Fleas For Thanksgiving- What To Do And Use?

[marmoset]

I took one of my cats in for a vet recheck today and they found a couple of fleas on him. We haven't seen any fleas at home but they must be there and of course since the vet told us we have been itching all night. That is all in our heads and we know it but both of us have been a little itchy lately and we both thought it was seasonal itchy skin from dry air. We do have 6 cats who are full-time indoor cats. I can apply revolution to just 4 of them that I can handle but there is no way I'm getting this goop on the other two.

So I called my vet back and inquired about an oral med that can be added to food for the two wild cats. We use Capstar when we do TnR but it only kills adult fleas and has a real short period of effectiveness. To treat an infestation we'd have to use it daily and that would be cost prohibitive. I found a product online called Program made by Novartis that is a once a month oral medicine that does not kill adults but affects the eggs and larvae but my local pet shop didn't have it. It's not on Chewy or Petco. Amazon has it but it takes two weeks to ship and I really don't want to wait that long to treat them. I left a message for the vet but he probably would've suggested an oral med if he knew of one. Hopefully he'll look up the drug and at least be able to research it and let me know if it is ok to use.

So for treating the home I know vacuuming constantly is in order though I don't know how it's physically possible to get behind and under each piece of furniture each day. It really seems impossible. We have baseboard heating and if the fleas are taking refuge in the fins there I don't see how to get them out. There were a lot of products for spraying and powders at the store but they all make me nervous. We did buy one permethrin spray but I don't love the idea of spraying it everywhere. I even worry about the cats inhaling diatomaceous earth.

We were supposed to have Thanksgiving here next week. Now I'm not so sure if we should. I'd hate to cancel because we had to cancel our last holiday gathering and people got angry but I'm pretty sure one of our guests has a cat that is allergic to flea bites and that cat is a senior that is already not doing well. My husband has never had to deal with fleas in the home so he is both freaking out and also under the impression we can be flea free in two days just by spraying here and there with a little bit of vacuuming and laundry because the vet said it was just a couple.

 

[FeebysOwner]

Hi. I hope your vet comes through for you on the oral treatment prospect - or, perhaps other members on this site will have some recommendations for you.

However, is it possible to treat the two wild cats with Revolution if you and your husband team up to put it on them? One of you holding them down and the other applying it? That may mean gloves, towels, etc. in order to avoid scratches and bites. Getting it on them now would help immensely in seeing a drastic change with the fleas, given you only have a week until Thanksgiving.

You might also want to walk around the house in white socks, and see if you actually can pick up some fleas. Just to give you an idea about the severity - or lack of - in the amount of fleas that are present. Way back when we lived in an apartment, that is how we determined the fleas were on their way out, after treating our cat with Advantage at that time.

Lastly, since all of your cats are indoors - what do you think is causing fleas to get in? An outdoor treatment around the house might help.

 

[marmoset]

Yes! I heard back from the vet and they have some Comfortis which is a chewable monthly tab that can be crushed into food. They don't carry it anymore but had some leftover. I have to bring one cat in tomorrow because he's got a raw wound now so we are checking if he's allergic to fleas or if he should not be getting the topical. I'm so glad we have options though!

is it possible to treat the two wild cats with Revolution if you and your husband team up to put it on them? One of you holding them down and the other applying it? That may mean gloves, towels, etc. in order to avoid scratches and bites. Getting it on them now would help immensely in seeing a drastic change with the fleas, given you only have a week until Thanksgiving.

You might also want to walk around the house in white socks, and see if you actually can pick up some fleas. Just to give you an idea about the severity - or lack of - in the amount of fleas that are present. Way back when we lived in an apartment, that is how we determined the fleas were on their way out, after treating our cat with Advantage at that time.

Lastly, since all of your cats are indoors - what do you think is causing fleas to get in? An outdoor treatment around the house might help.

Our two difficult to handle cats are in various stages of taming down from being feral. One of them might be a true feral with no prior exposure to people. She was only spayed on the 5th and she had no fleas so the vet didn't apply revolution then- we regret that now! The other one is a reverted-feral who is coming around to some petting but is dangerous to restrain. Our vet got bit and she fought her way out of the towel running and urinating and defecating everywhere.

Going around the house we don't see fleas so far. I haven't tried or thought of the white sock trick but I've put down sheets of white computer paper. I did see dirt on our cats neck last night and viola today he's got a wound so he's going in tomorrow. It doesn't look like a scratch wound so he might be allergic to flea bites.

How they got in- well we have community cats and we feed a colony that lives behind our home, we also work at a cat shelter (both me and my husband) so they could've hitched a ride from outside or from work. It's never happened before in all our years of doing TnR and colony caretaking or shelter work. Also the newest cat came in from outside- the vet didn't see fleas and she closely inspects when the cat is under and she was treated twice with Capstar when she came in but she could've had eggs on her- though I doubt it because she's still quarantined and was flea free on the 5th. I'm willing to bet she doesn't have them yet. So it probably did come from outdoors (most likely) or the shelter (remotely possible though new cats from outside go into an ISO ward and get treated for everything and only move into general pop after they are medically cleared of...everything!).

I think this year was worse for insects outdoors because our weather was so perfect for everything to keep breeding (it's been a rough year for feral cats as well here) and the warm humid season was prolonged. We had mosquitos in the home as well for the first time in my life. So I think treating the yard for all these things is going to have to happen I just need anything used to be safe for cats. If fleas were ever going to make it indoors this is the year that I should've anticipated it.

