Ugh.
So, for the first time our 2 indoor cats have fleas. Vet says most likely Casper picked it up from their office since he's there 2x a week. And, many of the dog owners are not very polite about keeping their dogs firmly leashed nearby; many let them bum rush his carrier and it's possible a flea or more could have made the easy leap over to him. Or could have been some other method; I mean our cat sitters have a cat and a dog so it's probably not worth speculating. Done is done.
I think we caught it fairly fast though, Casper was only itching for less than 2 weeks. I thought it seemed out of character for him and he seemed kind of "down", more so than usual (he's elderly and has several diseases he's dealing with). Glad I brought him in fast because sure enough the vet found a flea, and some dirt on him which meant of course Cocoa also would have them. We personally have not experienced any itching - never noticed a single bug anywhere at all.
She gave him Revolution, and gave me a vial for Cocoa also plus another 2 more months worth for each of them. Told us what to do at home more or less also and we also looked online but wow, how daunting.
So, thus far we've done the following and I'm hoping it's enough:
12 loads of laundry - hot water, dryer - all the bedding, blankets, throws, clothing, etc.
Threw out all the cat beds and bought new ones which are all machine washable now.
Threw out the small cat tree which had carpet on it, bought a new one. The other one is made out of wood so we felt it would be ok
Washed the covers of the window perches in the washer/dryer
Vacuumed the few area rugs we have, bundled them up for storage.
We do NOT have any carpet in the house. Just hardwood and tile. Vacuumed all floors.
We have a professional cleaning service coming tomorrow to go over the entire house with a super duper vacuum system and wash everything down.
Put the ripple rug into the freezer - this, at the suggestion of the creator who has been just lovely to deal with. The rug is made from recycled plastic so actually nothing should live in it but to be safe, he said freezing it for 5 days would kill anything that might be in it (eggs/larve). Then we'll give it a quick rinse.
We've been flea combing the cats 2x a day. By the 3rd day we weren't finding any fleas on them at all. Zero, no flea dirt, no eggs, nada. I'll keep that up daily though since they enjoy it. Cocoa is difficult though as she's long haired. Getting the flea comb through all of her is a chore. Good thing she really enjoys the attention.
Come spring I'll probably hire an exterminator to do the yard just to be sure we don't track any bugs into the house inadvertently.
So far, I'm feeling kind of cautiously confident that we caught this early before a severe infestation took hold; but I'm well aware they have a life cycle and that there probably are eggs/larve still in the house which will have to make their way through that cycle hence the cats needing to be on the Revolution for several months and, I've now decided, for life.
We'll be stepping up our laundry too - we tend to be a bit lazy about doing the bedding weekly but I made it clear to my husband that for now, at minimum the sheets have to be changed (we have plenty of sets thankfully) and the blankets washed weekly.
My husband is no fan of bombing the house which I suggested, so I guess we're at a wait and see and keep our fingers crossed phase. I don't believe any of those natural methods really work after doing research - for me, better living through chemicals. Hoping that this goes better than everything I've read everywhere because it really seems incredibly difficult to eradicate.
So, for the first time our 2 indoor cats have fleas. Vet says most likely Casper picked it up from their office since he's there 2x a week. And, many of the dog owners are not very polite about keeping their dogs firmly leashed nearby; many let them bum rush his carrier and it's possible a flea or more could have made the easy leap over to him. Or could have been some other method; I mean our cat sitters have a cat and a dog so it's probably not worth speculating. Done is done.
I think we caught it fairly fast though, Casper was only itching for less than 2 weeks. I thought it seemed out of character for him and he seemed kind of "down", more so than usual (he's elderly and has several diseases he's dealing with). Glad I brought him in fast because sure enough the vet found a flea, and some dirt on him which meant of course Cocoa also would have them. We personally have not experienced any itching - never noticed a single bug anywhere at all.
She gave him Revolution, and gave me a vial for Cocoa also plus another 2 more months worth for each of them. Told us what to do at home more or less also and we also looked online but wow, how daunting.
So, thus far we've done the following and I'm hoping it's enough:
12 loads of laundry - hot water, dryer - all the bedding, blankets, throws, clothing, etc.
Threw out all the cat beds and bought new ones which are all machine washable now.
Threw out the small cat tree which had carpet on it, bought a new one. The other one is made out of wood so we felt it would be ok
Washed the covers of the window perches in the washer/dryer
Vacuumed the few area rugs we have, bundled them up for storage.
We do NOT have any carpet in the house. Just hardwood and tile. Vacuumed all floors.
We have a professional cleaning service coming tomorrow to go over the entire house with a super duper vacuum system and wash everything down.
Put the ripple rug into the freezer - this, at the suggestion of the creator who has been just lovely to deal with. The rug is made from recycled plastic so actually nothing should live in it but to be safe, he said freezing it for 5 days would kill anything that might be in it (eggs/larve). Then we'll give it a quick rinse.
We've been flea combing the cats 2x a day. By the 3rd day we weren't finding any fleas on them at all. Zero, no flea dirt, no eggs, nada. I'll keep that up daily though since they enjoy it. Cocoa is difficult though as she's long haired. Getting the flea comb through all of her is a chore. Good thing she really enjoys the attention.
Come spring I'll probably hire an exterminator to do the yard just to be sure we don't track any bugs into the house inadvertently.
So far, I'm feeling kind of cautiously confident that we caught this early before a severe infestation took hold; but I'm well aware they have a life cycle and that there probably are eggs/larve still in the house which will have to make their way through that cycle hence the cats needing to be on the Revolution for several months and, I've now decided, for life.
We'll be stepping up our laundry too - we tend to be a bit lazy about doing the bedding weekly but I made it clear to my husband that for now, at minimum the sheets have to be changed (we have plenty of sets thankfully) and the blankets washed weekly.
My husband is no fan of bombing the house which I suggested, so I guess we're at a wait and see and keep our fingers crossed phase. I don't believe any of those natural methods really work after doing research - for me, better living through chemicals. Hoping that this goes better than everything I've read everywhere because it really seems incredibly difficult to eradicate.