fleas!!!!

[navyeyelasH]

I've just found 6 fleas in my bed (white bedding!). I have a kitten who has been given flea drops and she wasn't due a top up for 3 weeks. Just combed her through and found 9 adult fleas so have put more treatment on her.

How can I tell if they are in my bedroom? I heard about a trick with a bowl of water and a candle but I can't remember what I'm meant to do?

Also what about my mattress?! Bedding currently on a 90oc wash - bleugh!

[SecretNutellaFix]

you'll need to de-flea the carpet as well, I would do the whole house to be on the safe side.

We are currently on our 5th week of trying to get rid of the bastards.

With the warm weather, it's hatching the fleas eggs so you need to get a spray that will stop them from developing.

Are you using frontline?

[WrongName]

Eeek!
All I can say is, I hope you catch them in time.
When we bought our house the previous owners left us with the worst case of fleas our environmental health officer had seen. They came out six times to fumigate, and in the end, the seventh time, I paid for a company to come and do it. I was covered in bites.
I did read oce that for every one flea on the animal, there are thirty in your home. I hope for your sake, that it's not true. I seriously have nightmares about fleas, it was the worse thing I've had to deal with, It was when I was 6mths pregnant, and DS1 was 3mths when we were finally rid of them. Hence I have fish, no furry animals here!

Good luck.

[Mspontipine]

Euuw WrongName - that's awful - when I moved into new house I soon found it had fleas but not quite that bad!! Yes navyeyelasH you need to treat your house too. Our council used to do it for free (spray house) and some may still offer this - ours now charges. I think I got Rentakill in - costs about £50 luckily landlords paid as I'm renting and they were NOT my fleas!!

Powders from shops are useless. Can get sprays from vets but pretty expensive to spray whole house - prob cheaper to get the professionals in.

Love

Fellow flea victim xx

[navyeyelasH]

Oh bugger, I was hoping they would just go away by themselves [naive!]

I will look at what the vets have to sell, It's not frontline she has but something else the vat prescribed.

She didn't have any but managed to escape one evening through a window and I'm guessing she picked them up then. She was due to have a top up of flea treatment next Monday so it had probably worn off by the time she performed her escape act.

If they can't live off the animal don't they just die off?

[SecretNutellaFix]

not before they lay eggs in soft furnishings, so you need to use something to stop the eggs from developing when the central heating goes on in winter.

[RedOnHerHead]

Terribly sorry, but environmental bloke told me they can lay dormant for 22mths, and building work or heat can make them hatch, the worst things in the world

It wasn't the rats that killed everyone in the plague, it was the flea bites that lived on the infected rats that carried it to humans.

I would take action very soon, or you will be scratching lots!
Good luck.

[sam84uk]

My kittens just coming up to 6 months and we had the same problem.

We used Frontline but I was still finding fleas as mentioned they'll lay eggs on your soft furnishings and the Frontline can't stop the fleas jumping on your cat. They'll still bite the cat but will then die within 24 hours. I bought Indorex spray www.petmeds.co.uk/p-3454-indorex-household-flea-spray-500ml.aspx?gclid=CL2Jkq6mtKMCFQ6ElAodFgdM6A and treated the whole house. Also I made sure I vacuumed every day and so far so good. No fleas since. I just mark on the calender to make sure I don't forget to use the Frontline on her especially now she's started to go out.

[sam84uk]

I read that the fleas shouldn't be able to get inside your mattress but it might be wise to vacuum it?

[bubble2bubble]

you need one of these
Tesco usually has them

A couple of hours & it'll all be over, and you'll be sure that your whole room is well & truly defested

[navyeyelasH]

I've been hoovering like mad and am trying to limit what rooms she goes into. Still found 10 on my pillow this morning though [grim]!!

Will investigate the sprays and stuff. Can they get in my hair? Will a nit come get them out

[inabigpickle]

They dont live on humans. They will be in your carpets and soft furnishings though- yuck!!

They only get a good blood sucking bite (yuck again) off animals. But will have a half hearted nibble on a human- which you will notice if you are allergic to their saliva.

As others have said you need to speak to vet or nurse about the best way to treat your kitten. Their products are superior to others- even the frontline sold in supermarkets and chemists is not the same as that sold in the vets.

Just as important is to treat your soft furnishings with a flea spray- again I would say dont bother with anything other than something sold by your vet.

