Toxcicity of Borax? Foster Dog has fleas, I don't want them spreading to my cat

[hellothere1234]

Hello,

I have one grey male neutered 13 y.o cat  that I've had for 6 years. I got a small 2-3 pound 8 month old Chihuahua foster pup two days ago. Well I noticed today that he has fleas.

The owner of the rescue is bringing me flea meds and dawn soap tonight.

I was looking online that I need to make sure to vaccum multiple times and that I should use Borax on the carpet. Well then I read some more and it says it is potential toxic to cats? Are there any other natural carpet powers made to kill fleas? Also part of my house is tile and part is carpet, is there any flea killer to be used on tile?

Do you have any tips for me to prevent an infestation? Do I need to treat my cat as well? They have not cuddled or been that close, but I'm still nervous. I remember in high school my friends cat had kittens and they had a horrible flea infestation that was near impossible to get rid of and I remember how horrifying it was so I'm really nervous. I've never had an animal that got fleas before so I'm not really sure exactly what I should do.

I know the owner of the rescue will help me as well but that's not until after work so I'm just sitting here with anxiety thinking my house will be covered with fleas as soon as I get home lol.

Any advice would be extremely appreciated!!!!

Thanks!!!

 

[Columbine]

There are some great, cat safe ideas here[article="0"][/article]You could also get some cheap flea collars, cut them up and put them into your vacuum cleaner bag. This will help kill any live fleas that get sucked up while vacuuming.

Yes, I would definitely treat your cat with something like Advantage. That will make certain that the fleas don't get passed on to her.

Good luck winning the flea war

 

[hellothere1234]

There are some great, cat safe ideas here[article="0"][/article]You could also get some cheap flea collars, cut them up and put them into your vacuum cleaner bag. This will help kill any live fleas that get sucked up while vacuuming.

Yes, I would definitely treat your cat with something like Advantage. That will make certain that the fleas don't get passed on to her.

Good luck winning the flea war

Thank you I got diamatiacious earth sorry I think j spelled that wrong lol but I'm not sure if it's "food grade" can I still use and my cat will be safe? Found out the pup has worms too any suggestions for that? They were all over my couch this morning I vaccuumed them and washed all the couch pillows but I'm not sure if there is some special thing I should be doing. Thank you

 

[hellothere1234]

There are some great, cat safe ideas here[article="0"][/article]You could also get some cheap flea collars, cut them up and put them into your vacuum cleaner bag. This will help kill any live fleas that get sucked up while vacuuming.

Yes, I would definitely treat your cat with something like Advantage. That will make certain that the fleas don't get passed on to her.

Good luck winning the flea war

Oh and also found out they are ticks not fleas

 

[Columbine]

Advantage will deal with ticks as well as fleas.

The diatomaceous earth MUST be food grade. It should say somewhere on the pack.

For worms, you need to go to your vet for a wormer - the otc ones just aren't effective. It might be an idea to take the dog in for a checkup, as it sounds like he has several parasite issues. Your vet can remove the ticks for you - its tricky to do as it's all too easy to remove the body and leave the head still attached. The Advantage will kill them - its just that I personally would want to get rid of them as soon as I could...I hate the nasty little things *shudders*

To be safe, you might want to worm your cat as well as the dog - again, your vet (or the shelter) can advise you on this.

Don't stress about any of this too much - these are all pretty common in rescue/shelter animals, and are easily dealt with

 

[samus]

There are basically two grades of diatomaceous earth, food grade and filter grade. The filter grade is really cheap (used in pool filters), but it's much more irritating to the lungs and can cause lung damage. The food grade is irritating to the lungs, too, but the shape of the "crystals" is less sharp and less likely to cause long term damage.

Boric acid is safe if you use it right. With either boric acid or diatomaceous earth (personally, I mix both), the best way to treat a carpet is:

1) Lock the pets out of the room and put on a dust mask.
2) Sprinkle the powder over the carpet (and on couch cushions, etc). It only needs to be in a really thin layer. 1-2 oz should be more than enough for one room.
3) Work the powder into the carpet. A broom works pretty well for this, or the brush attachment of a vacuum for the couch. Try to get it in really deep. (This will kick up a lot of dust!!)
4) Vacuum, preferably on light/medium power. The goal is to remove the powder from the surface of the carpet, but leave some deep in the carpet fibers, where the flea larvae will hang out if any eggs end up hatching. If, when you run your hand over the carpet (or pat the couch), dust "poofs" out, vacuum again (maybe at higher power). If it's not poofing out, then your pets won't be inhaling it.
5) Take a shower and change your clothes

If you worked it really deep into the carpets, you shouldn't have to repeat it for a long time. Both boric acid and diatomaceous earth will be effective for as long as it's kept dry (as long as some remains worked into the carpet), so if you steam clean the house or something you might want to do it again.

For tile, just mop it with soapy water or whatever you normally mop with. Unless you have cracks in the grout or something, there's nowhere for fleas to lurk. (Carpet is like a forest, full of dead skin flakes and other delicacies for flea larvae to eat.) If you do have cracks, sweep dry boric acid or diatomaceous earth over the floor (and into all the cracks), then mop to get it off the surface.