How do you handle fleas? What works?

[inanna]

It's slightly embarrassing to admit, but we've got a flea problem in my house and have been fighting it for 6 months straight.

The fleas came when I took in a pair of kittens. They were visibly infested. Since I already owned a cat and have had dogs all my life I figured I'd give the kittens a bath in flea dip and voila no fleas.

I was wrong, wrong, wrong. First I found out most flea treatments aren't for kittens. All I could do was give them Dawn dish soap baths and use a flea comb on them. Now they are older. They are bathed once a week and I'm still battling fleas. Tried different kinds of flea shampoos, dish soap, daily combing, vacuuming every cranny of my house after pouring salt on my carpet, flea collars, anything I can think of (except garlic... read that's a holistic way to help, but I'm won't risk it).

What works? This is crazy. I've read only 10% of a flea infestation is on the actual animal. Ew. Currently they are on Revolution, but I'm still combing off fleas. How do you guys battle this successfully?

 

[red top rescue]

You are right to avoid garlic.  Anything that comes in a bulb can be dangerous to cats (garlic, onion, lilies!).  I use Advantage, buying the Extra Large Dog size and breaking it down into cat doses.  When fleas are bad (many months in Georgia), I use it about every THREE weeks (the flea's life cycle is 3 weeks), not every 4 weeks.  Advantage is very safe.  You can use it on kittens as long as they don't have a mama around who will lick it off them. 

In addition, I have some food grade diotomaceous earth (DE) that I sprinkle on the floors and under the sofa cushions and in the cat beds.  I sweep it up from the floors and tiny particles of it remain between the floor boards where fleas like to breed.  It is not poisonous, it kills fleas by getting between their exoskeletal plates and causing them to leak fluid and dehydrate.  You can use it as a flea powder also, although that can make a mess of everything in the house for a couple of days.

https://www.diatomaceousearth.com/natural-flea-control-for-cats/

 

[inanna]

Thank you. This flea problem is really the pits? My cats groom each other so I'm a little weary of advantix. I've heard aboutdiotomaceous earth before but never used it. Thanks for the recommendation. I'm going to give that a try.

I'm guessing that where I'm failing is getting rid of all the eggs and larva as after a bath I won't be able to find a flea on the cats, but after 2 or 3 days I start finding them again.

 

[misterwhiskers]

Are you able to get to a vet and get Comfortis for cats? It's a pill.

As for the house, I highly recommend Precor2000. You should be able to buy it at Amazon. Use exactly as directed. One can worked in my one bedroom apartment, easily. With enough left over to use again a few weeks later as per instructions. It has an insect growth regulator which kills all life stages of the flea. Vaccuuming is vital, bc fleas emerge from hard cocoons when they sense vibrations--the igr then kills the newly hatched adult fleas.

It might take several weeks but this worked for me, except I used Revolution.

You will need to treat your cats for tapeworms too.

 

[inanna]

Yes, I am able to go to the vet. Their vet was the one who hooked me up with Revolution. I found out the hard way not all topical flea treatments are created equal. I used Sentry Purrscriptions at one point. Mistake. The rest of the package is still around. I should toss it in the trash where it belongs.

I'll look into the Precor2000. I vacuum fairly regularly, but not every day because of my odd ball work schedule.

They were given drontal the last time they were at the vet, but I'll make sure they get another dose.