Fleas on the baby eeeeeeeeeeeeeek!

[makedoandmend]

Bloody cat has got fleas again and I've been picking them off 7mo dd for the last couple of days (she even swallowed one today - can they get worms that way or have i made that up?)

Does anyone know of a safe de-fleaing substance for house and cat. We don't have anywhere we can put the cat while it's being treated(none of the rooms in our new house have doors that shut - drives me nuts).

And does anyone want the cat?

[moaningminnie2020]

When my cat was heavily infested I bought some tablets in a pink packet that make all the current fleas on the cat die, plus combing with flea comb, and these cans of fleakiller to do the house, they are like'flea bombs' or something? Pets at Home had all the gear. Its vile I know I got bitten by them too.
Not sure about the worms sorry

It was this and something similar to this

[Tangle]

Have you talked to your vet? They should be best placed to recommend you suitable product(s) and should be able to answer your question re. worms (I'm pretty sure that fleas can't spread worms but it would be as well to check if you're worried).

My outlaws use frontline on their dogs - just put a couple of drops on the back of their neck (where they can't reach it) once a month and it turns the pet into flea-killers (and keeps them clear of ticks and lice at the same time)! According to their website, clearing the house as well can take a bit longer as there are no products that are effective against flea larvae so you have to wait for them all to hatch out - but if the cat is treated then as soon as they hatch and try and feed they'll keel over... You can minimise the problem by hoovering VERY thoroughly to remove as many eggs as you can.

[nicm]

we bought a spray from the vets. sprayed everywhere and then did the same thing 3 weeks later. got frontline for the cat too. then put the drops on the cat every 4 weeks. good luck. i found one on ds arm

[FairMidden]

Go and see your vet. Frontline Combo will be much better than Frontline, because it will help to control any environmental infestation by breaking the lifecycle. Combining this with a household spray such as Indorex or Acclaim will zap the little blighters.

You don't want to faff around if they're louping all over your baby. The above products work quickly and easy to use. A good tip is to keep the house warm and hoover daily for 7 days after using the household spray - the vibrations and heat encourage any eggs to hatch and then the spray will get 'em.

[ravenAK]

Gosh yes, ds was an August baby, our house was bloody infested. Remember all too vividly having a monumental mother of pfb meltdown at discovery of fleas crawling on ds's 4 day old face...

Get to the vet's - flea treatments need to be updated every so often because the buggers develop immunity, so if you can buy it OTC it won't work. Frontline's good.

& then just keep hoovering. It really is a PITA.

[beanieb]

don't forget to worm the cat as well as de-fleaing as you have to break the cycle of flea larvae -> actual fleas.

[ravenAK]

Oh & If you're spraying with Indorex etc, what I do is to start at the top of the house, work down - then leave the house for at least a couple of hours. The fumes are pretty unpleasant for me as an adult with asthsma, so I doubt they do baby lungs any good!

[makedoandmend]

Hello - sorry the internet has been down otherwise would have replied sooner. Thanks for all the advice - will contact the vet tomorrow and try and put an end to the little buggers. I've got so many bites now I look like I've got chickenpox just on my ankles and feet

[MaggieTulliver]

frontline for cat
acclaim flea spray for house
hover every other day for 2 weeks.

[makedoandmend]

StayFrosty - got loads of aqueous cream because of cracked hands (another side effect of pregnancy which they don't tell you about!) so will slather it on the bites - good tip! You're right though - it's hideous - especially when they appear on dd's head while she's in her buggy on a bus

MaggieTulliver - will get my hover boots in gear

[makedoandmend]

TMMJ - yes it does wear a collar (we've only got the one now) - but we've got a lot of stray cats round here and as soon as they get rid of the fleas they get more.

Don't want to fumigate the house a) because it's uneccessary and b)the stuff they use would probably be more harmful to dd than the fleas!

[Tangle]

When I was young our cat was sprayed regularly (which was an armpit-length gauntlet job, and dad still got scratched...) but she still often had fleas - we were fairly rural and she often went after rabbits, which I'm guessing fueled the problem. They are wretched things, but I'm not aware of any horrid diseases associated with cat fleas.

Did you talk to the vets? I'd be interested to know what they said re. worming as I'm getting a bit confused - I understood that the only stage of a flea's life cycle when they were parasitic was as an adult, but if I'm reading beanieb's message right the larvae go through the cat? That said it doesn't take much to bemuse me right now

Hope you get it sorted .

[makedoandmend]

Thanks Tangle - the vet is going to give him some prescription stuff - dh forgot to ask about worming but I do know that our old vets used to always worm at the same time as the flea treatment - these ones don't. Has left me bemused too!

[FairMidden]

this might explain it for you

[TinyPawz]

When this happened to me and my newly laid carpet (not impresses), I was covered in bites (read scabs)I counted over 100 on feet and legs!!! But for some reason (thank god) baby wasn't bitten once...

Anyway, I called local Pest Control for council. They came out within a few days a sprayedhou form top to bottom. Free too.

[makedoandmend]

Ooh FairMaiden that made me feel quite ill (I've never liked the word 'injesting' it always makes me feel a bit wibbly)... but better informed!

Tiny Pawz - thanks for the tip. I noticed today that dd doesn't seem to have been bitten whereas I'm slowly being bled dry bite by bite

[makedoandmend]

Sorry FairMidden I rechristened you by mistake!

[MaggieTulliver]

Hope you've done a fair bit of hovering today .

Seriously. You need to spray otherwise you will get rid of the fleas by hoovering /treating cat but the eggs will just hatch again and again for the next 6 months!!!!

Go out for the day. Get DH to spray everywhere first thing in the morning and then come back in the evening. It will be fine for DD, I would think. We did it when DD2 was 2 weeks old and she was fine, we were out all day, opened all windows etc.

[nomorecake]

also..
put a flea collar in the hoover, it kills the ones that you hoover up.

if you are turn yor trousers up, and keep checking your feet and ankles you could probably catch a few. and find out where most of them are living.
dunk them in very hot water if you catch any.