Fleas!!!

So I just moved into an apartment a few weeks ago. Haven't had any problems with fleas in over a year. I noticed Freya had been scratching a bit lately, but haven't actually seen anything on her. Buy just now I was sitting on my couch, looked down, and saw a flea on my arm. I've had a flea infestation before and want to nip this in the bud. Any advice for early intervention???

Bump

Move the cat out for a day and spray EVERYWHERE and EVERYTHING with a good flea spray.
Vacuum a few hours later.
Bring cat back and treat with Advantage, Advecta, or something similar.

Repeat the spray vacuum every two weeks for 6 to 8 weeks.
Repeat the cat treatment every month.

I will throw in here to NOT treat your cat with anything but specialized cat flea/tick formula! Dog formulas kill cats, as do cheap cat formulas, like Sergeant's.
Dawn dish soap baths, and make sure to treat your home, or the issue will reoccur.
If you treat your home, do be careful as again, cats are very sensitive to these treatments!

cryptic said:

I will throw in here to NOT treat your cat with anything but specialized cat flea/tick formula! Dog formulas kill cats, as do cheap cat formulas, like Sergeant's.
Dawn dish soap baths, and make sure to treat your home, or the issue will reoccur.
If you treat your home, do be careful as again, cats are very sensitive to these treatments!

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I typically get an oral treatment from my vet, it works great!

Die evil fleas DIE!!!!!!! I had to say it


I used a fogger during a major flea infestation (OK foggers), vacuumed daily, washed/vacuumed all bedding/sofas/chairs /cat trees/cat beds , then I washed their cat bedding weekly for 2 months just in case.

After the major vacuuming/cat bath with flea shampoo we got serious with foggers/yard poison/cheristin.

So I would just skip to that step and include a cat bath. I still wash their/my blankets every 2-4 weeks. (I place towels on their beds to catch the flea eggs and stuck the beds in the dryer after I washed the beds.) I also now use Cheristin because advantage stopped working (fleas in our area became immune to advantage.) My cats got flea baths to. Lastly because our yard was infested to, I sprinkled out flea killing pellets all over the yard. * Be sure to empty the vacuum canister into a trash bag you tie & toss. **The Advatage flea bath only killed the fleas on them at the time it did not prevent them like it said it would, I would just use head & shoulders, lather it up, hold your cat in place for 5 minutes, rinse off & apply cheristin after they dry off. I know that head & shoulders shampoo sounds like a weird choice but I swear it works. You can use baby shampoo if your cat has sensitive skin but then it will take 15 minutes for the soap suds to suffocate the fleas. When I got Dante as a wee barely weaned kitten he came with fleas. He got a head and shoulders bath before he went anywhere plus I vacuumed daily for 2 weeks. I never got a flea infestation despite having a resident cat that didn't get a bath.
Lessons From a Groomer: Shampoo for Fleas, Dandruff & More

A flea comb and some soapy water and like other ppl said a lot of cleaning/vacuuming, a treatment for the cats and protect yourself (if they bite you). I dont like chemicals so i had lemons quarter everywhere on the floor and home made flea traps (soapy water in a shallow dish with light on top for the night) ;p

get some DE food grade- you can treat the windows/door edges and cracks/crevices. you can also treat the cats and yourself with it. It's very dusty-so be careful not to clap your hands when you dip your hand in the bag. It has been used for decades with the farmers=they add to the grain to kill bugs in horse feed.

I took some on my hands and ran it back and forth on cats fur-leave it on for a bit-then brush it off-vacuum up dust. you can sprinkle on carpets=let it sit for a few days then vacuum.

I found it on Chewy recently. I used to buy it at the horse feed store Blue Seal Feeds.

DiatomaceousEarth Food Grade Powder

and the towel trick is a really good idea=get some at goodwill etc and put one on every bed your cats use=then launder=it saves from washing blankets etc=I have been doing that for a long time-you can get any color towel and most cats like laying on them. my cats love the thick plush ones=I buy them at yard sales=take home-toss in washer on HOT and voila=instant flea covers.

Don't feel bad about the fleas=every year seems they get more and more bold.

My vet recommends Revolution or Advantage 2. Also the flea comb and glass of water with dish soap in it will physically get them OFF the cat=you should do this nightly for 2 weeks.

If you want to bath the cats=don't put topical flea stuff on them otherwise it will wash off. bath them first then add the topical 48 hours AFTER the bath due to the oils in skin needing to come back from a bath if I remember correctly...