FLEAS! I’m losing my mind

[Muddledmotherhood]

So we’ve got a horrible family of squirrels that keep coming in through the roof of our house and hanging out in the loft(can’t find where they’re getting in yet either, the door is bolted shut to there atm) and they run all up our window sills and up the walls outside. They’re constantly outside the house.
Our garden has a million bushes and trees too! And either where our cats sit at the windows when they’re open (we have indoor cats) and they’ve run past or we’ve ended up bringing one in on our clothes that now we have fleas!!!

we’ve only found 2 fleas(that have fallen out) so far, but there is flea poo in our cats fur when we use the flea comb. They have their flea treatment and I’ve just bought indorex to do the house as well as trying to hoover everywhere but it’s impossible at the moment as there is so much stuff! (We live with my parents and they’re slight hoarders, and only now are they starting to understand why we need to get rid of stuff!)

We’ve quite a cluttered house right now (in the process of getting rid of loads of things as said) and my daughters room is full of big toys like the barbie house, toy kitchen etc. So I’m trying to figure out how to spray around all of them without causing damage or leaving a smell (she’s asthmatic so I’m wary of the spray lingering on the toys). She’s got millions of soft teddies(loads of which have batteries in them).

I am just getting so overwhelmed by how much needs doing and how much needs moving.

This is the first time we’ve dealt with fleas and I honestly don’t know where to start and I have a million questions.

What is best to wash the teddies with that can’t go in the washing machine?

Do I need to spray the indorex on the bed frame and the wooden slats, toys(like barbies hair, that sort of thing), wardrobes, toy boxes etc ?

All the washing that was clean in the wash baskets ready to go away, will that all need washing again in case eggs have dropped?

And clothing we wear each day, should it be put in the washing machine and washed the same day?

I’ve got really bad anxiety and this has honestly pushed me over the edge (I know it sounds dramatic but anything like fleas, nits, worms etc make me unbelievably anxious and I panic about it for months and months even when things are over or sorted).

Sorry to sound so stupid, I’m just so worried we’re going to be stuck with fleas forever!

I would say you need to treat the cats with a spot on treatment. The best ones come from the vets. We use Bravecto. Then treat the carpets and edges of the floors.

You can get smoke bombs online which would be cheaper if you have a really big infestation. I wouldn't say you need to be spraying toys.

Fleas run fast in the fur and will be hard to spot. Your carpets won't be infested unless the cats are. Just wash the teddies., bed sheets etc and hoover the mattress and maybe give it a spray but air it well after.

Fleas species are specific to the animal. Dog fleas don't live on cats and cat fleas don't live on dogs (or squirrels). Trouble with cat fleas is that they quite like the taste of people.

You need the proper stuff from the vet. Fleas in different areas of the country become resistant to different treatments, and the vet will know the right one to give.

The squirrel thing sounds worse then the flea thing to me. Try to get this in perspective. Treat the cats with something from the vet and spray around liberally on the floors and furnishings. Repeat it in a few weeks and so on.

With insight that it sounds a bit unhinged, when I had an invasion earlier in the year (no pets so not a scooby where they came from)) I put white sheets down where they seemed particularly comfortable and then caught the little arses with sellotape! (As well as spraying far more indorex about than the instructions tell you to, hoovering religiously, etc). Took a couple of weeks but eventually got rid of them!

my parents had been using the advantage flea treatment which worked, they just became slack with keeping on top of it, my mum used to be the main person to do it but has become not well in the last few months so hasn’t been as dedicated. That on top of the whole posse of squirrels and not cutting back the bushes etc I think has massively contributed to it.

The spot on treatment seems to be killing them off as there were 2 dead ones on the floor. It’s just the floor and soft furnishings we really need to tackle.

My worry is that my parents have some really heavy furniture that can’t be moved, so I’m worrying how I won’t be able to spray around the skirting boards and in turn panicking that they are not going to fully go, the house is already too big as it is so I’ve been overwhelmed trying to get around all the rooms as it is.

