Losing My Mind With Flea Issue...

[bcrossan]

So for a few days I noticed one of my two cats sleeping in areas I don't typically see her sleeping, but I figured she was wanting to move around a little. But then I noticed the scratching and licking and thought... please don't be fleas, and I got on my hands and knees... moving my hands around on the carpet in the living room and BOOM... little flea jumped onto my finger.

ARG!!!

So I contacted a friend who helps me out since I'm not a good financial situation and she ordered up some Advantage II along with a couple cans of Ultracide. I had used the Ultracide a few yrs back, when a friends 3 cats had a bad infestation and even though he had a recurrence a couple months later, we treated again and didn't see them ever again.

So vacuumed every single room and used the edge tool in each. Then gave each cat a Capstar and sprayed every room with Ultracide. Next day I put the Advantage II on them. Vacuumed every other day for 2 weeks and resprayed with the Ultracide.

Thought everything was good, but was still finding fleas on my socks and both my cats were still licking and scratching. Contacted my friend and she sent more Ultracide. Then sprayed the carpets for a 3rd time, but within a couple days I noticed a flea on my sock and then another one later on.

Contacted the company and they are sending a different kind of spray and my friend is looking into getting me some Comfortis pills to try that. I have no luck with anything... even have issues with applying the Advantage...

They say to part your pets fur and place the liquid on the skin down the part that you made, but making a part in either of my cats super dense and fluffy fur is impossible. The first dose it seemed ok for my older cat, but my younger a majority seemed to just soak right into her fur. The 2nd dose was the same for my older, but my younger I tried something different.

I tried placing it in a few different areas on her head/neck and thought everything went well. Until a couple minutes later I see her in the corner of the room licking like crazy on her shoulder... ran over and see a big wet streak, where the darned Advantage ran down he neck and down her shoulder soaking into her fur. Had to wipe up what i could with a paper towel and stuck her in a carrier for an hour to give it a chance to dry.

So I don't know what the deal is. I have been in this apartment for a yr and no issues. Now all of a sudden I have fleas and no matter what I do, outside of burning the place down. With everything I have done, there shouldn't be anything alive on my cats or on the floor! And the Advantage... I'm so fedup with that stuff and how impossible it seems to apply it without it running all over and or soaking up into the fur making the treatments not 100%.

 

[kittypa]

Testify. This is the worst flea season I've ever seen.

 

[kittypa]

Be careful with the Advantage. It’s pretty toxic. You should be able to find skin even with a superfluff cat by stroking the fur from back to front starting around the shoulders.

I did two of our cats last night. Then they got on the bed and left dead fleas all over it.

 

[silkenpaw]

You have to be persistent with fleas. You are not going to get rid of all of them from a carpet with a single vacuuming. Plus, what are you doing with the vacuum cleaner in between flea hunts? If the Ultracide isn't working then either it's gone bad or the fleas are resistant.

Please don't keep putting medications on the cats unless you are sure they won't interact. Ask your vet if you don't know. Ask him about the fleas, too. I'm sure you are not his only client battling them.

Good luck, fleas are the pits!

 

[bcrossan]

Well I figured out that they are coming possibly from 1, if not 2 locations. 1) I walked across the street to my apartments mailboxes and when I got in the door and went to take my sneaks off... a darn flea was on one of then and jumped into the carpet! ARG!

And I spoke with this woman driver for a local ride service in my area, who takes me to doctors visits and she was telling me how she has dog and cats with a flea problem and they don't even do much of anything besides spraying some of this stuff called Natural Care+ from Walmart... but that's only for carpet and she uses nothing on the cats themselves.

So I don't know what I'm suppose to do. How in the heck do you deal with fleas, when every time you step outside and then back into your home... your carting some back in with ya?

And the only meds I have been giving the cats is the Capstar at the onset, then Advantage II the next day and then reapplied the Advantage II like 3 days before the 4th week. I really wish Comfortis wasn't so expensive or I would give that a shot.

 

[KarenKat]

Fleas are terrible, and such a pain to get rid of! A few years ago we lived in an apartment complex and got some type of reoccurring superfleas.we would wash everything, vacuum and clean as much as possible. We were using Advantage II on the cats every month and the fleas came back. Eventually they got worms from the flea eggs! It was awful. By the time we moved (so a house with no carpet and hardwood floors) we ended up tossing the cat tree out entirely in case there were eggs.

I just wanted to post to say hang in there. Fleas are exhausting. For your socks/shoes, can you throw your socks right into the laundry (or if you don't have one in unit, place in a plastic bag until laundry day) and leave your shoes outside? Maybe that could help.

 

[bcrossan]

Fleas are terrible, and such a pain to get rid of! A few years ago we lived in an apartment complex and got some type of reoccurring superfleas.we would wash everything, vacuum and clean as much as possible. We were using Advantage II on the cats every month and the fleas came back. Eventually they got worms from the flea eggs! It was awful. By the time we moved (so a house with no carpet and hardwood floors) we ended up tossing the cat tree out entirely in case there were eggs.

I just wanted to post to say hang in there. Fleas are exhausting. For your socks/shoes, can you throw your socks right into the laundry (or if you don't have one in unit, place in a plastic bag until laundry day) and leave your shoes outside? Maybe that could help.

I try and give my pant legs a good wack before coming in, but who's to say if there are any on me still. I thought about trying to take shoes and socks off coming in... but they would more than likely jump off in the process.

Really trying to get help so I can get this stuff called Onslaught, which you broadcast spray on the rugs and kills for up to 3 months, along with an IGR called Precor which lasts up to 7 months. I think those, along with Advantage II would at least have me sleeping better at night. But combined it's crazy expensive and being low income sucks. Got a GoFundMe on my Facebook, hoping for some friends to come through.

Feel so bad for the furrbabies... 10 and 11 yrs old and never had to go through anything like this. Makes me want to pack my bags and move back to my home town where we never had to deal with these things.

 

[basscat]

You're not going to spray, vacuum, and treat the cats...and be rid of them.
The easy way: Vacuum EVERYTHING and EVERY place. Then Spray everything and every place. (Ultracide is the right stuff). Treat all pets. Repeat this every two weeks for 8 weeks.
The hard way: Vacuum, Spray, Vacuum, Spray, Vacuum, Switch brands of spray, Vacuum, Fog, Vacuum, Try DE, Vacuum, Switch brands again, Fog, Vacuum, Spray, Fog, Sprinkle DE, Vacuum. Every other day for 8 weeks.

Some people, such as myself, can't NOT do something every day...so...I usually end up doing things like this the hard way.
BUT, the easy way is just as effective, cheaper, and much easier.

It's 8 weeks. Doesn't matter what you do really, as long as you do something...but, 8 weeks.