Huh. I’ve never heard of a spray for fleas. Do you spray the carpet and furniture with it? Do you mind sharing what the stuff is called and/or what it contains?
You mention having no vaccuum cleaner at all. What kind of flooring do you have? If you have wood or tile floors - hard surfaces, really - that’s one thing, and less crucial to the de-fleaing process, but if you have carpeting (or a ton of rugs, I guess) then girl, you really REALLY need a vaccuum!
My dog, the poor thing is riddled with fleas. We’ve tried most of the products in supermarkets and they are just not working. She’s infected enough to make her itch a lot, but not infected enough to cause “flea dirt”.
I also have to keep in mind, I have hermit crabs and hermit crabs are sensitive to pest sprays. They are kept in my room, so as long as something isn’t too strong, it can be used in other areas of the house.
Are there any special products I can try? Medicated baths or something? Can you get flea collars for dogs? My family can’t really afford a vet’s visit, I can though. But If I was to go to the vet for it, I’d like to know something would come out of it. I’d hate to pay for a vet visit just to be told to use products we can get in supermarkets or pet stores.
At the moment, we’re using frontline, I think. (I’m not sure because my grandfather is the one that looks after that stuff, not me. It’s a clear gel put on her back.) She’s brushed daily and washed every two weeks or so.
First off, pretty much any liquid flea control you’re buying at the store is going to be ineffective. Stuff like Hartz is almost like throwing away your money. In my experience, if you want results against fleas, you gotta be willing to pay for them. You can actually buy flea control like Advantage and Frontline over sites like Amazon as they don’t require a vet to prescribe them anymore. If it’s a small dog, there’s a trick you can do to really get your money’s worth out of the medication. But I’m confused that they’re using Frontline and it doesn’t seem to be working. Perhaps try something different like Advantage? And as far as bathing concerned, I was always told that a dog or cat shouldn’t get a bath 24 hours before or after flea medication application.
Frontline didn’t do squat for my dogs. I went back to Advantage and haven’t had any issues. Additionally, I know several people who swear by Revolution.
Grocery store stuff and Frontline aren’t worth crap. Neither are flea collars. Frontline used to work well, but fleas have become resistant. You can buy Advantage and Advantix on eBay, and it does some good. You need to remove the dog a couple days after you treat her, flea bomb the house, treat the yard, them bring back the dog. You can also get Capstar, which is a pill and kills all the fleas on the dog in a few hours. But it’s no use doing this unless you treat the house and yard.
Good luck.
StG
Owner of 6 dogs and 4 cats
Wal-mart sells Advantage now. You definitely need to also get some flea spray for wherever the dog hangs out in the house. Keep in mind that Advantage and Frontline don’t work until the flea bites the dog.
Flea baths certainly exist, and they work okay. The ones I used years ago sort of stun or paralyze the fleas and they wash off.
After that, vacuum thoroughly, throw out the bag with the eggs in it, and do so again every few days for a while.
Also, have you seen fleas? If your dog is bathed often, it might be dry skin or a sensitivity to the soap that’s making her itch.
Yup. Horrid little buggers that I will pick off her.
But you don’t need to see fleas to have problems with them. They’re one of the top causes of itching, whereas bathing a dog every two weeks wouldn’t do that.
In some areas, fleas are resistant to Frontline. I’m a bit confused since you mentioned gel, and both Frontline and Advantage/Advantix are clear liquids.
If you’re using Frontline (or Frontline plus), as advised (and it can be used up to twice a month), and you’re still seeing fleas, then I’d go for Advantage/Advantix (make sure you get the right size for the dog). Alternatively, you can go to the vet and get some of the other potent, newer products (Advantage Multi, Promeris, Comfortis, etc.) that still require prescription.
Don’t treat the dog between baths, treat the dog after its been washed and dried.
Again, if you go to the pet store and get Capstar (appropriate size), that can control the fleas while the Advantage kicks in.
Really, there should be a sticky or something, since this topic comes up every month. Again, OTC products, flea baths, flea collars, for the most part, are ineffective. There are now two good products (depending on your area) that used to be prescription only, that are more expensive but worth it (unless you live in an area with Frontline-resistant fleas). Paying all that money for baths, OTC things that don’t work… really, you’d use the money better by going to the vet and/or getting the products that work.
If, after all these, the dog is still itching, then you may eventually have to really see the vet because it may be some other type of allergy. But attack the fleas first!
Its at home, will check and then post later. Its a white and purple container sold at Discount DrugMart and also Home Depot. A lot have been killed, there are jsut a few left. We borrowed a vacuum yesterday and went over the carpet.
Good! 
Put the vaccuum bag into a plastic bag and tie that sucker up tight. Double-bag, if you like. Take immediately into an outside trash receptacle. Cross fingers.
Where are the cats now - did their original owner pick 'em back up yet?
It must be flea season - we just did this!
It sounds like this is a short term situation. You might also want to buy a couple of Capstar and give one to each of the cats. They cost five buck at my local vet clinic (at least the ones for dogs do), and they kill all of the fleas that get on the animal for the next couple of days.
“How to get rid of fleas?” has been merged with this thread.
I think its called HotShot flea and bedbug spray. I will have to recheck at home but thats it. We still have some, and I will probably have to use the Raid bomb I got but having never bombed a house before, what exactly do I need to cover and clean off afterwards? Should I put all boxed food away?
We had a terrible flea problem in our house a few months ago. The dog brought them in from the outside, then gave them to the cat, and they got in the carpet. I was looking for a reasonable solution to deal with it that didn’t involve heavily toxic chemicals, wild upheavals of my life, and a lot of heavy lifting. Flea treatment companies like Terminex wanted me to sign up for a continuous service and still required that the dog and cat be removed and the house evacuated for several hours. They also wanted all sheets washed, all furniture moved away from the walls, all items removed from the floor as much as possible, etc. Then they wanted daily vacuuming with a bag vacuum because of the flea eggs, etc. That is a ridiculous amount of work and cost.
My solution to all this ridiculousness? I bought two cans of Zodiac Carpet and Upholstery spray for fleas at Petco ($19.95 each - a can treats 2,000 square feet). I moved the shoes off the floor of the closets and put them on the beds, then sprayed the floors, and beds (including the shoes), then opened the windows to ventilate. Once it was dry, I was told it was safe to be in those rooms, which took about 2-3 hours. I did spare bedrooms first and closed off those rooms. I DID NOT VACUUM. As near as I could tell, that would simply remove the chemical powder of the spray in the carpet, making it less effective, so why do that? A few days later, I took the dog and cat to get flea baths at Petco, and sprayed the rest of the house, taking up residence in the previously treated spare bedrooms. Again, I DID NOT VACUUM. That killed off the fleas in my experience. I have been treating both the cat and dog with Frontline from Costco, and that seems to work for me. I’m not sure I buy the logic of all the vacuuming/changing vacuum bags to get the flea eggs.
I would rather that the entire house have residual chemical in the carpet, which is non-toxic to the dog and cat once dry. That way, any fleas hiding in the carpet beneath the 500 lbs bookcase I can’t move will hatch into a toxic wasteland that will kill them, and while they could theoretically get lucky and jump from their little safety island of clean carpet to the cat or dog, now that they’ve been bathed and are getting the Frontline, they are not suitable hosts either, so the flea problem is gone.