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.

They really worked for us, and our house is quite cluttered. The more surface area you cover the better, but I don't think it matters if you don't get everything as if fleas have hidden they hatch and then come out, they then don't develop to lay more eggs - look for the growth restricting chemical mentioned by messtin.

And do try the council as mentioned by Celia, I know our council doesn't do free fumigation but some might.

Really helpful advice. Thanks

CeliaFate, our council does not pay for pest control, but it's cheaper than rentokil. Have had fleas since returning from holiday last week, forgot to treat the cat before we went. Frontline now ineffective. On advice of vet have sprayed with indorex and am treating cat with advocat tomorrow. Been told not to Hoover for 3-5 days post spray.

Little feckers they are.

I have spent the past few weeks doing the same, came home from a weeks holiday to find them everywhere. Tried all the cheap stuff first was useless, after searching on here bought indorex, used 4 cans and gave the cats tablets 2 weeks ago and haven't seen any since (touch wood)

I also threw everything away that i could get away with quilts, pillows the lot and washed the clothes on the highest temp i could. I am still obsessing over it now, makes me feel so dirty, i still keep thinking i can feel them jumping on me. I've had the cats 4 years now and this is the first time we've had them but i know several people who've had problems this year.

I'm there right now with the fleas. I've put all the bedding in the wash, sprayed everything that couldn't go in, sprayed my hardwood floors and tiles, got medicine for the cats, and did a fogger. In the meantime my feet got so infected from the flea bites that I couldn't walk and am now on an antibiotic. Yet a coworker who I've been talking to about it seems more concerned with my cats (because I put my air conditioning temperature to 69 F because fleas like it between 70 to 85) than with the fact that I had a major reaction and infection, and says I'm going overboard with flea prevention just because I told her I look for them on the floor and drown them before getting into bed and immediately after getting out of bed. I've only seen them in my room now and I don't want to carry them on me to the rest of the place. I mentioned that I killed 11 at one time at one point and she said, "You're counting them?" I explained to her that I wanted to see how many I'm killing day to day, hoping that it's less each day, and it seems to be. She was shocked when I told her that I look for them and she said it seems a little weird. But to me, it's not. I was just on another board where someone was telling another person that they needed to go see a psychiatrist, that they were going overboard about fleas. Hopefully none of you guys get reactions like this. I guess people who don't deal with this problem or don't get bitten don't understand. I'm determined to stick it out until I don't see any more fleas.

My thoughts are with you neon, it will soon pass though. It is like living in some kind of nightmare. And I'm pretty sure if you live with it for too long you will end up a little bit crazy. I felt dirty and guilty - above all for the children who suffered every bite far more than me. I did what breezy did and have never looked back. They were all dead almost immediately, however the nightmare has always stayed with me and I remember the way they would cling to the bottom of my pajamas every morning when I got up. Yuk.

Any tips on going to stay with a family who have cats? Last time we came home covered in bites that took ages to heal?

We usually take our own bedding, should I machine wash at 60 when we get home? Will do jungle formula spray on ankles next time.

Tell them to read this thread Fourarms - they should deal with this before you stay with them. Have they no shame?

Neon I bet your coworker is another 'non reactor' and therefore doesn't really get how horrible it is.
It's a bit easier to be blasé about fleas if you don't have any evidence of them
Tell your coworker how miserable they can make animals feel, the risk of flea allergies, flea anaemia and non stop scratching.

My little dog goes crazy with fleas. He howls and fusses and runs about in distress.
Bit hard to ignore fleas in this house.

havent read the whole thread but check your council website as they might deal with flea infestation. Our council treats for free and covers infestations of
Rats
Mice
Wasps
Fleas
Bed bugs

Well we came home and despite spraying everywhere before we left for holiday we had fleas in our lounge and bedroom again. Sprayed again, moving furniture ect and 4 days and no fleas seen. Advocated tge cats for the first time last night (last used frontline 2 weeks ago and tbh they were not scratching much but have done so to be cautious). I also put salt down uder the sofas and beds as this is meant to dry out the eggs. Fingers crossed or we will be looking into the council coming out. I gave myself a migraine on Monday due to it all. Like another poster I am on my hands and knees looking for them. Other than in my lounge when we returned when they were jumping on my feet I have mainly only spotted them of late when deliberately looking for signs so I think we have broken the back of them so to speak.