Good luck!!!

[RedOnHerHead]

Yes, those ones you buy in tescos are crap!

[MNTotoro]

Dont panic.

Make sure the cat is frontlined.
Buy Acclaim flea spray from vet and spray your whole house - including skirting boards, cracks in floor, behind sofas etc.
Hoover every day for 2 weeks.
Spray house again.
Hoover every day for another week.
Treat cat again.

Should then be gone.

Our kitten brought them in when I was pregnant with DD2. It was horrendous. I was nesting and determined the baby would not be born to a flea-ridden house.
It took us over a month to get rid of them but follow the steps above and they will go.

And do not google the life cycle of a flea as it will make you feel sick. Just trust that the egs ara a pain and they all need to DIE.

Also, a good test to see if your cat still has them is to get some wet kitchen roll, brush your cat and wipe residue on the kitchen roll. It will turn red if fleas are still biting it (from the dried blood)

[MNTotoro]

Oh yes, frontline from vet not supermarket. And defo not bob martin cheapo stuff.

[navyeyelasH]

the stuff the vet has given me is called advocate - is that bad?

Will def get some spray from vets. Do I have to change hoover bag every day too?

[MNTotoro]

Yes, I would changed hoover bags. And if you spot any random fleas put them in water and drown them - best way to get rid.

[TheMoonOnAStick]

'Stronghold' is very good and protects against other things too like earmites and, I think, heartworm.

Maybe a flea-bomb would zap them in the house?

[triplets]

Hi..........this all sounds familiar! 3 weeks ago we were all itching with fleas, two elderly cats, both frontlined, flea fogger bomb, carpet spray etc etc etc. DH went to local builders merchant and came back with an electic flea killer, just over £8, plug it in, fleas are attracted to the light, jump in and are stuck on the sticky pad.............oh yeh I said. Plugged it in, went to bed......................................51 fleas by the next mornin We now have 1 upstairs and 1 down and are down to catching 2/3 a day, no chemicals and much cheaper than sprays etc. Amazon sell them, STV flea killer at £8.59p, brilliant!

[Florin]

I think some animals are more prone to them than others. With ours its a constant battle. Frontline from the vets doesn't work for ours but now use advocate which seems to do the trick however you can't do the doses late otherwise they will get them all over again. We have had them in the past lots of hoovering then spraying (the hoovering first hatches them as spray doesn't work on eggs and then spray kills the newly hatched fleas) oh and washing whatever you can as high as you can!

[mermaidspurse]

when we were students and moved into flea infested flats we would put loads of shallow bowls down on the floor with a drop of fairy liquid in each one and boiling hot water. The fairy liguid breaks up the surface tension so the fleas can't jump out again and the hot water atracts them.

You can kill quite a few which is satisfying and also it gives you a good indication of how badly you are infested.

[SocialButterfly]

I agree with MNTotoro Acclaim is definatley the best house spray. We have recently had fleas and I spent about £40 in pets at home to no avail and I finally went to the vets who gave me some super strength flea treatment for the cats and Acclaim for the house, we seem to finally have got rid of them all.
Tis true though the eggs can lay dormant for up to 2 years and hatch at any time, so you must spray the carpets etc or they will just hatch out at a later date.
Another tip is out a flea collar in the hoover so if you suck any of them up the flea collar kills them.

[Hollie2rohan0]

Hi all just a bit if advise please I noticed quite a lot of fleas in my house so went and bought every spray under the sun washed all clothes bedding ect then I found more so went bk out and bought stay kill plus used that last Friday hadn't seen a flea for 7days until last night wen one was on my arm while I sprayed the study kill plus I washed all my kids teddys bedding clothes agen I gave done everythink I can think of help

[ProcrastinatorGeneral]

Your pets need decent flea treatment. Speak to your vet. Stronghold, advocate and effipro are good ones. You need a high strength spray too, I personally use Indorex. It's not cheap from the vets but can be bought online from places like Vet UK and is fabulous. You need to spray everywhere. Under and behind furniture, turf of your sofa cushions and do there too, small gaps in the floor/skirting. Everywhere. Good luck.

[AllToadsLeadToHome]

Don't overdose the kitten, you need to stop treating for a while or you could kill her.
Treat the entire house with a spray like Indorex or Acclaim, all cracks, under everything, curtains etc. wash bedding. Look up diatomaceous earth too.