HELP- fleas in new apartment

[em19220]

hi everyone. i just moved into my first place. i had two cats living in separate homes because of family reasons and, unfortunately, one had fleas that his medicine wasn't taking care of (sentry). i bathed him right away and have been combing him regularly. i plan on cleaning well today and getting some more preventative stuff. i informed the landlord as well and plan on chatting with pest control since they're visiting wednesday.

is there anything extra i can do in the meantime? have i done the right thing by informing the landlord. ive seen fleas get out of control in the past so i'm pretty worried about that happening. i feel bad too that i brought them with me and, if i'd known, i would've fixed the problem before bringing him.

 

[Elphaba09]

What kind of flooring do you have?

 

[em19220]

What kind of flooring do you have?

wooden! only carpeting is in the closet and on one stair leading up to the bathroom.

 

[Elphaba09]

Even though all my cats are indoor-only, we have gotten a few bad cases of fleas. My vet calls them hitchhiking fleas since they jump on someone and come inside with them. With 12 cats, it can get bad and expensive. We also have a 1923 Craftsman home with wood floors everywhere but the kitchen and bathroom. They are plank floors with gaps, not tongue and groove, giving the little suckers more places to hide. We have also had issues with medicine not working on our cats. We are at an end of a moderate case that took longer to treat because Frontline just did not work on them. We got some generic Capstar powder used by a shelter near us and some medicine from the vet. (I do not recall the name.) She said to expect more by the end of October because of how our weather has been. We are getting prepared now with preventative measures.

Vacuuming multiple times a day is the easiest solution. I started spraying some contact flea killer inside the tank part of my vacuum after the last big infestation.

Do you have a room where you can keep the cats overnight? If so, put them in there and sprinkle borax everywhere. Leave it there overnight and then vacuum it up. The next night, switch the spot for your cats and treat the other area the same way. It is one thing that really helped with fleas in our house. It did not harm our floors or area rugs. I even put it in the cracks of furniture and vacuumed it up the next day. Make sure you take off the vent covers and vacuum inside the vents as well.

Everything you can wash, treat it with flea spray before and after washing, as long as the spray is safe for pets, obviously. Make sure the temperature of the washer is set to hot. If it cannot be washed in hot, you can try washing it in the tub with some Dawn.

I have heard of spraying isopropyl alcohol and not letting your cats near it until it has completely dried, but I have not tried that yet.

 

[em19220]

Even though all my cats are indoor-only, we have gotten a few bad cases of fleas. My vet calls them hitchhiking fleas since they jump on someone and come inside with them. With 12 cats, it can get bad and expensive. We also have a 1923 Craftsman home with wood floors everywhere but the kitchen and bathroom. They are plank floors with gaps, not tongue and groove, giving the little suckers more places to hide. We have also had issues with medicine not working on our cats. We are at an end of a moderate case that took longer to treat because Frontline just did not work on them. We got some generic Capstar powder used by a shelter near us and some medicine from the vet. (I do not recall the name.) She said to expect more by the end of October because of how our weather has been. We are getting prepared now with preventative measures.

Vacuuming multiple times a day is the easiest solution. I started spraying some contact flea killer inside the tank part of my vacuum after the last big infestation.

Do you have a room where you can keep the cats overnight? If so, put them in there and sprinkle borax everywhere. Leave it there overnight and then vacuum it up. The next night, switch the spot for your cats and treat the other area the same way. It is one thing that really helped with fleas in our house. It did not harm our floors or area rugs. I even put it in the cracks of furniture and vacuumed it up the next day. Make sure you take off the vent covers and vacuum inside the vents as well.

Everything you can wash, treat it with flea spray before and after washing, as long as the spray is safe for pets, obviously. Make sure the temperature of the washer is set to hot. If it cannot be washed in hot, you can try washing it in the tub with some Dawn.

I have heard of spraying isopropyl alcohol and not letting your cats near it until it has completely dried, but I have not tried that yet.

wow this is incredibly helpful, thank you for taking the time to walk me through everything.

sentry didnt work on the one cat who has fleas so i ordered a 6 month supply of vectra for the two of them to get me thru the next 3 months. i dont see any fleas or dirt on the other cat who uses vectra so thats good. vectra is expensive but its never given me problems so i'll have to stop buying the cheaper stuff.

i will definitely purchase some flea spray and use it in the vacuum. i live in a studio apartment and already have the cats separated until they get used to each other (i have a gate between the kitchen and the main living space). it's a small space but i think i can rotate them around to do some cleaning.

as far as laundry, does that include all of my clothing? and how often did you have to do your laundry to break the flea cycle? thank you again for the help, it's helped me shed some unnecessary stress!!!

 

[Elphaba09]

You are very welcome! It includes any clothes with which your cats have had contact. Wash them and then get them so the cats cannot get to them, and one good wash should be fine until you wear those clothes. What we did was wash all the clothes they had gotten into--thankfully just the laundry basket--and then immediately put the clothes away once laundered. In the dressers, I put rosemary and lavender satchels to help repeal fleas from getting in them. When we change our clothes, the dirty ones go into a trash bag that has been sprayed on the inside with flea spray. Maybe a bit paranoid on our part, but better safe than sorry! We do that for about two weeks after the last flea has been seen.

Even some of the expensive stuff has not worked! We used Frontline plus to start and then went to the vet to get a prescription since the Frontline was not helping and four of my cats have flea allergies. (My poor Iroh is covered in scabs and lost so much hair!) Only with the combination of the prescription and the generic Capstar powder have we seen a real improvement with the fleas on the cats.

 

[em19220]

You are very welcome! It includes any clothes with which your cats have had contact. Wash them and then get them so the cats cannot get to them, and one good wash should be fine until you wear those clothes. What we did was wash all the clothes they had gotten into--thankfully just the laundry basket--and then immediately put the clothes away once laundered. In the dressers, I put rosemary and lavender satchels to help repeal fleas from getting in them. When we change our clothes, the dirty ones go into a trash bag that has been sprayed on the inside with flea spray. Maybe a bit paranoid on our part, but better safe than sorry! We do that for about two weeks after the last flea has been seen.

Even some of the expensive stuff has not worked! We used Frontline plus to start and then went to the vet to get a prescription since the Frontline was not helping and four of my cats have flea allergies. (My poor Iroh is covered in scabs and lost so much hair!) Only with the combination of the prescription and the generic Capstar powder have we seen a real improvement with the fleas on the cats.

that's a great idea with the satchels. we used to do that for mice to keep them out of our kitchen cabinets, i didn't realize it worked for fleas as well. i will certainly try all that.

and oh no your poor cat. i hope your solutions continue to help you guys!! it sounds like youve got it nailed down there. thank you again for your help and take care!