I know I sound really pathetic, but I get so overwhelmed easily that this task is daunting and my poor mum can only help so much :/

Move the stuff. hoover. Spray. Move the stuff back.

you're going to have to get the stuff from the vet for the cat and hoover like a demon.

My advice is to phone a pest company. Go out, and let them spray your home. It takes a couple of goes. Then just keep up to date with the flea treatment on the animals. We get ours delivered by post so it acts as an instant reminder.

Good luck! I still remember walking across the living room carpet of my first flat in cream shoes. They were covered!

It's the cats not the squirrels! If you have a pet it's unfair to them not to keep on top of flea treatments.
I think if you use a spot treatment on the cats, hoover every day, get rid of the clutter and spray around the edges of the room with indorex you should be able to get rid.

We recently did our house with Indorex. Online reviews say you can do a 3 bed house with one can but you can’t. I would say one can will comfortably do two rooms.
As Pp said, get everything off the floor, hoover (particularly round the skirtings) spray (particularly round the skirtings), put everything back. Do a room at a time. Spray mattresses. Spray sofa cushions. Put the floordrobe in the wash. Wash or spray soft toys, blankets, and cat beds.
Don’t worry about other clothes. Just do the stuff you leave on the floor/chairs.
It smells bad so wear a mask. But the smell dissipates quite quickly. We were sitting on the sofa again an hour or two later.

Bravecto is the best flea treatment. And you only have to do it 4 times a year.

Don't worry too much. Any fleas should gravitate towards biting the cats, and then they'll die (that's how the flea treatment works). Cat fleas can't survive or reproduce on human blood.

Indorex is very effective, but I would be more worried about the asthma than the fleas tbh. A flea trap (hot water bottle wrapped in a white pillow case) is a completely safe way to track down any fleas hiding in a sofa etc - I like the idea about about getting them with sellotape!

I completely get where you're coming from re: the anxiety. I won't go into detail but we've recently had both our cat and dog have fleas and it also really upset me. It's taken a month but we are now flea free. I posted what we did on another thread but you have to be consistent. You'll feel like you're constantly hoovering but you must keep hoovering if you actually want them gone. We thought we'd got the buggers about 2 weeks in, but then I was bitten again and it seems the eggs had hatched. So we re sprayed with indorex, washed everything again and hoovered. Hopefully theyre gone as we move in 10 days, great timing.

Indorex is effective but you will need more then one treatment. Took us 2 attempts, 2 weeks apart to get rid of the fleas.

I think a good technique is to spray each room, make sure all windows and doors are shut, go out for a good few hours before coming home to ventilate should help. Allows it to really sink in to all the nooks and crannies.

This year advantage and advocate have stopped working and everyone has been having issues with fleas.

So far bravecto seems to be working.

You'll need to wait until a month after they put the advantage on to use it though. I managed it by keeping g the cat downstairs and hoovering daily.

Ultimately I don't think there's any getting around the fact that a cluttered house won't help. The indorex does work (it's the only thing I've used that did when we emergency fostered a couple of dogs that had fleas and it all got out of hand frankly) but you do have to get in all the nooks and crannies as per the instructions, and follow the rest of the instructions to the letter for the best and long lasting results - eg leaving it and going out for a while and most importantly vacuum every single day. If you spray it and don't vacuum it won't work, make sure you empty the vacuum cleaner outside in the bean and clean after using it. Just make sure you spray all the pet bedding, mattresses, sofas, carpets and all around the skirting edges. The daily vacuuming is so important.

I don't think you sound pathetic at all OP, it's horrible to have infestations at home and normal to feel overwhelmed by them but the sooner it's tackled the quicker it will go away. If you feel you can't manage it then call a pest control company and get the squirrel issue sorted at the same time before they cause damage to the property.

Take on the flea treatments for the cats yourself and make sure they are getting the correct dosing for their weight and that you aren't overdosing them on different things.

