My cat recently acquired fleas when I took her with me to visit my mother. A few days later, flea dirt was noticed, and now its everywhere, along with fleas.
I’ve given her the drops-on-the-back-of-the-neck stuff, and tonight I noticed a dead flea on her, so that stuff seems to be working.
How can I eliminate all of the vile creatures from my apartment? My roommate has noticed them in his room, and I’m sure I will find some in mine.
As someone who has dealt with the problem before, let me tell you that the best thing to do is just hire a professional exterminator to deal with it. The “flea bomb” things don’t work very well…and even after you kill the fleas that are there, the eggs can hatch and you get to start all over again.
When I had three cats and lived in a more tropical climate, keeping up with fleas was a big issue. I found a pest control guy that used natural, non-chemically stuff (smelled like cinnamon and oranges, actually). The treatment was very effective, and there was nothing in it to make me or my pets sick.
Last year I used Frontline on my cats and dogs. It works wonderfully. It not only kills the fleas on the cats, the fleas in the carpet jump on the cats and die, too. It doesn’t take long for all of them to be gone.
StG
Please don’t use the over-the-counter drops. Not only do they not work well (if at all) they may be toxic to some cats.
We have always used Twenty Mule Team Borax the laundry soap on the carpets to keep them free of fleas. We just dust the whole room (especially in the corners and along the walls) once every few months. Works great. Kills fleas and those that hatch. The Borax is the same stuff used in those roach powders. I have even used it outside. I spread it on the lawn once in awhile like when we fertilize.
Crap. I used the Hartz drops.
But i dont want to put anything else on her for a month or so, shes over 15 years old.
Are there any kind of traps or something I could put in the house?
We have a big house with hardwood floors and 5 fuzzybutts (2 dogs, 3 cats). One of the dogs is kept outside when we’re not home in such a way that she can use the unfinished basement as a big doghouse.
About a year ago, before my girlfriend and her small dog moved in, I had a flea problem. Enough of a problem that I could feel them jump from the floor my lower legs in certain areas of the house. The fuzzies were miserable. Prior to some random moment when the flea planets alligned, there had been no flea problem for any of the previous year, and no change in I or my pets habits or routines. No one was on monthly flea treatments
I had an extended business trip planned, and had made arrangements to kennel the pets at my vet while I was away, have their annual exams, and have them all treated them with Advantage or Frontline while they were there.
The house being empty of all lifeforms, I contemplated my home treatment options and my available funds. I opted for the cheapest available to try first. If that didn’t work, I had another business trip planned and I’d try something more pricey.
I bought about 8 cans of Zodiac brand flea fogger at the grocery store and ran through the house setting them off on my way out the door to the airport. One in each room, 2 in the larger rooms. All cutting boards and dishes were put up and out of the way. The bed was stripped.
Maybe I got lucky, I don’t know, but once I got home and everyone was returned to the house, and all surfaces in the kitchen were cleaned so I wasn’t eating flea-killing chemicals, I no longer had a flea problem. I credit it to treating the house that way, getting the fuzzybutts treated, and keeping them on the monthly treatments ever since. The same method was applied once my girlfriend and her dog moved in.
My girlfriend always puts up SUCH a damn fuss when I remind her that it is time to put the Frontline on the back of her neck.
I wouldn’t use Hartz, but my mom uses drops she buys from the vet, and that killed every flea in the house without the use of those nasty bombs.
It might be Frontline, but I’m not sure. Your vet will know.
I used the drops about 5 years ago and have been flea free since. Great stuff. I believe it makes their eggs to hard for them to hatch. My cat’s strickly indoor and 14 stories up so it’s almost impossible for her to get reinfested.
But here’s something fun to do with fleas. Put down a plate of soapy water on the floor. They jump in and drown. Oh man that cracked me up. They try and swim but they just go down in a little spiral as they kick-kick-kick their way to their death. When I had them I never tired of watching that.
Definitely get the heavy duty flea drops from the bed. That stuff will work like a charm.
Before medicating, give the cat a flea bath - it’s probably not necessary, but since I bathe my cats once a month, it was an extra precaution. Overkill? Perhaps. But when it comes to fleas, I’d prefer overkill than underkill.
Twenty Mule Team Borax (as Nic2004 suggested)- and if you’ve got one or have access to one, a Dyson Animal vacuum cleaner is gooooood mojo. Sucked the fleas right the hell out of our carpet, and we could see them jumping around lethargically in the canister. Empty the canister outside, immediately, away, away, away from the house!
No flea bombs needed. And I know when there are fleas around, because I’m allergic to the little bastards, and I get huge red welts all over my poor flea-bitten legs when they show up. Ugh.
BAH! Vet. Not bed. My husband told me he was getting ready for bed and I just…
Vet. I meant vet. :smack:
When you vacuum, sprinkle some flea powder into your bag or canister, so the little bastards die when they get sucked up. Then empty it away from the house, in case you have an infestation of evil mutant alien fleas like I had one time that laughed at the flea powder, flea spray, and flea bombs I tried.
