To think these are flea bites?

Not uncommon to not easily find live fleas on an animal given the lifecycle. I wonder if in fact it was flea dirt rather than dead fleas the groomer found. If so what you have been using is not working. Talk to your vet. Over the counter products can be a false economy in the face of an active infestation. Indorex should be effective to treat the house though. Read label carefully and particular care if you have fish as it's very toxic to them.

It's so difficult and maybe even impossible to get rid of them fully if you have carpets and other places eggs can hide in.

I agree with the indorex and vet flea treatment. The over the counter stuff only partially worked for our cat.

with indorex, you need to hoover daily. The vibrations from the hoover stimulate any leftover eggs to hatch, then the indorex gets them.

The fleas could be coming from the garden, from cats, from walking in the woods, from you carrying them in to the house on your shoes. We had a problem with our new house where the previous owner had obviously had an infestation and when we moved in with the cat within a week he was being eaten alive. Took 4 cans of indorex over two months and two rounds of vet flea treatment.

Cat fleas are often found on dogs. They should only travel into your house on your dog though so treating your dog with veterinary medication (not over the counter) will do the job as treatment will kill the fleas before they can reproduce and leave eggs in ghe house. A can of Indorex and regular flea treatment on your dog will sort this easily. Assuming your dog goes on walks beyond your garden means cats in your garden is no increased risk!

if you don’t want cats in your garden - use water pistols. We always offer super soakers to our neighbours when we move in. Cats are creatures of habit so they’ll have a daily routine. Supersoakers will stop them wanting to have your garden as part of that routine if their presence bothers you that much. It won’t reduce risk of fleas noticeably though!

Bedbugs are highly unlikely unless you've very recently travelled somewhere likely to have them, or are living in run down, packed in accomodation with a lot of people, shared laundry etc... Possible, but unlikely.

Fleas on the other hand, abound, particularly where there are cats and yes, picking them up either on your dog or yourself as you move through an area where cats spend time curled up, lurking, is very possible.

Keep grass short, avoid providing shelter for them to lurk in comfortably. Plant lavendar if you can, its toxic to fleas and cats are unlikely to want to sit in it either.

I feel like they've been banned, but back in the day the only thing that worked for us were "bug bombs". Little smoking things. You put one in each room, set it off, leave, and barricade the door shut. Everything was washed down and hoovered after. It worked a charm. We had multiple animals, but it was always this one cat who would keep getting them. I've no idea why.

Those spots do look like flea bites, but check your bed in case the problem is actually bed bugs

Aren't the sprays harmful to us though? I thought vacuuming, washing and treating pet was enough.

Wash all bedding definitely shreds as many baby things as you can but I sprayed everything even if washed, and I mean everything. Get right into the edges of carpet, corners of rooms, spray up and down curtains etc. And repeat

Indorex kills adult fleas for 2 months..

And stops eggs and hatched out larva from developing into adults for 12 months.

So yes lots of hoovering and heating on in any rooms you've normally got it switched off in, once treatment is dry.

Usually people make the mistake of only treating the rooms they go in, not treating thoroughly enough, and of using over the counter treatments.

Whoever it was mentioned flea traps up-thread - these will not deal with an infestation. They will tell you if fleas are present though and are useful if you're wanting to know if the problem is definitely fleas, or an indication of the level of infestation.

Indorex will sort it. I would use vet product rather than over the counter for dog. They are vastly more effective.
Dont despair when it takes time. It doesn’t kill the eggs (I’m not sure anything does!!) so for a while eggs will hatch and you may get a couple of bites. The fleas will die before breeding though so what you won’t get is more eggs being laid. Vacuuming creates vibrations which “wake up” the eggs and get them to hatch so the more you vacuum the quicker the eggs hatch and fleas die off.

Wash what is practical to wash - so duvets, dog bedding etc.

The things that are not practical to wash, that you do not come into direct contact with (although it is safe once dry) - under the seat cushions on the sofa, under a mattress topper.

I have never washed sofa seat cushions or indeed sofa covers -its the cracks/crevices that are where the flea eggs go.

Fleas live on the dog - however most of their life cycle takes place off the dog!

So fleas heave their eggs overboard. These are then jiggled and bounced into your carpet and down the side of the sofa cushions or under the mattress.

They hatch into itty bitty larvae, and they feed on detritus, skin cells, hair, flea dirt... importantly, they will eat tapeworm eggs. Remember that part.

They pupate, and then hatch into fleas, and then hop onto your dog.

Your dog itches/licks himself, ingests the flea and the tapeworm eggs survive the digestion process and now your dog has tapeworms too.

So the flea that hatched and had its larval stage at Auntie Joans house, where her cats have both fleas and tapeworms, or in the nest of some feral cat that your dog walks past every day... hops on your dog and comes home with you... and ick. Itch. Yuck.

So ensure you are de-fleaing and worming appropriately, with vet approved stuff not over the counter (it is at the same time, not overly effective at killing fleas, and still a high risk of causing harm to the dog!).

We had a flea infestation last year and it was a nightmare. The only thing that worked in the end was several rounds of flea bombs over the course of several weeks. Lots of hoovering as well.to catch the eggs/larvae.
We have two small children and had to be out of the house for several hours while DH did the bombing and after!

Read up about flea life cycles and you will understand why you usually can't get rid of them In one go sadly.

We didn't even have a pet! We think they were coming in from neighbours pet who we all uses to stroke and fuss over everything we went out of the house!

Good luck, happy to help if you have any queries.

Flea traps can be effective, but they need to be on the carpet to work and your dogs need to keep their nose off the sticky pad.

If she only saw dead ones the treatment probably is working for your dogs but they'll be in your soft furnishings. Good luck with the spray.

2nd the Indorex recc, you can buy it on Amazon

If bites are in a line it's fleas.........
Humans are a last resort for feeding, furry hosts are preferable. Priority is to deflea/treat furry hosts and soft furnishings. Eggs can linger for years dormant in nooks and crannies so important to act promptly to avoid an infestation.
Soft furnishings can be deep frozen for minimum 48 hours to kill eggs/adults. Chemical treatment for furry hosts and infested properties.
Good luck

Indorex or Acclaim spray (er, not every night for a week, thats not how you use it!!)...

You must do ALL of the house - all around the edges of each room, any joins in carpets, under sofas, under beds. Let it dry, then its pet/child safe.

It should last a good while, one of those brands lasts 12 months and one lasts 6, can never remember which.

Use decent vet only products on the pet - if you're treating the house, the amount you need to treat the pet should be minimal.

Have a think about where you go/where pet goes - it may be that your house is fine/pet is fine, but you're getting bitten elsewhere, or they are picking up fleas somewhere that bite you and then die in your house as a result of recent treatment.

When we had a cat years ago, she had fleas, and even after treating the cat, I was still getting flea bites. They loved me! It was awful. I got a flea bomb from pets at home, i believe. Just set it in the room and let it off. Completely solved the flea problem! We did have to stay out for the day though, but worth it.

Yes flea bites , intensely itchy awful things . Plaster toothpaste on them .
We used Indorex spray every night for about a week and it worked . The cats had a 6 monthly injection called Program and it sorted them out in no time . Good luck OP 🤞

Husband and I fell out over this. He treated his dog himself wouldn't pay for vet treatment. In the end a poster on here recommended the flea trap. So I hoovered then put the trap on going to bed 22 bloody fleas under my little table alone. We got the vet treatment.

I hoovered every day, carpets eventually they were all gone.

Never had such a problem before.