I own two indoor cats….well 4 month old kittens. they didnt have fleas when we moved into this apartment in may but this last week they are bombarded will a million of them to the point that they itch more than anything, jump across the carpet to higher ground and on to linoleum flooring, and now i have the fleas too! When u walk acoss the room u get 20 fleas on ur feet and ankles and im not kidding. i feel so dirty as i can feel them in my hair. its so gross. how the heck did they appear so suddenly! one day the house was perfect and the next i hate to go home cos ill be itching all the time. i have them on a flea med now…3 month program with the liquid u put on the back of their necks. does this really work? i dont have alot of money to take them to the vets at $40 for the checkup alone EACH. any tips to treat them and the house for a cheap-ish way? i hate to get rid of them.
You need something like FrontlinePlus…good source and cheaper than the vets is petshed.com…I use it so I know it works. A flea comb with a cup of hot water & a little dish liquid to dip the comb in when you comb your dog/cat. LOTs of vac bags and vac everyday and remove the bag and tie it in a shopping bag and take out of the house. This will work and you should see improvements within two months. DON’T use sprays, powders, house bombs, flea collars and over the counter products. They are dangerous and are full of pesticides and can harm you and your pet! To let you know as I was given a paper from the vets…cycle of the flea…They hatch from a cocoon like a butterfly…in one week they are an adult….as a adult they lay a egg every hour of their lives up to 1-2 years they live. The eggs hatch into a larva in about two weeks…they spend three weeks as a larva and then they wrap themselves into a cocoon. In the cocoon stage you can’t kill them unless you plan on burning down your house…fire is the only way to kill them in this stage. What makes them hatch from a cocoon is vibration, heat, and all sorts of things. They need a host to feed on within one week or they will die. ( problem being is the cocoons can take up to five months to hatch! and they all hatch at different rates!) WOW that is a lot of fleas! FrontlinePlus uses two ways to kill the fleas…they first have an ingredient that paralyzes the flea so it can’t feed and it dies…it does this for two weeks. The following two weeks it just inhibits the flea eggs of the fleas that feed on them and eggs don’t hatch. This is why it takes a few months, but it does work. BTW…flea baths don’t work either and will make it so the FrontlinePlus won’t work.
advantage once a month
I own 4 dogs and live @ the lake for years we had tons of fleas. About 2 years ago we started giving them garlic in their food twice a day …you could use powder or cloves …mix well with the food. We have told many friends and it has worked for them as well ..we used to spend a small fortune on advantage and a few others . We have not used anything but the garlic since we 1st started it. It takes the garlic about 10 days to get into the system. As was said before …wash everything and the kitties as well.
Good luck
I have 8 in house cats. It seems this year has been one of the worst for fleas. I use Advantix Multi – it works great. Also, my vet has a spray for carpet and furniture, etc called Knockout. When used in combination I had great results. Knock out cost about $10.00 a can and worth every penny. Give it a try
Yes, you’ve got the stuff that really works (I’m assuming Advantage or Frontline) and it is really the only thing that works well. All the over the counter stuff is basically garbage.
As for the house, pull out the vacuum and go for all the rugs and upholstery and throw away the bag after. Then do it again. And wash all of your bedding and the kitties in hot water.
Don’t worry – the spot-on stuff will work quickly. Just use it religiously every month.
Fleas can explode in population quickly – that’s why monthly preventative is the best way to get it under control.
ugg i had the same problem when i moved in my new apartment. Fleas can lay dormant in cartain conditions for months and then one day the vibrations of your feet can wake them all up it sucks terribly. what i did is i gave both my cats flea baths and locked them in the patio for a few days. Sprinkled my carpets with flea powder and let it sit for a few hours and then vacuumed like crazy. then i sprayed all my furniture and beds with flea spray.washed all my bedding and clothes in hot hot hot water. and steam cleaned my carpets. i also treated my cats with flea drops. and i did the carpet pawder a few times. it took a month but i eventually got rid of them now as a preventative. i bathe my cats once a month and then do the carpet powder. and use the flea drops
good luck!
Since you’re dealing with kittens, you’ll definitely want to take them in to the vet. I don’t know what the cutoff age or weight is, but I do know that kittens can’t always be treated directly with a pesticide.
1. Treat the cat. Go to your vet and get either Advantage or Frontline Plus (I went with Advantage).
2. Get yourself a “flea comb” and comb your cat at least once per day. Have a bucket with dish soap in it handy to dunk the comb in and to collect the hair. Fleas can’t jump out of the slippery soap. No point in combing them out only to have them jump back on your cat. Flush this down the toilet, pour it down the sink, or dispose of it away from your house.
