Fleas Help!!

[nansiludie]

So, this year has been absolutely horrible with fleas. Ticks, so and so but fleas, my goodness, they will not die! I've used Advantage II on the cats and dogs, raid flea and tick on carpets, DE powder in the beds and vacuuming twice daily most days. I do have carpet. I did use flea shampoo on everyone two days before they were due for re application of advantage. I'm flea combing 15 to 20 fleas off a cat a day. I am planning on getting capstar for a little bit and seeing how it goes. If anyone has any advice please share. I would like to ask about Precor, I've seen the spray and also the concentrate. I would probably get the concentrate as its a bit cheaper for the amount I need to cover. Flea foggers are not an option.

 

[abyeb]

I think it sounds like you’re doing a great job already!

This article gives some helpful advice: Cat Fleas

 

[nansiludie]

I've seen Black Flag flea spray in walmart. Should I try that or Precor?

 

[basscat]

Use whatever you can until you get some Precor, then use that.
You can give them a capstar, put them on a white sheet, and see every flea that falls off. They will be flea free (much like after a good long bath).
Then, the next day, new ones will have jumped on. SO...don't capstar them.
Just continue with the Advantage once a month, and Precor spray EVERYTHING....every two weeks for a couple months.
You just won't be rid of them "completely" for at least 8 weeks.
Vacuum and do other things along the way if you want. It won't hurt, but, it will drive ya nuts.

 

[basscat]

You can place white shallow saucers/plates around corners of rooms and check them every morning to find the "REALLY BAD" problem areas.
Just a skim of water and a drop of dishwashing liquid in each bowl.
If there are fleas near, they will be floating in the dishes every morning.
This will tell you where to concentrate your efforts

 

[maggiedemi]

Capstar was useless for me. I would stick with the topicals that keep killing fleas that jump on from the carpet.

 

[ArchyCat]

Many years past (late 70s), I moved into an apartment with shag carpet (UGH!). First morning, I woke, sat up on the side of the bed, put my feet on the floor And within two seconds, BAM! Breakfast (me) was served! Fleas. I bought a carpet rake and a canister of Sargent's Flea Powder for Dogs. Heavily sprinkled on problem areas and used the rake to work the powder into the carpet. No more problems.

I do believe Chewy's has several carpet treatments you can try. I wonder if shampooing the rug would help? Then treat it with some form of carpet powder.

 

[jen]

Capstar was useless for me. I would stick with the topicals that keep killing fleas that jump on from the carpet.

Did you use it properly? It only lasts like 24 hours killing adult fleas and nothing more. You have to use a topical along with it for continuous protection. Capstar is just for instant relief.

 

[maggiedemi]

Yeah, that's why I don't see the point of Capstar. I had to use a topical anyway.

 

[Jack B]

Hello My Friends
I used to live at the beach and my yard was grass and sand. The perfect enviroment for fleas. I put advantage on the cats and dogs. I put stuff on the carpet. But the fleas were winning. Someone suggested spraying the yard. In those days you could still get Malathion, stinks to high heavens, very effective!. Well, I sprayed the yard with my Hudson sprayer, no more fleas. I kept all the little knot heads inside for several days after spraying. Spraying the yard was the most effective thing. After all, the fleas have to get through the yard before they can get into the house. Im sure there are some good sprays available.
Jack

 

[basscat]

You can still get Malathion. And yeah, just the lingering smell will self assure you, and your neighbors that you mean business.

 

[Marlow cat]

We have had to deal with fleas several times. The first step is determining if our cat had fleas. The most obvious behavioral sign is scratching. So then we look for physical evidence. We would put a light- solid colored pillowcase or sheet where are cat sleeps. This makes it easier to spot live fleas. Look for them the moment your cat gets up because the fleas hide. Using a flashlight really helps. Then lift the sheet carefully to make all the dirt and stuff roll into the middle of the sheet. Look carefully at what is there. The flea eggs fall off a cat since they are not sticky. They are very tiny like the size of a pinhead. They are perfect looking translucent white eggs. Using a strong magnifying glass will help you to see them. The other thing to look for is brownish reddish looking dirt. This is the excrement from the flea which is made up mostly of blood. It is about a millimeter in length. Again, a very strong magnifying glass will help here.

Getting rid of the fleas.
Fleas only spend about 5 to 10% of their life on a cat. We have found that using a flea comb rarely pulls them off. We can usually get rid of the fleas without using chemicals or pills. We think the fleas mostly hide and live in our cats bedding. So every time he gets up we first check for live fleas and eggs and then throw his bedding into dryer for 15 minutes to kill them . We also do vacuuming. This has work quite effectively.

 

[basscat]

If you bathe your cat and the water turns a deep burgundy color.....you have a bad flea problem.

 

[Notacrazycatlady]

Table salt.
I have my kitten on Revolution and he's been on it since I took him in back in April. I took my niece's cat, Riddle, in temporarily while they move and he's extremely allergic to flea bites and the Frontline they were using wasn't cutting it. He was covered with fleas when I brought him to my place (and promptly got him in to my vet for Capstar and Revolution). The next problem was to evict the fleas that came with him. After a lot of research, I found that table salt dries out the fleas and they essentially die of dehydration. I tried it because I didn't have to worry about hurting the cats or trying to keep them out of an area/hallway while I was treating the carpets.

I just sprinkled table salt liberally on all of the carpets in the apartment, making sure to hit the areas behind and under furniture where Riddle had hidden himself those first days. Let the salt sit overnight. Vacuum thoroughly and then reapply the salt to the carpet and upholstery (as long as it doesn't get wet it won't affect the fabric). I left the second round of salt to sit for a couple of days and then vacuumed again. Adult fleas (from my research into the problem) can live up to 100 days without a meal but the newly-hatched larvae, which hatch in 2-3 days, need a blood meal fairly quickly. Within four days of using the salt, flea bait traps were coming up consistently empty, so it worked well for me.