur and in their crate bedding and within a couple of weeks I couldn't find a flea on them. I also used a flea comb. I also sprinkled DE liberally into the carpet and floor and did lots and lots of vacuuming. DE is really cheap and perfectly safe if you get the food grade stuff. Anyone and every pet who eats grains ingests some every day since it's mixed with grain in silos and storage for insect control.
Absolutely use the vet-approved flea treatment. My dogs usually get Heartgard for heartworms (they're an issue here) and the spot treatment for fleas when needed. I switched them to Sentinel, which does heartworms plus fleas. Except it doesn't kill the fleas, it sterilizes them, so in time it breaks the cycle. The cats are on Advantix.
I do not like to use synthetic chemicals and meds unless necessary...but sometimes they are really the best option. One of my dogs is allergic to fleas and he was miserable, itchy, losing fur and developing hot spots. I agree that overuse creates resistant fleas...my vet doesn't even sell Frontline any more because it no longer works well.
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Post by dtesposito on Nov 17, 2015 9:35:28 GMT -5
I think the problem is that each time I have a deep denial that we have themWomble, this is what happened to my client--I saw her dog scratching, but I know he has dry, flaky skin so I assumed that was the problem, because she used to use flea preventative on him regularly. Then I started getting flea bites around my ankles when I went into her house--so I told her about it and said I think you have fleas here. She told me--oh, I've been seeing fleas on my socks for weeks now. I asked her if she's still using the monthly meds and she said she wasn't, that she hadn't seen any signs of fleas on the animals. JUST ON HER SOCKS!!!  I guess she didn't notice the dog scratching every 5 minutes. Anyway, they are so imbedded in her house now that it's taking a while for the Advantage II to work--and, she still has one cat who's so shy we can't get the meds on her. But the difference was day and night once we started using the right product. Oh, and by the way:
I think the problem is that each time I have a deep denial that we have themThat's how I got such a bad pantry moth infestation last year! I guess we all learn from experience. Diane
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Post by startingover on Nov 17, 2015 10:17:57 GMT -5
Hi Womble, I had a severe case of fleas this past summer . Okay my DDog brought the horrible things in from the apartment complex grounds. I was in a funk at the time and just flat didn't notice  til the little "suckers" were bitting me and hubby. We had carpet throughout except for Kitchen and Baths. I sprayed, I bombed, I couldn't afford the "good stuff" for dog and bought a flea med that didn't work. Went back to the Pet store and asked where the flea meds were - the lady asked me which kind I wanted and I said "the kinds that works!" . She showed me K9 Advantix II and it worked awesomely...they were off the dog. But they were still in the carpet and biting us. I sprayed the carpet and vacuumed every day and I was still being bothered ~ to a much lesser scale, but bothered yet. I figured out my old Rainbow vac wasn't sucking like it used to. Hubby bought me a good vacuum cleaner. I went over the floor with it 2 days in a row and they NEVER came back! Good luck! ~StartingOver |
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Post by Deleted on Nov 17, 2015 11:06:30 GMT -5
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Post by dayeanu on Nov 18, 2015 2:41:33 GMT -5
If you use something like Nexguard on your pet, it should eliminate fleas.
In the house, pans of warm soapy water in a white or clear dish will trap and drown fleas. This has been very effective for me during serious outbreaks, and is toxin free.
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Post by lesaulerouge on Nov 18, 2015 3:16:11 GMT -5
Our cat had an allergic reaction to Frontline. We had fleas from when we bought this house in August 2002, and until he died in August 2014 every now and then that patch on the back of his neck would lose all its fur again.
At the time we mived in the neighbour was feeding a whole colony of stray cats. We had a few fleas and treated our house cat, but then we got wood parquet fleas which can apparently live dormant for decades. In the heatwave of 2003 they were unbelievable - when I lay ds down on our bed or the changing mat to dress him or do a napy change he would have fleas visible on him. You could actually see them jumping outside on the terrace.
We tried everything, but in the end we bough smoke bombs for fleas, two as our house is large and spread over 3 floors with solid stone walls in between the rooms. Dh waited until ds and I went away, then he shut the cat in a car in the barn with food, water and litter tray (house cat, not ideal, but he was ok btw!) and set the bomb going before he went to work. He came home at lunchtime to see to the cat, then aired the house fully after work and before letting the cat out of the car. This was in early November.
The situation improved, but it still wasn't quite enough, so when ds and I went away again in February dh repeated the flea smoke bomb thing. That finally knocked it on the head.
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