Unreasonably obsessed by flea problem?

[Fleabee]

Am I losing the plot?

I have 3 kids, 5yrs, 2yrs and 10 months. As you can imagine they need a lot of attention.

I have 2 cats who are regularly front lined but every single year they infest the house with fleas. This year is worse than ever. The 2 year old's legs are in a really dreadful state. The 5 year old is marginally better, and the baby has bites on her back and a big one on her face this morning. Sob. The fleas are in every room.

I am hoovering the entire house daily if I can, and not just a quick hoover. Pulling out all the bloody furniture and going in every nook and cranny. This is killing me, and of course the kids are very bored in the time I am doing it. I am also spraying flea spray when I can but limit this to when house will be empty etc as hate the thought of the chemicals and the kids playing on the floor where the spray is.

I also have mastitis and yesterday spent the day feeling shit and hoovering in tropical temperatures.

And then at bedtime I saw about 5 fleas.

WWYD?

Am I blowing this out of proportion? Should I just calm it down as it doesn't seem to be working anyway. Is it as big a deal as I feel it is?

Or any tips on getting rid of them?

Any advice appreciated.

[SaggyOldClothCatPuss]

Cat fleas are the only fleas that can live on any host. We were infested for weeks. And the dog never went upstairs, so they must have been living on fresh air!

[MrsReiver]

Can second the flea collar in the hoover suggestion. Kills the little buggers when you sook them up.

[FiveMonths]

Saggy, this is from research done in the USA:

'The public has been concerned about whether cat fleas can live on humans. In laboratory conditions, fleas were fed human blood to see if they would produce eggs. When female fleas were allowed to feed for 12 consecutive hours, viable eggs were produced. Females that were allowed only to feed for a few minutes on human blood were unable to produce viable eggs.'

So unless they were sitting feeding on you for many hours at a time, they can't do it.

[FiveMonths]

Plus it is possible the fleas were hatching out for a few weeks - that still happens when the proper host is not around, and they will then leap onto you.

I can imagine that in some instances the problem becomes out of control, not that the fleas would survive without the host present for more than a few weeks, but that there are a lot of eggs around which will continue to hatch out for a while, and it is easier to get rid of them all at once than wait it out.

But they can't reproduce unless they have a willing, or unwilling, host - not a human who will brush them off after a second or two. They can't live on fresh air.

Elinor - really, try advocate or stronghold. You don't need the council in all likelihood.

[maddiemostmerry]

Good tip re the fla collars in hoover. I will be doing that

I can't yet tell if we are winning the battle.

[bitofcheese]

we had this when i was heavily pg with dd. nightmare. i would hoover constantly and spray HUGE amounts of flea killer (which still bothers me now as i have since learnt not ideal when pg despite my asking at the time and was told it was ok to do so). eventually i had to admit defeat and pay £100 for someone to come in and do it. wish i had done it sooner tbh. i have a cat now and use advocate, constantly hear how frontline isn't any good anymore. best of luck

[NappyShedSal]

We paid £86 for the council to send someone in 2 weeks ago. He told me beforehand that I had to strip all beds and wash everything at 60 and to pick anything up from the floor so he had access to the whole area. And to hoover thoroughly. Then when he came he said we hadn't prepared the house sufficiently as he didn't have access to all skirting boards and wouldn't wait while we moved furniture away from the walls, and so he wouldn;t guarentee the work and follow-up visits wouldn't be included). We had to stay out of the house for 4-6 hours until it was all dry. And then couldn't hoover for 14 days. It is now 15 days since the treatment and my DD (who is teh only one who ever attracts the fleas and is now an expert at catching them) has found 2 again today. So it's a huge improvement as some days she would find 30+ but it also shows that we haven't solved the problem completely. Flipping nightmare!

[Whereismyfuckingcat]

Bastard cat has brought fleas in again - particularly annoying as he seems to have deserted us apart from the occasional feed (we think someone else is feeding him). However, for years the cat has been getting a Program injection which puts a hormone into his blood that renders fleas infertile after they've fed on him. Doesn't stop him getting fleas but it has always seemed to prevent a massive outbreak. However, we only see him maybe twice a week now and only for a couple of minutes so too unreliable to attempt making an appt with the vet.

