Best way to de-flea an apartment

[olivesmom]

Hi,

Hope this post is in the right place. Just got back from the vet and Olive has a tapeworm poor baby, wonder if that's why she's been crying periodically. I thought it was because she was bored, but maybe she was uncomfortable. 

Anyways. I know about vacuuming and cutting up a flea collar inside the bag to kill the fleas. I also have some carpet powder to put onto the carpet as a treatment before vacuuming. I'm also planning on completely changing out her litter now, and then again in a couple of weeks. 

Going to wash all my bed sheets and stuff that she regularly lays on. 

Can I powder treat her cat tree? or would it be best to just straight vacuum it. 

Also, I'm wondering if I need to launder all of my clothes that are in my apartment (like all the clean ones hanging in closets etc?) and kitchen and bath towels etc or is that over kill?

I mean I don't want her to be infested with fleas, but I do understand that she may get one or two, but I definitely don't want her to get any parasites!

I plan on wiping down all hard surfaces that she might have walked on (mostly for myself and the ick factor) but I know that fleas and tapeworms won't really be living on these surfaces. 

They put advantage on her at the vet, and I will bath her in a week or so with dawn dish soap (our groomer uses it to kill fleas). I have a flea and tick shampoo, but I'm afraid that might be double dosing on top of the advantage as it says that it kills flea eggs for up to 30 days. 

So what do you guys think, am I missing anything? Any tips tricks?

Does anyone know of pet safe or non-toxic cleaners that are effective? I would love to be able to use baking soda or white vinegar as I've heard these are great cleaners. However, I have left over 409 cleaner (last of my non-green cleaners) that I was planning on using to be safe. 

Thanks a bunch for reading that whole thing!

 

[olivesmom]

What do we think about hanging a few flea collars in my clothes closet? so I don't have to wash all the clothes? 

leaving these out around the house should be safe for the cat as long as she doesn't eat the pieces right?

 

[princessesme]

Last year we had a crazy flea infestation when we moved into a new house. I'm thankful that we didn't have pets at the time, but in combination with the powders and sprays, we used Borax in any carpeting we had and in between couch cushions and the bed. Since I don't think it is safe for pets if they were to ingest it, I would maybe only use it in between your couch cushions and in between the mattresses since they can't get in there anyway.

As far as clean clothes are concerned, I cleaned them. The infestation was so bad that I hadn't a clue were they all were so I took a hit on the water, electric, and addtl detergent and said id rather be safe then sorry (if they laid eggs anywhere).

Good luck!

 

[olivesmom]

Thanks!

I actually ended up washing any clothes that could have come into contact with her and possibly gotten eggs, but after speaking to the vet, I feel more confident that she some how only had a few fleas and just ate the one that got her a tape worm. 

I work at a dog daycare, and we recently had a dog with a tapeworm, so I'm thinking that maybe I carried a flea or two home with me.  

So far still vacuuming every other day and just trying to be patient. I haven't seen any evidence of fleas, no flea dirt, no dead fleas (even after application of advantage). Flea combed her and didn't find any eggs or flea dirt, so I am hopeful that I've nipped this in the bum and after a week or two of constant vacuuming that we will be in the clear (and my downstairs neighbors won't hate me!)

I'm going to try making a flew trap in a few days to see what happens since they seem pretty simple. 

 

[olivesmom]

Just wanted to post this article I found: 

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2007/12/071217111010.htm

It basically states that vacuuming up fleas is a good way to kill them.