I called an exterminator. They stopped laughing.
Holy shit. Now I’m petrified that the Hartz drops could kill my cat. I’d never heard any negative thing at all about Hartz products. Thanks for the warning. So far, there havent been any noticable side effects, but should I take her to the vet and get her checked out anyway?
My GF had a MAJOR flea problem this last summer and I did some extensive research on the subject.
Use ortho boric acid, not the mule team soap, it is too coarse to have much affect. Google BORiD Powder, 5 pounds should be about $20 instructions at the end of this post. Vacuum 2 or 3 times a day, get under everything.
I have had very good results with Advantage drops, they are normally prescription but you can get it non-prescription on the internet at a good price.
Link to one of many flea sites.
http://www.uky.edu/Ag/Entomology/entfacts/struct/ef602.htm
Lightly sprinkle the ortho boric acid directly on all carpeted areas and rugs. Remember to treat closets and under all furniture (including beds, couches.) These non traffic areas are where flea larvae usually hide to pupate. Using a broom or carpet rake, gently sweep powder into carpet fibers until it is no longer visible. Sweeping the borate flea treatment makes it penetrate carpet fibers, where it kills flea larvae and flea eggs for an entire year. Any visible product remaining after application will be removed by further sweeping or when floors are vacuumed. With upholstery, remove loose cushions and apply along seams or folds as well as into corners and furniture wells. Do not apply product to exposed fabrics of furniture. Every area should be treated with the borate flea treatment, as any missed area will result in failure to effectively control fleas. Allow 3-5 weeks for maximum effectiveness, in which time all the fleas in the pupae stage will emerge and die. With proper application, borate flea treatments continue to kill fleas in immature stages for a year. Normal vacuuming of carpets and upholstery should be resumed no sooner than 24 hours after treatment. For best results, wait 5 to 7 days before resuming normal vacuuming. If carpets are steam cleaned, the guaranteed effective period is no longer valid and reapplication will be necessary.
You must have had quite the infestation if you treat your girlfriend for fleas. 
No – if there were a problem, it would have shown up immediately. Relax. You’re a good guy. It’s okay.
If you just have your pet treated with something from the vet, such as those already mentioned above, Frontline, Advantage (or is it Advantix?), etc., the flea problem should take care of itself. The fleas that are already in your home will die after they jump back onto your pet. I’ve been using the monthly Advantage treatment for years on our 2 dogs and 4 cats, all indoor pets, and we never had any flea problems.
Buddy the beagle had fleas for the first time in his life this summer and it puzzled me immensely because I was religious about putting the drops down his back every 30 days during flea season.
I discovered them one day, to my horror, and thus began a fortnight battle against the little demons. My poor dog had to endure countless indignities including umpteen flea baths, a thrice daily ritual where I tossed him on his back and manually picked out fleas (dropping them into a glass with Dawn in it. Bwahaha), sprinkling and vacuuming Borax mule powder all over his favorite resting spots on a daily basis, three new flea collars, etc. He had so much medication on his little body, it’s a wonder I didn’t make him, um, sicker than a dog.
After 2 weeks of valiant effort, the fleas were worse than ever. I was losing sleep over it, imagining them multiplying and multiplying…I finally gave up and called the vet. She 'splained that the over the counter drops aren’t very potent. (WHO KNEW?) She prescribed the potent stuff and within 3 days Buddy was completely flea free. She said it was very rare that you needed to bomb a house for fleas because once the host was protected, they had nothing to feed on and died all on their own.
So I quintuple the suggestion to go to the vet and get the good stuff (prescribed specifically for cats, of course.)
Good thing fleas don’t like humans or I would have had to burn down the house. Geesh, those things gave me the creeps.
I would just like to chime in having lived in an apartment that was absolutely infested with fleas once. If you put your foot down on the carpet, it was literally covered with fleas in seconds. My boyfriend spent our first night there sleeping on the kitchen counter. Awful.
On a tip, we started adding brewer’s yeast to our food and the kitty cat’s food as well (in small amounts). Within a month, the fleas vanished and never returned. We never used any products other than that, and we discontinued use of the brewer’s yeast as soon as we realized the fleas were gone.
'Course, we may have just lucked out.
The first one I tried was Advantix. It did okay controlling fleas in the first week or so after application, but it never seemed to last the entire month, for me. Next, I tried Frontline, and that worked wonderfully. At least, the first batch did.
The last 6-month supply of Frontline that I bought – it wasn’t very effective. I don’t know if it was just a bad batch, or if something about the dog and the product causes it to be less effective after time? But the last times I tried Frontline, it seemed to have almost no effect. I still saw fleas on my dog a couple days later.
Anybody else have this kind of experience with Frontline?
I just ordered some Advantage – going back to trying that one (but just the flea one. Advantix is for fleas and ticks – same company, though).