Saw two fleas yesterday and I'm sure I've got bites on my ankles - next time the little bugger deigns to appear he's not getting in until he's been to the vet (we had to cancel the last appointment when he ran out after being in the house for 30 seconds!). If someone else is feeding him, I hope they are also willing to accept the associated vet bills for flea treatment, worming and the several hundreds of pounds it cost to treat his infected paw last year...

[FiveMonths]

Sal, it sounds like the majority have been killed off - now is the time to start with an effective treatment for your cat. Don't worry about the house. If there are any remaining eggs they will hatch and jump onto the animal and be killed.

Seriously - there is usually no NEED for spraying the house, there really is not. I never find any fleas anywhere. Or any eggs, or any dirt - only if I skip a couple of months with the advocate as I forget and then don't want to do it too soon before the next one, etc.

Otherwise we are flea free and the cat is very sleek and healthy, despite mixing with all sorts and I'm sure, collecting fleas when she is out and about.

If your cat goes outdoors they will always come into contact with fleas so the only thing you can do is use a treatment that kills them on contact with the cat.
Getting stressed about moving furniture and paying huge amounts for people to come and treat your house is not necessary unless the problem is massive.

[Whereismyfuckingcat]

I put out a bowl of water last night and was still clear this morning so it looks like the Program injection is still working. Would recommend

[chipsandmayonnaise]

This has been a really useful thread for me. We also have a terrible flea problem right now. Agree frontline seems not to work any more. Thanks to this thread i got Indorex and it really seems to have done the job.

[rainbowstardrops]

I am also tackling this problem right now and it's driving me insane! We've got a 16wk old kitten who had been treated the day we got her and then we treated her about 7wks after that. It seems those 3 unprotected wks was long enough for fleas to get a hold on my house

I have sprayed and sprayed with Staykil but the little blighters are still hopping everywhere! I am seriously freaked out.

I'm considering flea bombing downstairs later but how can anything possibly get to every nook and cranny??? Also, I'm thinking our house is pretty infested judging by the amount that were jumping onto dh's white socks last night and they can't ALL jump on kitty and die surely???

I am seriously freaking here and feel so dirty and ashamed.

Dh wants to stop kitty going upstairs and says if she isn't there to feed on then the fleas will eventually die. Is this right?

Also, we have a guinea pig and kitty likes to sit near the cage. Could the guinea have fleas too?

Did I mention I was freaking???!!!!!!!

[MigratingCoconuts]

Glad I am not the only one!!

My 16 year old cat has not had fleas in literaly years and all of a sudden this year, we've been infected.

Unfortunately, the little critters took hold in the bedroom whilst we were away on holiday and we came back to lots of hungry jumpers. I freaked out at the sight of my ankles.

Frontline and spray from the vet later and there are none on the cat but a few still jumping around the house.... Let battle commence!

( ps I agree with the poster about Bob martin products... No better than sawdust)

[MigratingCoconuts]

I actually take great pleasure in combing the sods out of the cat and drowning them in soapy water...

[achillea]

I am very surprised at the responses here from people who actually put up with these nasty blood-sucking creatures. You should never put up with fleas when you have children. The bites are hugely itchy and go on for days. Children will scratch them and then the bites can become infected and sometimes scar. I know because it happened to me when I was a child and I have the scars to prove it.

We had them some time ago from a neighbour's cat that used to visit and we bought some very expensive cone fumigators that we set off around the house and then left for 48 hours. Also remember to use the correct Frontline - there are different kinds and you need the most expensive stuff.

We now have three cats and frontline them and only had one infestation when we brought them back as kittens.

[MigratingCoconuts]

My understanding is a frontline type product and flea spraying the house are the way to go. All must be got from the vet to ensure that they will be effective enough.

[Magicmayhem]

I've recently had this problem with the 2 dogs, I shampooed the dogs with flee shampoo and steamed every carpet cushions and their bedding daily... this seems to be helping... I love the steamer it brought the carpets up lovely.. have also given the dogs a flee tablet each.. I think I'm on top of it now but will continue to do all this till the weekend then just do a maintanence steam every week if I remember

where do the buggers come from!