3. Treat your house. Options are a borate powder product or something that uses diatomaceous earth. Fleabusters (BP), Fleago Natural Flea Control (BP) or Flea Away Natural Flea Powder (DE). Put about a tablespoon of this in your vacuum cleaner bag (or you can cut up a flea collar to put in there. Just follow the directions which will vary by product, but in general you’ll sprinkle on the carpet and vacuum up and also sprinkle into cracks and crevices. (I chose Fleago because it’s less expensive than Fleabusters. I may also try Flea Away in time).
4. Vacuum as often as possible. Before vacuuming, stomp around the house. This will bring the fleas to life because they’ll think there’s a tasty morsel out there. Then vacuum those little bastards up. Be sure to use your attachments to vacuum as many cracks and crevices as you can – they love to hide out there.
5. Wash any pet bedding in hot water, and you’ll want to be particularly diligent about vacuuming/treating areas where your cat hangs out.
6. Treat your yard. Even if your cat doesn’t go outside, fleas may enter your home if they exist in your yard. There’s a small chance that you or others may bring fleas in the house with you (although this is unlikely). Get hold of some nematodes to spray in your yard. I believe you only have to do this once per year. These little creatures will eat the flea larva. As one website put it, these critters are too small to hug, but they deserve it! (I had to order this online; I wasn’t able to find a place that sells them in my area and didn’t feel like calling every place in the phonebook).
Things not to do: Don’t use any essential oils on your cat, particularly anything with pennyroyal or eucalyptus. They’re toxic to cats. Don’t use flea collars. Don’t give your cat any garlic/yeast formulations. Don’t give your cat lemon baths.
You’re going to want to continue treating your home as directed, whether that be sprinkling once per week or once a month. Continue treating throughout flea season (when it’s warm). You can stop during the winter months, but start up again in the spring. You’ll nip them in the bud!
The key is to treat the environment, not the cat. If you do that, you may never have to apply another flea product directly on them again.
My daughter had the same problem when she moved into her rented house, she got the bug man in who cleared them, then she used front line on the cat. This cleared them. You could do the same. If the apartment is rented your landlord is responsible for the cost of the bug man. You may also need to worm your cats if you have not done this already. I hope this helps good luck.
I had the same problem when I moved into my new house. First I put a couple flea collars in my vacuume and went over my floors a few times. then I put flea medicine in my carpet shampooer and went over them again. make sure you wash everything the cats have been on like blankets clothes or whatever in hot water. you may have to repeat a couple times.
I live in Florida, and we’ve been getting heavy rain and thunderstorms, so the fleas move indoors.
We’ve used Advantage effectively on the animals for several years now. Just don’t get it on you, and wash really well if you do, as most flea medications are carcinogenic (can’t remember if Advantage is, but Frontline definitely is).
Just remember, that the fleas have to bite the animals to get any of the poison, so you may see occasional fleas here and there, but they should never multiply.
I know you said you were low on cash, but you can also have a pest control company spray your house (and/or yard, we do both).
I had the same problem when I moved into my new house, but thank God I noticed before I brought my cat in. Simply getting rid of the cats wouldn’t really help, fleas like to bite you just as much as your kitties. Your landlord was probably faced with an infestation when the previous tenant moved out and treated the place for fleas before you moved in, so you didn’t notice them when you checked the place out. The only problem is, fleas in the pupa stage are impervious to any insecticide you can throw at them, because they are encased in a watertight cocoon. They can stay in there for years, I’ve read, until they feel vibrations of people or animals moving about, then they emerge as adult fleas and start the cycle all over again. You have to treat not only your pets, but also your entire apartment. Your mightiest weapon will be your vacuum cleaner. It not only vacuums up most fleas, it also encourages the little pupae in the carpet to come out of their shells and also get sucked up. It’s a good idea to chop up a flea collar and put it in the bag or removable dirt collecting container-thing, so that the fleas die when they get sucked up. Don’t forget dark places like corners and under furniture. Fleas like dark, humid places. Use the attachment to vacuum along floorboards; this is where the larvae like to hide. Do a Google search for the best kind of chemicals to treat your apartment. Flea bomb the crap out of the place, you have to buy a bomb for each room and follow instructions on the label carefully (Stay out of the apartment for at least two hours after the bombs are set off and then ventilate well before bringing your cats back.). Remember that you have to treat your cats (and yourself) at the same time you do your apartment or the infestation will come right back. Use flea shampoo on them (I’ve found the cheaper stuff works just as well as the expensive shampoo), don’t forget around the eyes and ears, as fleas usually go to the highest place when you bathe your pet. You may have to repeat the entire process more than once. I had to do the house three times before I felt safe bringing my cat into the house. It might be a good idea to treat the yard if you have one, as fleas like to hide in grass, especially if it’s not mowed frequently. I used powdered lyme and it did the trick. Good luck to you, it will be worth it!