Bloody fleas!!

[Life0fBrian]

We went away camping in the summer and during that time our dogs picked up fleas. By the time we got back and I realised, the little blighters had gone to town on the house and we were getting bitten to pieces. I naturally had absolute rage, I have young kids and my daughter was getting eaten alive! Since that time I’ve boiled everything several times and hoovered every day. I had flea traps set up at night, flea combing the dogs every other day etc etc. I followed all the advice I read. I’ve been using beaphar flea spot-on. I’ve now used it 3x (once a month) on each a dog. I bought the indorex spray and had it on stand by in case the wilko stuff didn’t work. We are all wood floors downstairs. Although no one has been bitten for ages and ages, I saw a flea a couple of weeks ago and that was that - mask on, and sprayed everything in the house. I did the dogs with the beaphar again and this time I shaved a patch on each to really make sure it worked.

When I combed them out there were lots of dead fleas and soon none at all. I combed them again yesterday having waited 10 days and not seen any, and each dog had 2-3 live fleas on them.

Wtf?! It’s like they just won’t leave! I’ve sprayed all the skirting, gaps in floorboards etc etc.

Is the answer to get a different flea treatment or take them for an injection? For a few weeks now whenever I comb them it’s a maximum of 3 fleas or so on each dog or less which I quickly drown in hot soapy water.

How can I still be seeing them?!

[Life0fBrian]

(I used beaphar we apparently it’s the same as frontline ...but now I’m reading frontline is relatively useless...is that why I’m still seeing them??)

[Life0fBrian]

*as apparently

[OrchidInTheSun]

My dog has Bravecto once every 3 months and the cat has advocate. Neither of them have ever had fleas.

I'd give Bravecto a try - I know a lot of fleas have become immune to Frontline

[suddenlypanicked]

The fleas are soo bad at the moment

Most of them are immune to a lot of systems and just survive

I'll let you know the name of my one it's great

[suddenlypanicked]

(Only one that worked after 4 months of trying to get rid of the bastards)

[Bananarama12]

Advantage/Advocate/Bravecto Will do the job. Don't buy shop stuff (exception of Advantage) it just doesn't work! Use Indorex, Hoover daily and empty outside. That really is all you need to do. Then keep on top of flea applications.

[Wolfiefan]

Yep. Buy the decent stuff from the vet. Frontline is rubbish.

[DogInATent]

Smoke bomb the house. Spraying the bits you can see with an aerosol isn't going to work.

[Wolfiefan]

Indorex works. But you need to treat the animal with a decent product.

[Life0fBrian]

I think I’ll ring the vet and see what they say, they’re very pricey at the best of times so may ask for a prescription for advantage or similar and buy it online. My sister’s cat has the six monthly injection. It’s so irritating.

[Life0fBrian]

What do the smoke bombs do? Would I need to be out for hours? I’ve got a toddler.

[Wolfiefan]

Smoke bombs aren’t what you need. You need to treat the dogs with stuff that works.
Indorex the house.

[HardAsSnails]

Advantage doesn't need a prescription and is the only over the counter flea spot on that works. That plus Indorex for your house should sort it.

[DogInATent]

What do the smoke bombs do? Would I need to be out for hours? I’ve got a toddler.

Insecticidal smoke bombs fumigate the house and soft furnishings. The problem is not the fleas on animals, it's the eggs and larva in the carpet, curtains, fabrics, cracks in the floor, etc. Anything that comes in an aerosol can will not be effective once you have an established infestation because you will never manage to spray every nook and cranny. You've had them for three months now, aerosols aren't going to cut it.

You pop your toddler & dog round to a friend/neighbour, you remove the batteries from your smoke alarms, you put a smoke bomb on a saucer in each room with all the external doors and windows/vents shut and internal doors open. You work quickly from the furthest room lighting the touch paper. Shut the door behind you, pick up the toddler and dog, and go out for a couple of hours. When you come back the smoke will have faded away, you open windows to ventilate and you have a flea-free home. Treat your animals the night/morning before.

It's a little bit more complicated if you also have a fish tank, but that can be dealt with (using clingfilm and masking tape). Ask if you need details.

You can get the Fortefog P Midi smoke bombs from Amazon. I've used them twice (different years) to eradicate cat flea infestations in one hit.

Has anyone suggesting Indorex used it to successfully treat a three month established infestation? The wee bastards will be in everything - carpet, curtains, sofa, cushions, etc.

[Life0fBrian]

I’ve seen no more in the house, just 2-3 on the dogs each time I comb and sometimes a couple of those are dead. It’s very minor really. I already sprayed all the soft furnishings, any carpets (very few and none downstairs). I feel like we’re almost on top of it but it’s still at this level of finding 2-3 on the dogs each time I comb them.

[DogInATent]

The dogs are being constantly "topped up" from the environment.

[Wolfiefan]

You need to treat the dog with something that works. Indorex will work in the environment but you’ve got whole colonies living off the dog.

[OrchidInTheSun]

You've got to kill them on the dog. Without the dog, they can't survive long term. So you need to kill them on the dog/make them infertile and then treat the house. If they're still hopping about on the dog, your house is still going to be infested

[Life0fBrian]

Yep I appreciate that. Bloody things. I’ve ordered some advantage as the beaphar stuff clearly isn’t working giving I’m finding them still. If the advantage doesn’t work I’m going vets for the injection. I’m only finding them on the dogs themselves now which is good, initially they were all over the soft furnishings etc but that hasn’t been the case for ages.

[Bananarama12]

Advantage will work but remember it's not instant. Fleas can live for ages dormant so that's where the hoovering is important - the vibrations make the larvae hatch and then are killed by the Indorex or the Advantage.

[Life0fBrian]

Thanks @bananarama. I hoover every day without fail anyway (2 dogs, 3 kids!) and I think that and the indorex is why I’m not seeing any in the house so to speak but wherever they are coming from, they’re going on the dogs. I just wish I knew where the buggers were coming from as I sprayed so much and cannot work out how they can still be hatching after that! I just want them to die once they get on the dogs and from what I’ve read advantage is much quicker at that part than the beaphar / frontline. It’s frustrating as hell because I’ve cleaned, hoovered and boil washed like mad. I like a tidy ship anyway, I don’t like mess and dirt, so this situation has made me so cross as I’ve been doing all the right things as far as I can tell (having read multiple things online) and am still seeing them when I comb the dogs out along with the flea poo. I indorexed the house two weeks ago.

[Life0fBrian]

One thing we are thinking is we initially did the big de-flea outside in the garden when they were crawling with them. DH then found a huge patch of them a week later so sprayed them to death. But of course if they are going out there every day on the way out for their walk they could be picking up random fleas en route? Or is that unlikely? It’s simply that we are seeing none in the house environment anymore other than on the dogs.

[Wolfiefan]

You need to treat the dogs. With decent stuff. Then the fleas will die the minute they bite.