[OhDoAdmitMrsDeVere]

Is anyone 'putting up with it?'
I get the impression everyone is doing all they can to get rid of them.
FYI not everyone reacts to flea bites. Only my oh and my DC5 does in this house.
Everyone gets bitten but only certain people get itchy lumps.

[FiveMonths]

Achillea - I hope you don't mean my posts - I certainly don't put up with fleas. We just don't spray the house, but I have not seen a flea anywhere since we began using advocate about 9 months ago.

I would add that we used the expensive frontline for a while - combo I think it is called - and it was not much better than the ordinary one.

I wouldn't bother with it, just go and get something from the vet - anything you can buy otc is less likely to work than prescription only.

[messtins]

I'm a vet and I have stopped recommending frontline over the last few years because I've had so many people using it properly and still having problems. It's an old treatment, it takes up to 48 hours to kill a new flea that jumps onto the cats and if you lapse even a bit it's allowing the fleas to breed. Once you have them in the house that's a big problem.
I wouldn't suggest you need Rentokill to treat the house - you can get good household sprays and do it thoroughly yourself - a tin should cost about £20 and you are looking for 2 ingredients - permethrin (short acting flea killer) and an insect growth regulator (IGR usually S-methoprene) which stops the fleas completing their life cycle. Examples are RIP, acclaim, nuvan staykill or indorex.
Do each room seperately. Hoover first because the noise/vibration encourages fleas in pupae to hatch out. Then spray, concentrating around skirting boards and underneath heavy furniture that is not moved regularly. Put any pet or human bedding into the machine on a hot wash.
For the cats you need a decent spot on - I'd suggest Advantage. Advocate is also good, but as it also contains wormer it's more expensive. You will need a seperate tapewormer (Drontal cat, mibemax or profender) for them all because fleas carry tapeworms, and if you use advocate you'll have to wait 48 hrs to give them the wormer. Advantage is about £5 a treatment, Advocate more expensive. Stronghold also fine if that's what your vet stocks.

With the best will in the world you can't get rid of them immediately. Fleas have a stage where they are in a pupa (like a caterpillar in a chrysallis) and in that state they are virtually impossible to kill - nothing short of a nuclear explosion will get them. They can either complete their life cycle (flea-egg-larva-pupa-flea) in about 3 weeks or they can sit in the pupa for years. The best you can do is to encourage them to hatch with warmth, moisture, noise, vibration - hence the hoovering, and if it was not warm anyway I'd say put your heating on with a bowl of water on the radiators.

Hope that helps - good luck.

[rainbowstardrops]

Also some of us have husbands who are tight arses thrifty and let out alone, will buy the cheapest can of flea spray, cheaper flea treatment offered, won't entertain paying someone to come in. He won't even take poorly guinea pig to vet because of the money it will cost!

I want to do whatever it takes to get rid of these blighters but the job is even harder when I have to fight for every penny I spend on things

[messtins]

Just to add for the posts which say you don't need to treat the house - if you are currently flea-free and you regularly use one of the spot ons which has some environmental action frontline combo advantage, stronghold, advocate, then I'd agree. If you currently have a flea problem then 95% of the burden is in the house and you definitely need to treat the environment.

[CeliaFate]

I posted this earlier but it seems to have got lost.

DON'T PAY - THE COUNCIL WILL PAY TO HAVE YOUR HOUSE DE-FLEAD AS PART OF YOUR COUNCIL TAX!

Sorry for shouting, but didn't want anyone to have to pay out unnecessarily!

[achillea]

Rainbow, the home treatment we used really did work and we didn't have to do obsessive hoovering because it coats the environment with a flea killer so that when they come out of their hidey holes they will not live long. Ask your hubby how he would feel when friends stop coming round because they get bitten?

You can get flea bombs for around £4 each and we needed about 4 to treat our house, but i would definitely get the most expensive ones with the best ingredients as per messtins post above.

[rainbowstardrops]

Thanks achillea! I am definitely going to bomb the house. I just haven't worked out what I can do with the kitty and guinea pig while they're being used

Are they honestly that effective? I have googled so often and read such conflicting information. Lots of people say the bombs are useless. I'm tempted to get a professional in too but have heard you need to clear all floors. Next to impossible here as DD has ALL of her toys under her cabin bed. Just seems like an impossibly mammoth task getting rid