Shit shit shot. House covered in fleas!

[Rockbird]

Just come back from holiday, cats must have had them because house is infested. What the hell do i do tonight??

Get an exterminator in. We ended up in a house with fleas thanks to the tenant before us and their cat. Treated the house about three times ourselves before we had to get a professional in to fix it.

This happened to us, this is grim bit we walked round and 'caught' them as they hopped onto our legs, then picked them off and drowned the buggers in soapy water🤢
Then obviously sprayed the shit our of everything, cried, swore, and treated the cat. They did go eventually (shudder)

Indorex (or the others I mentioned up thread) is sufficient as long as used correctly. You need to treat the whole house (not just where the animals go, eg downstairs only), treat (and vacuum) under furniture and treat the car if you have one as well. They won't go overnight, the eggs hatch out in waves, but they'll reduce in number quickly and should be totally gone within 3-4 weeks.

You have my sympathies. We’ve had the same problem. Dog had fleas prior to going on holiday, treated with spot on and over the counter flea powder. Did jack shit. Had a desperate thread on here. Went to vet and got Indorex and got the dog treated with Bravecto (not sure if there is a cat equivalent) sprayed, hoovered, washed, swept like a maniac and then we had to go on holiday a week later. It obviously wasn’t enough as my parents came to check on the house whilst we were away and found an infestation.

I’ll be completely honest and say i have had a complete freak out over it. It feels so dirty and disgusting. We got professionals in and now I’m back on the washing, drying, sweeping ( can’t hoover for 2 WEEKS) cycle. I’m knackered. It has ruined our plans for this weekend as we were supposed to have people round but can’t risk them being bitten or jumped on by fleas 🤢 I am convinced I see them everywhere and feel so itchy all of the time.

Those posters who say burn the house down aren’t far off from where I’m at right now 🙁

Thanks for all the messages, in the travelodge now and we're all stressed and sobbing! We're wimps but we're just so tired.

DH had a thought. He wondered if they were actually fruit flies? We (he!) left a bowl of fruit out that was meant to come with us and there were loads of little black flies round that and on the mantelpiece above. How can you tell what the little buggers actually are?

Fleas are browny in colour and they jump not fly.

I have cried more in the last couple of days than I have in a long time so I totally get it.

Fleas jump, they dont fly. They are much larger than fruit flies

DDs have said they were definitely black. I didn't really see them, I refused to go in the house!

Fleas or flies, I still want to burn the house down

Wrongdissection

Much sympathy about “seeing” them everywhere & feeling itchy all the time

Touch wood I’ve had no new bites for 2-3 days now but I still keep thinking I have

(There is Bravecto for cats, but it’s a spot on, not a tablet like the dog one. A friend swears by the dog one, but I don’t know anybody who’s used the cat version)

They will bite you if they are fleas. In the absence of animals they are seeking out a warm body. It will help to get your flea treated cats back in the house.

@Wrongdissection they will go eventually I promise

Don't overlook hard floored areas - in the 2011 October Holiday from Hell (when we had them), they were hanging out in the cracks between wooden floorboards and even where the skirting boards met the floor - spray all those places too.

Get a professional in. I spent a bloody fortune on bombs. Sprays and over the counter stuff etc. I should of just got the professional in in the first place. My local council do a service about £100. For three treatments. Money very well spent.

Good luck.

We once had 'jumping carpets' and had to get an exterminator in. Over the counter sprays didn't touch them.

Well we all got no sleep, travelodge was crap and we ended up changing rooms. Now going to drop girls off at parents and go and see what we're dealing with. Feel slightly cheerier this morning, if starving hungry! Just glad we didn't come back the night before school like I was going to.

Absolutely agree with Indorex. We were infested at the beginning of the year. While our cats were flea-free when we got them, they weren’t old enough to be neutered so were kept inside. We seriously didn’t realise they could still get fleas, so we didn’t ‘see’ the initial warning signs - scratching etc. Only when dcs were bitten badly. Dh didn’t agree with indorex and wanted to wait for the advocate (or advantage) to work. In the end I just indorexed the house and it worked in a couple of days. Amazing!

Well we've been back home and the fuckers are fleas.

If we can get someone out today we will because we need this sorted ASAP. In the meantime we'll indorex. Feeling less cheery now.

Did you speak to the cat sitter? Has the cat been flea treated with a decent flea treatment?

In all honesty I'd go straight to getting someone in to deal with it. The best people will do 2 treatments something like 10 days apart, it's not cheap but it's the most effective way of getting rid of them.
By the time we spent money on all sorts of sprays and bombs to attempt to get rid ourselves we probably spent as much as we'd have spent to get a professional in from the start. We then used advocate on our cat & they haven't been back. We also changed our carpets but we were doing that anyway!

Flea bomb them

Honestly just get the professionals in. Tried spray, flea bombs, etc and the fuckers still didn't go. Weirdly they only bit me and not my other half - they seem to like certain people! Council came out for about 55 quid and sprayed the whole house. The problem is the eggs lay dormant so if they've had time to do that after about four weeks they come out again. We noticed a few a few weeks later but used the flea spray on them and not seen them since. Put the treated cats back in - our problem was that we were cat sitting and when the cat went the fleas stayed :(

You really need to flea bomb the crap out of the house, then Hoover thoroughly, especially in the corners (tip from our vet) and either empty the Hoover bag or empty and disinfect the plastic chamber.

And in future the cats need to be preventatively treatedwith a prescription spot-on every month. Whatever your vet recommends as most effective for your area.

Indorex spray and Bravecto is what you need. A few summers ago we had an infestation thanks to the prescription flea spot on no longer working. Bravecto is the best one.

Hoover, hoover, hoover. Don’t ignore non carpeted areas - they love skirting boards and cracks in the floor.

Never, ever let the flea treatment get overdue. We’ve not seen a flea since we started on the Bravecto.

Indorex is quite good for the odd flea and prevention but not for a serious infestation. The pest controller said you would need 20 cans to do my mum's small bungalow. He nuked it and still had to come back a month later.
Also flea bombs are pretty toxic to people and didn't work for us.

After the Flea Fiasco at mums' I Indorexed our house a s a preventative measure and there was one unexpected positive outcome. This summer when ants arrived they all died on the carpet.

The trick with indorex is to hoover the whole house FIRST then spray then hoover again.

The hoover agitates them. They love skirting boards and little cracks so don’t leave any bit unsprayed even hardwood