We have 2 cats that have fleas. We plan on getting rid of the cats. If we do that, how long would it take for the fleas left over in the house to die off (or would they even die off)? Would we still have to flea bomb the house, or can we get away with just giving the house a good thorough cleaning? Remember… we are going to be getting rid of the cats and become a pet-free household.
So what do you think?
Growing up, we used a very low-tech way to get rid of flea infestations. Once the pet(s) had been treated, or in your case removed, the fleas were still in the carpet and feasting on us kids. Liquid dish soap and water in a shallow dish like a pie pan, placed on the floor near a nightlight. The light would attract the critters at night, they’d leap into the yummy-smelling pan to investigate and either drown or die from the soap, I was never sure which.
Typically, there’d be a crapload of dead fleas to dispose of in the morning for a night or two, then fewer and fewer as all the eggs hatched and weren’t replaced. Takes about a week, but costs pennies and Mom never had to worry about us rolling around in any chemicals from a bug-bomb.
I’ve only had one flea issue when a neighbor’s dog got real friendly with us for a while, and used the same method successfully.
Move.
Tris
I don’t know if this works if you’re not keeping the cats, but my dog has had a terrible time with fleas this summer, and I was afraid he was going to give them to the new cat. I’d tried Frontline to no effect. The shelter vet suggested Revolution, but told me that only a small portion of the fleas in your house and on your dog right now are visible adult fleas - the rest are eggs or larvae or whatever. So it takes a while for all the fleas to run through their life cycles, bite the dog, and die. So I used Revolution on him at the beginning of this month and he’s gone from dozens of fleas at a time to one or two, and I guess they’re in the process of dying. Anyway, the vet also said that the fleas would rather bite the animals, so it would also get them out of the house as long as the animals were in the house, obviously.
Sprinkle a liberal amount of 20 Mule-Team Borax™ into your carpet, and any fabric furniture. Brush it in. DO NOT VACUUM IT UP FOR AT LEAST 3 DAYS! As soon as you’ve vacuumed, sprinkle and brush again. The longer you can leave it, the better the control
It’s a desiccant, so it pulls the moisture out of both eggs and adults, killing them. NEVER put it on a pet’s skin/hair, it can dry the skin enough to crack.
This is exactly what companies like Fleabusters™ use.