Most time saving & effective flea removal treatment

[jahzara]

Hi all.
My cats are indoor only and got fleas recently, I believe due to having brought in an injured baby squirrel into our home.
My health has been poor this last year and it was extremely difficult to flea bust this last weekend. I am worried if they might come back or not.
I vacuumed all carpeting and furniture and sprayed them with Biospot. Swept and mopped (probably wasnt necessary, but needed doing anyway.) I did a ton of laundry, about 15 loads of things like bedding and clothes. And they got flea treatments of Advantage & will be getting them again in a week just to be extra safe. I used a flea comb on them yesterday and didnt find any fleas and have been finding tons of dying fleas everywhere. Yay.

So my question to you all is, what do your flea treatments look like? What are the easiest methods that will reduce energy spent, as I have very limited amounts of it, sadly..

We have also bagged up soft things, like collars, soft toys, and throw pillows.
I have a few other questions I am wondering if anyone knows the answers to.
How long should I keep these items bagged up?
Do fleas die in below freezing temperatures?
Do clean clothes that were hanging in closets need to be rewashed or bagged up?
What about shoes, seeing as they have cloth in them?

Thanks in advance, everyone. =]

 

[JamesCalifornia]

~ The 15 loads of laundry not withstanding , my flea patrol is just about like yours. I spray with a growth inhibitor about every two weeks and use Frontline Plus. I also spray the outdoor kitty beds and patio. The key is stopping the life cycle. I read fleas like dark places - so I make sure to spray under the beds & furniture.
Wishing you a strong recovery & better health

 

[FeebysOwner]

Sorry for the long post...

Maybe this web site will have some helpful information for you (see link below). It has a lot of good information in it, and really stresses vacuuming all the time, especially in areas that cat(s) frequent after the initial full scale treatments are done. I don't think it specifically addresses all of your questions, but it will tell you to de-clutter (one of my big issues that has not been rectified).

Re closets: I vacuumed the closet floors and sprayed them with a spray containing IGR (Insect Growth Regulator - renders eggs/larvae/pupae incapable of developing into adults, and sterilizes the adults as well) but did not wash the clothes hanging in them nor did I do anything with the shoes. And, since all of the other treatments to my house, yard, and Feeby, I still see an occasional flea - either dead or dying (mostly on Feeby); and my catastrophe with fleas began around early July.

Re bagging stuff up: If all the items in the bag were not treated with an IGR spray you could have flea larvae in them that are dormant and can be reactivated months and months and months later when the bags are opened. I am not sure about the freezing temp issue as that does not typically happen in my area - the web site may have some comments on that aspect. I do have a large bed spread that has been bagged in my garage with temps over 100 degrees, but I am still planning on washing it - I just have to take it to a laundromat as it is too big for my washer.

I washed all the bedding in hot water and dried on the hottest setting on my dryer. Any blankets/towels used by Feeby were also washed the same way. Any furniture that was cloth was vacuumed and then thoroughly sprayed with IGR. I vacuumed every inch of the house initially, used the IGR spray to follow on the carpeting/rugs, and then vacuumed every 3 days afterward. I immediately treated Feeby (Advantage II), and finally got around to spraying the entire yard with Bayer Complete Insecticide Killer. I have since sprayed IGR every two months on all the areas Feeby frequents, but I have lessened the frequency of vacuuming to once a week.

FleaScience

 

[Rhall]

Advantage.

 

[njg55]

I'm not 100% certain, but I think I have a flea problem too. Ironically, the first sign of a problem was that I suddenly developed a couple dozen insect bites on my legs, arms, and shoulders, despite the fact that it's winter and those areas are for the most part not exposed. I initially thought the culprit was bed bugs, although we've never had them in our house, but now I'm much more strongly leaning toward fleas. I have yet to see a live flea on any of my four cats, but I swear I've scratched off a few from myself. I've been aggressively vacuuming and doing laundry, an approach recommended for bed bugs and fleas. All the pets (we also have a dog) get monthly flea prevention treatment, and the vet tech I spoke to today said I could give it to the cats every 3 weeks instead of 4 if I think there's definitely a problem. My question basically is what else to do. The vet tech said she didn't think a bug bomb would do much good or recommend any kind of spraying, etc., but I noticed that many people in this forum do these kinds of things. I desperately want to nip this thing in the bud but also don't want to go into overdrive and introduce a lot of chemicals into the house. My thought is to continue vacuuming every day or two, frequently wash bedding, cat beds, loose throws, etc., and use a flea comb on the cats. If that doesn't seem to help, I could move on to more aggressive approaches. I haven't had a repeat of the multiple bites that seemed to hit me all at once, although I think I've had a few new ones in the week or so since the initial onslaught, but no one else in the family has reported any bites at all. Guess I'm just unlucky to be more attractive to these pests.

 

[basscat]

Spray EVERYTHING with Precor or PT Ultracide or even something like Raid (if that's all you can get)... every two weeks for two months. And topical treatment pets.
Doing more than that just helps most people's sanity.
Doing much of anything less than that probably won't be 100% effective.

You can do it the easy way (above), or the hard way (spray, bomb, clean, wash, scrub, vacuum, brush, comb, treat.....non stop for two months). Both methods will rid you of fleas in about 8 weeks time.