 

[Kflowers]

It's possible that if you treat the 4 you won't need to treat the other two. In my experience putting the flea meds on the dogs meant I didn't need to put it on the cats. Just putting it on the dogs got rid of the fleas.

I have no idea why this works, but it's working right now for us. It might work for you.

 

[spac]

Last year I was able to successfully get rid of fleas simply by dehydrating them. They can't survive if the humidity is over 40% (might be 50%) for a certain amount of days. I'm not sure what the number of days is, but it has to be consistent low humidity. When the heat runs in my house, the humidity level gets low. I did read that some people use dehumidifiers.

Food grade Diatomaceous Earth should also be able to dehydrate them. I've never used it, but I'm sure someone around here has.

 

[marmoset]

It's possible that if you treat the 4 you won't need to treat the other two. In my experience putting the flea meds on the dogs meant I didn't need to put it on the cats. Just putting it on the dogs got rid of the fleas.

Well I'm working with the vet. So far we've seen three of them just in the last two days. Two say we should hire an exterminator and one says we don't need to bomb becuase he doesn't think the infestation is all that bad. But they ALL say that all the cats should be treated. It's quite a bang on our wallet. As we had to buy 3 different boxes because our cats are different weights and some need oral tablets instead of topical.

Last year I was able to successfully get rid of fleas simply by dehydrating them. They can't survive if the humidity is over 40% (might be 50%) for a certain amount of days. I'm not sure what the number of days is, but it has to be consistent low humidity. When the heat runs in my house, the humidity level gets low. I did read that some people use dehumidifiers.

Food grade Diatomaceous Earth should also be able to dehydrate them. I've never used it, but I'm sure someone around here has.

Well the air is certainly dry. If humidity is what they love then they sure loved this spring/ summer and fall with our extended heat and wet weather. I will play with this idea if our own skin can take it. We do have a dehumidifier.

 

[Kflowers]

If you hire an exterminator look to see if they have a statement about pets. You might want to board your cats at the vet the day it's done and the next one. Same if you flea bomb the house.

We flea bombed the house and sat on the front porch in 40F weather for several hours surrounded by the cats in their carriers. When we went back in the house the cats went for the heat vents. The fleas remained unfazed. Apparently, they didn't get the memo. (this was before we had dogs and before the topicals for cats, when the only flea meds were collars with a rather bad rep.

 

[FeebysOwner]

Even though you have sources of entry to your house because of the feral colony and because you both work at a shelter, if you can get all of the cats treated, I still don't believe bombing your house is necessary.

Have you considered those disposable booties to wear at the shelter? Also, aren't there sprays that kill fleas that you could spray on your booties/shoes/pants legs before entering your home? Could help at least minimize the amount being brought in.

But, again, the cats get treated and over time there will be no permanent fleas in your home. Of course, not necessarily likely before mid-next week... I am not even sure that bombing the house at this point is going to remedy the problem for Thanksgiving.

 

[FeebysOwner]

Oh, yeah, I think I mentioned the apartment I used to live in where we were tracking fleas in? Once my cat was treated, no more problem - and, I am sure we were still tracking them in. Never bombed the apartment either...

 

[marmoset]

I just got off the phone with the exterminator. It wouldn't be a bomb. More like a hand pump spray. He says that he is getting more and more flea calls, more each year for the last five years because the fleas are adapting to the topical treatments that are being used and this year is the worst.

We don't use disposable booties at the shelter unless we are working a shift in the ISO room. I'm an ISO backup person but my area is general pop. I think the yard will have to be treated for certain. I really doubt we got the fleas from the shelter. It's such a clean well-run one. Nothing goes in our out of ISO without a bleach water bath and the protocols are strict. This most likely came from outside. This year the dog population in the neighborhood has exploded. They are all pets but dogs are indoors and outdoors by default. And heck everything was breeding at peak levels- all wildlife because of the extended good weather and constant rain.

We are cancelling Thanksgiving. No one is grateful for getting fleas as as their goody-bag!

 

[marmoset]

Oh, yeah, I think I mentioned the apartment I used to live in where we were tracking fleas in? Once my cat was treated, no more problem - and, I am sure we were still tracking them in. Never bombed the apartment either...

See, it's good to hear from people who have not had nightmare experiences. Like we had ringworm here when we first got our female. It was nothing. We didn't really do anything extra and now that we've been working at the shelter for so long we know ringworm is just a part of rescue but we were really freaked out when our cat had it before we knew what we know now.

 

[maggiedemi]

They can't survive if the humidity is over 40% (might be 50%) for a certain amount of days. I'm not sure what the number of days is, but it has to be consistent low humidity. When the heat runs in my house, the humidity level gets low. I did read that some people use dehumidifiers.

Interesting. So how long does it take to kill the fleas with the dehumidifier?
Also, how do you get low humidity with the heat? We have a wood furnace.

 

[Kflowers]

Air conditioners dry out the air to make it cooler, so the furnace doing so makes no sense, but gas and electric ones do. We live where 45 F is considered cold and the heat dries out our skin, our hair and the fleas. I suppose that's the trade off.

 

[marmoset]

Wood burning is very drying so I think that'd work too. But I'm not sure if it would just dry the room or floor the furnace is on. It's been a long time since we had one.