To ask for help here?! Fleas!!! Please please help.

[EdnaBloom]

Our dog has brought fleas into the house and I can't get rid of them.

I'm the only one being bitten, at the last count I had 30+ bites. I'm so upset and getting so desperate I feel like just quitting the house and going to a hotel.

I've had the house sprayed, Boil washed bedding, chucked out rugs, steamed mattresses and carpets.

Please dose anyone have Amy idea how to get rid of them?! I'm so desperate!

What products are you using? We had similar with our cat, only the stuff from the vet worked. Frontline from the vet is a different formula to the frontline you buy from pet shops etc. Also the Johnson's 4fleas stuff is crap.

Have you done all the hoovering stuff? Hoover everywhere, all the cracks and crevices, skirting boards etc and throw the hoover bag away to get the fleas/eggs etc out of the house.

Are you still seeing lots or just one or two?

You need to get a really effective adulticide like Advocate or Advantix to treat the dog these will come from the vet, to be frank the over the counter stuff is not worth the money. You also need a really good household spray that contains an insect growth regulator like Indorex or Acclaim. The effectiveness of household sprays is very much improved if you hoover first as this wakes up larvae.

You have to keep on top of them continually, as they'll be laying eggs that will hatch in a day/week (not sure tbh lol) -- hoover everywhere, use vet-recommended treatment on your dog. You can also get powders you sprinkle on sofas/carpets and hoover up

I had this problem a couple of years ago after looking after a friends cat and I know how awful it feels. I remember after spending a small fortune on the sprays, flea bomb things and cleaning all bedding/pj's sitting on my bed and sobbing after finding yet another bugger. I got in touch with the council, almost in tears, and they cam round and fumigated the whole house, I think it cost approx £40 but worth every penny. Hope you sort it soon.

Oh god, I had that in an old flat from the landladies dog . Hoover everything, spray everything, hoover again and boil wash everything you can. I felt terrible at the time - sending you a hug!

I second advocate, we use it for our cats very successfully :)

If it was me, I would contact your local council and enquire about a fumigation, iirc from where I used to work it isn't very expensive (under £50 I believe)

We've use frontline from the vet on the dog but she is still itching a lot. I'm hoovering daily. The council are going to spray again but won't come out till 14th oct!

Our council won't fumigate anymore, they'll only use a spray.

If you can use a smoke bomb, these can be brought from a pet or hardware shop. Follow the safety instrutions. Put any soft toys in the freezer for at least 12 hours, same with fluffy slippers etc. Boil wash bedding, replace pillows.

We've had terrible problems, like you I was thankfully the only one affected, but was completely flea bitten. They were also coming from the garden.

I used Frontline and sprayed the house and luckily we can no longer see them jumping off the cat, although I know they'll be back any day because of the weather.

I still get bitten if I sit on the rug - goodness knows how they can survive all the chemicals I've put on it.

Sympathies! I dog sat for someone once and ended up with a houseful of fleas. I was not happy.

You may be better off with the council (or whoever subcontracts to them) as to treat the house effectively yourself could end up costing you more money and a great deal more time and effort (plus the council quite often have to agree to come back and retreat if it doesn't work at no extra charge). Normal price range for this is anything from £30 to £80, depending on area and level of infestation.

If you're going to do it yourself, you need to tackle the dog and the home at the same time. The best way for the dog is a spot-on from the vet. The best way to treat the house is to hotwash all soft furnishings, vacuum everything else (paying special attention to crevices and cracks) and then liberally spray absolutely everything with a spray like Indorex (available from your vet). It's about £18 a tin and I used 1 and a half to do a three-bed semi. Indorex is an IGR (Insect Growth Regulator), which means that it interrupts the flea lifecycle. This is crucial to success as many over-the counter flea killers will only kill adult fleas and eggs, but cannot touch the pupae stage, which are virtually indestructible. As these can lay dormant in the environment for up to 2 years, you can end up being reinfested quite quickly unless you use an IGR, which prevents the pupae from ever hatching.

You shouldn't need to respray after all this as the IGR will keep on working for up to 12 months, but regular vacuuming and regular treatment of your dog is necessary to ensure you eradicate all last traces.

Good luck.

Most councils use Fircam W which is only an adulticide and has no residual action, so in three weeks time you will have another hatch. Make sure that what ever you use has an insect growth regulator in it that lasts.

i have been using garlic tablets for our cat & dog,has worked wonders,everything else we tried didnt work,i got a spray from the pet section at our garden centre to spray beds etc and hot washed all bedding,touch wood since the tablets they have been flea free.

I know how you feel, my cat is like a magnet for fleas and so am i and then the dog gets them

I use frontline (from vets) on them both and it works fine for the dog but tbh I don't think it works well on the cat at all. I try and time it so that I deflea them both on the same day and wash all their bedding ready for it IYSWIM, so you are sending deflead animals on to theoretically deflead beds. Then hoover hoover hoover.

It did get so bad last year though that I begged the vet for a house spray... I can't remember what it is called but it is pretty strong stuff. It recommends you remove any animals from the room and any food/water bowls as well. Spray it in the corners, on the sofas and on the floors. It did say just to spray onc eevery six months, but I sprayed once, waited a week and did it again. After that it was fine.

This week, however, the cat is really really scratching and then the dog started too, so I think we will be undergoing the same routine as last year. Helps that we are moving house this weekend though, so I can deflea them and move them straight into a flea free zone!

Oh this is the worst feeling - I stayed at a friend's once who had this problem (was in between houses whilst moving and had no other option) and it was so so awful, I was the only one being bitten and I remember just crying in the doctor's and not sleeping and it was horrendous really really do feel for you.

Like you she tried loads of different things, NOTHING worked except getting somebody in to fumigate the whole house - if the council won't do it you need to find a private company who will.

I really hope you get it sorted soon!!

I really sympathise, our cats brought fleas in to our house once and I was literally so covered in bites I had to get up twice a night to soak my legs in a cold bath, it almost drove me demented.

I second the flea bombs, they really worked for us. I think you just have to get your head round the fact that it's unfortunately not an overnight process, but now you're onto it, it can only get better, and you will get rid of them. Our house was so infested by the time I realised they were jumping up and down on the rug!

Use the bombs in each room, even though it might cost a bit. Wash everything you can and spray each room - the bob martin powder is useless so avoid that.Don't just spray carpet and furniture, do hard floors and the kitchen too. Treat the dog too.

In a few weeks, they'll be gone, I promise. Try to keep your ankles and feet covered so you're not getting bitten so much. It can work to turn the heating on full blast as that hatches the eggs into fleas (I know, barf) and gets rid of them faster.

I know how desperate you must feel but do all these things and you will get rid of them and this period will soon be a bad memory. Good luck x

we had them recently and you have to clean everything, every day for weeks and eventually they go. The eggs and pupae can live in the carpets or whatever for up to a year so you have to be really on top of hoovering everything/ boil washing everything for weeks. and treat your pets. Failing that you should bring the big guns in - council services are usually quite cheap. We didnt want to have the chemicals in the house due to family health problems but i have heard fumigating really works well.

We have had big issues this year too.

The vet told us to spray (one to two cans of decent stuff-we use acclaim) and vacuum as the vibrations start off the hatching process.She said the worst thing to do is to treat your home before a holiday,you need to vacuum everyday for 3 weeks.

I do think Frontline is becoming less effective too.