That's interesting re Advantage not working (we switched from Frontline to Advantage a few years ago, because it was reported that had stopped working) and we've lost the battle against fleas this year. Poor cats seem to be permanently scratching. Irritatingly, I've just ordered a load more Advantage, but have also ordered a couple of cans of Indorex.

We did Indorex on the whole house a few months ago but are going to do it again but I'm honestly ready to rip up and burn all the carpets, but we need new windows first and in my mind it would be silly to replace flooring (we're going to have hard floors) before we get the windows done because of the risk of damaging the flooring by having work done - as well as the windows there will be decorating to do.

Interesting to hear about issues people have had with spot on treatments. I switched to credelio tablets because I thought I was just doing a rubbish job getting the spot on all in the right place (and because I worry about cats grooming each other, kids touching the cats, and the tablets are all round easier and mess free!) And we've not had any problems since.

Get the cats treated, they will be the culprits not the squirrels.
The best thing I've found for the house is flea lamps. Amazon have them. We've had flea problem this year too, but the lamps, a general spray round of the house and weekly 4flea tablets for the cats (also amazon) has sorted it.

Like @CeilingWacks, we switched to Credelio. It is a million times better than spot-on flea killer.

we have a big house and our rescue cat, it turned out, arrived with fleas. I completely understand the anxiety - I have HATED it.

you need good Flea tablets not the drop on stuff which doesn’t work that well. Ask the vet which brand as as a pp said, different areas have fleas resistant to some of the brands.

then we hoovered every part of the house every other day for a month. It was hard partic the stairs (four flights, all carpeted, you have to Hoover the upright bit as well as the step). Declutter as much as you can, and wash everything in sight. I hoovered under the sofa cushions and the mattress and everything. I sprayed with the Bob Martin spray once a week for three weeks then I am now doing it once a month. Focus on edges of the rooms.

when it’s calmed down, keep hoovering main areas where the cat goes twice a week and wash the cat bedding and so on twice a week. If the cat likes one chair put a throw down you can wash.

it’s a nightmare tbh but we are finally out of it.

Open try not to panic. We have had same and are going to apply bravecto tonight. We have sprayed with indorex.

Can someone explain flea traps please and the significance of white?

It's the cat, not the squirrels. Get it he oral medication asap.

heat Also kills fleas so you could tumble dry (if you have a dryer) some things like bedding and toys.

Hoover everyday - put a flea collar in the bag to kill any that get hoovered up.

Increase humidity in the house - that along with the vibrations caused by the hoovering will encourage adult fleas to emerge - treatments won't kill pupae.

Spray/flea bomb the house.

Treat the cats every month.

Wash all cat beds on the hottest wash they'll take, wash the bedding regularly.

(We had a nightmare infestation after accidentally buying the wrong flea drops in a bad year for fleas - ones that repelled fleas rather than killed the bastards, absolutely useless, then followed up with fipronil which it turned out was bloody useless as well. There were fleas everywhere, larvae everywhere, eggs everywhere, it was horrendous - for example one of the cats used to jump on top of the kitchen cupboards, there were larvae in mugs because the eggs had fallen though a little gap in the top. Strict treatment of the cats with an effective treatment, daily hoovering, heating on with damp towels on all the radiators and lots more hoovering, three applications of Indorex to the house solved the problem.)

Thanks so much everyone for all the advice and also the kind words in making me feel less of an idiot. It’s hugely appreciated.

we’re currently in the process of bagging up all the teddies my daughter has (think I’m going to get rid of some as well as I didn’t realise how many there were!), and gutting all of the rooms.

I’ve sprayed the indorex where possible for now until we can clear even more of the room, then we’re going to go over it all again and even more so in the bits we couldn’t get to the first time.

I know I’m going to sound a bit thick, but with washing - once it’s washed I’ll need to hang it on a clothes airer to dry, but won’t the fleas drop their eggs on it whilst on the airer, or does it not work that way?