There's a strange kind of lunacy that having fleas drives you to. It's the same with head lice. I remember experimenting with them to see how many days it took them to drown.

As I said, the fogger things are best.

Funny you should mention headlice, guess what I found on ds1 last night! I reckon he picked them up camping as they were all, bar one tiny ones! He also appeared clear before we left. I must sound like a really dirty person now lol!

Great that's all you need! Now I'm really starting to itch and may even have to hide this thread.

Lazylula - snap ! Ds also has nits now. . I want to bath in bleach . We're away next week so I dread my friend getting bitten. She's calling in twice a day to feed the cat.

Well ..... I took kitty to vet yesterday and she's now given her Advocate plus Indorex for the house.

Surely though, it's an absolute impossible task spraying every nook, cranny, carpet, rug, furniture, toys etc??? I've used a whole can just on our 'little' room and kitchen! I've still got our 'big' room, hallway, stairs and all upstairs to do yet

What if I miss an inch of carpet? Does that mean the fleas living and growing in that bit will live to fight another day?

There's no way I can get to all of dd's toys under her cabin bed!

I'm at the end of my tether here. Seriously

Another one here at the end of my tether.

Used advocate a week ago and sprayed with Indorax. Dog is still riddled with fleas and flea poo. I'm now taking her out in the garden and using my finger nails to comb through her - can only do the sides and back though.

Got 4 fleas yesterday and 6 today.

Have got an electric flea trap today and that's now set up in the dining room. Will be interesting to see how many buggers I catch.

I was in the car today and a bloody flea jumped on my arm - the fucking car obviously now has fleas after the dog was in in last week. FGS!

Its so bad the cats refuse to come in the house now. They're curled up in the middle of the back garden looking pissed off.

RainbowStar - could you use a bomb/fugger in conjunction with the spray? They're meant to be good for the places you miss with the spray.

Can anyone recommend a good brand of bomb as I'm thinking of getting some now as well?

And the next thing I need to do is worm all the animals as they're all going to have tape worms now due to the fleas. Nice.

I've seriously considered the fogger things but vet said they're not reliable unless they reach all areas. Surely like a spray then?!

I'm disheartened that you've done same as me and you're still finding fleas! How the hell do you get rid of the bastards?!!!!

I'm seriously paranoid now and just have so much washing waiting. Throws, bedding, cushion covers, soft toys - oh plus the NORMAL washing that gets done everyday! It's impossible

i second the advice for ADVOCATE. my vet has stopped selling frontline for dogs becauase of questions about its effectiveness.

does hoovering help stop the problem? if not, don;t bother doing it everyday!

is your vet helpful? maybe they can advise you?

Apparantly I'm still finding fleas as these are the fleas that were eggs when we sprayed. The spray can't destroy the eggs. However these fleas should be getting poisoned by the fact the dog has been Advocated and we're going to respray next weekend. Just keep going until they're gone.

I have had cats since 1986. We have three at present. I have never seen a flea. Occasionally I have had one or two tiny bites (about once every three years).

The house is hoovered and mopped weekly. The cats are regularly advocated but I do forget the dates (a flea collar used to be enough). All linens are always washed at 60 degrees and changed fortnightly. Throws are regularly washed. If I see one of the cats scratching everything gets a good spray with the expensive stuff in the pink can from Pets 4 Homes. The places where they sleep are regularly vacuumed and washed and sprayed.

Now you all think you have problems. We have cats because our garden backs onto a big London river and that brings with it other vermin - big ones with long tails which are truly disgusting. The year we didn't have a cat we saw more rats than in the preceding 13 years. We have to have Rentokil from time to time to check access points to the house and to lay strong poison in enlosed units. Fleas I can control - the effing rats Rentokil and the cats control.

But God, I cannot imagine them jumping on me and being able to see scores of them on my skin, socks - though the rat under the sink was gross when I opened the door once.

Ooh yuk to the rats!!! I know they're only fleas but it seriously gets to you when you see them jumping about and ds is getting bitten now. It's beautiful and sunny outside and I've spent the morning hoovering, spraying and washing. Not fun.

Our local council will come out for a small fee and do the house for you.