 

[ArchyCat]

One tip I remember from the past: if your vacuum cleaner collects everything it picks up in a canister or bag, put a flea collar in the canister/bag. It will kill any live fleas the vac picks up. I don't know about the collar killing lava or eggs.

 

[Meowmee]

Hi all.
My cats are indoor only and got fleas recently, I believe due to having brought in an injured baby squirrel into our home.
My health has been poor this last year and it was extremely difficult to flea bust this last weekend. I am worried if they might come back or not.
I vacuumed all carpeting and furniture and sprayed them with Biospot. Swept and mopped (probably wasnt necessary, but needed doing anyway.) I did a ton of laundry, about 15 loads of things like bedding and clothes. And they got flea treatments of Advantage & will be getting them again in a week just to be extra safe. I used a flea comb on them yesterday and didnt find any fleas and have been finding tons of dying fleas everywhere. Yay.

So my question to you all is, what do your flea treatments look like? What are the easiest methods that will reduce energy spent, as I have very limited amounts of it, sadly..

We have also bagged up soft things, like collars, soft toys, and throw pillows.
I have a few other questions I am wondering if anyone knows the answers to.
How long should I keep these items bagged up?
Do fleas die in below freezing temperatures?
Do clean clothes that were hanging in closets need to be rewashed or bagged up?
What about shoes, seeing as they have cloth in them?

Thanks in advance, everyone. =]

It takes a month because any eggs left can hatch up until then. So keep vacumming weekly if not daily and washing things. I recommend throwing everything away that can be and buying new things. It is worth it to get over a bad infestation. They need to be retreated at 30 days supposedly, although last time I did not do that. I never give my cats any treatment now, just bathe if needed, vacuum, clean etc. I never had in the past and then with Syb who is longhair we had a problem. I figured out to shave her in spring and then stopped all treatments again because 3 of my kitties got cancer and I became very ill. I regret using it more recently again with Quinn who came home with fleas because he got sick with tummy troubles etc. vomiting immediately after. Now I use nothing again, and will only use a bath if ever needed(hopefully not) and clean. Don’t forget to throw out the vacuum bag immediately after.

 

[njg55]

Spray EVERYTHING with Precor or PT Ultracide or even something like Raid (if that's all you can get)... every two weeks for two months. And topical treatment pets.
Doing more than that just helps most people's sanity.
Doing much of anything less than that probably won't be 100% effective.

You can do it the easy way (above), or the hard way (spray, bomb, clean, wash, scrub, vacuum, brush, comb, treat.....non stop for two months). Both methods will rid you of fleas in about 8 weeks time.

Can someone explain the details of spraying? Are you referring to a carpet/upholstery spray? Does everyone (people and pets) have to leave the house for a while after this done? When is it safe for pets to sleep on a treated surface, like a couch or chair? I have four cats and live in a large house, and since presumably the whole house would need to be treated at more or less the same time, there's no place for the pets to go while any particular room is being treated. They're indoor cats, so I couldn't just shoo them out for a few hours (unless we put them in carriers and chose a warmish, non-rainy day). I'm reaching the point where I want to do more than vacuum and go through multiple loads of laundry every day, so I want to understand how to step up to the next level. What about foggers? I know we'd have to leave if we do that. But are they effective? Should you use both foggers and spray, perhaps spaced apart ts the house isn't overloaded with chemicals?

 

[basscat]

Can someone explain the details of spraying? Are you referring to a carpet/upholstery spray? Does everyone (people and pets) have to leave the house for a while after this done? When is it safe for pets to sleep on a treated surface, like a couch or chair? I have four cats and live in a large house, and since presumably the whole house would need to be treated at more or less the same time, there's no place for the pets to go while any particular room is being treated. They're indoor cats, so I couldn't just shoo them out for a few hours (unless we put them in carriers and chose a warmish, non-rainy day). I'm reaching the point where I want to do more than vacuum and go through multiple loads of laundry every day, so I want to understand how to step up to the next level. What about foggers? I know we'd have to leave if we do that. But are they effective? Should you use both foggers and spray, perhaps spaced apart ts the house isn't overloaded with chemicals?

Do a room (or a few rooms) at a time. Spray a room, close it off, and leave it alone for 24hrs. Then it's safe for pets to use the room again.
The way "I" do it is to put the pets outside in the morning, spray EVERYTHING, and then leave the house for the day. Come home that night and let everybody back in.
Foggers are easier, but spraying seems to work better I think.
Either way, it's EIGHT WEEKS. If you spray/fog every two weeks and do nothing else...or if your work your tail off every day....it's still going to take 8 weeks.

 

[daones]

I just got this problem, I mean have had my first cat already 6 years and never had fleas... i think it is because we let a mother cat we took in we started letting her go out a few minutes a day. Suddenly my girlfriend noticed our oldest has fleas when she was petting her seen them jumping... Then today notice alot of our other cats are scratching.

I am thinking of getting advantage soon, but since they all like to groom each other should we keep the one we apply the advantage to separated for 24 hours or is it okay for them to carry on as normal?

Also we dont have any carpeting in the house, we do have one rug but the rest is tile floors in the house.