Active discussions

Meet the Other Phone. Child-safe in minutes.

Meet the Other Phone.
Child-safe in minutes.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Talk
AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

Fleas and cleaners

27 replies

Bertiebottsbum · 27/08/2017 22:13

My cleaners are not responsible for the fleas. Clearly my cats are. I will be dealing with them.

However aibu to think that if my cleaners were hoovering properly when they come then the infestation shouldn't have been able to take hold.

For information they come twice a week for three hours each time and have to clean a 6 bed house. They are meant to Hoover each time they come but we only have 4 carpeted bedrooms and the stairway is also carpeted. The rest of the house has wood floors/tiles.

I have been concerned that they have been cutting corners recently and I haven't been entirely happy with them.

So aibu expect that proper hoovering twice a week should have kept the fleas from taking hold?

OP posts:
C0untDucku1a · 27/08/2017 22:14

I have two cats and hoover twice a day and the fuckers still have flees. Treat the cats and spray the ehole house with the stuff from the vets only, not per shop stuff.

C0untDucku1a · 27/08/2017 22:15

pet shop stuff.

DesignedForLife · 27/08/2017 22:15

Does general normal hoovering kill fleas? Are you sure your hoover is powerful enough?

dementedpixie · 27/08/2017 22:16

Yabu to blame your cleaners for your cat fleas. Do you hoover on the other days?

gamerchick · 27/08/2017 22:16

Hoovering encourages fleas to hatch.. If you want to bin your cleaners you can't use fleas as an excuse .

peekyboo · 27/08/2017 22:17

I was told by the vet that you need to hoover very regularly for it to have an effect on the fleas, so twice a week wouldn't cover it anyway - and of course, definitely wouldn't help if they only vacuum carpets and not the whole house.

WhamBarsArentAsFizzyAsTheyWere · 27/08/2017 22:18

Yabu, I hoovered 3 times a day and still got am infestation a few years ago.

Those little buggers hide absolutely everywhere. No way could your cleaners get them all by hoovering twice a week.

statetrooperstacey · 27/08/2017 22:19

Fleas lay eggs in floor boards.

Ilovecoleslaw · 27/08/2017 22:19

I was told you need to hoover twice a day for 2 weeks to hopefully get rid of them.
Get some good spray from the vets

Jessiecat27 · 27/08/2017 22:21

Get some indorex (amazing stuff and cheaper on amazon than at the vets) and hoover yourself on the days you don't have the cleaner in, they're little buggers to get rid of!

Jessiecat27 · 27/08/2017 22:22

Also, all of your clothes, bedding etc will need to be washed at a high temperature otherwise in a few months they'll be back!

DorisDangleberry · 27/08/2017 22:23

Aaargh. Fleas are cunts. My cunt cat, previously called Charlie, but now known as cunt, managed to get fleas. Dosed him multiple times with all sorts of chemicals, killed all the fleas on him. Hoovered all rooms including sofa, washed all sheets, etc, etc. Still bastard fleas that appeared when we thought we were clean. Ended up buying a 'flea bomb' that fumigates the room. Internet says they can survive for weeks off an animal, and hoovering doesn't always clean them out. Bastards. (See also nits, probably in league with fleas)

So in short, not your cleaners fault!

ozymandiusking · 27/08/2017 22:23

Gamerchick, Why does hoovering encourage fleas to breed?

Jayfee · 27/08/2017 22:25

i wasctood you have to put powder on floorboards and leave down between cracks for a week before hoovering

peekyboo · 27/08/2017 22:25

I think those flea bombs were banned in the end, amazing things though a bit scary. You have to run out of the room quick before they kill you as well as the fleas.

dementedpixie · 27/08/2017 22:29

The vibrations from hoovering encourages them to hatch not to breed

BabsGanoush · 27/08/2017 22:30

are you treating the pets bedding?

Original poster
Bertiebottsbum · 27/08/2017 22:32

Ok ladies. I hear you loud and clear. The cleaners could not have prevented this and I now have to dedicate my life to the fight against fleas. Bugger.

OP posts:
Floellabumbags · 27/08/2017 22:32

Does general normal hoovering kill fleas?

No

I think those flea bombs were banned in the end

Amazon sell them.

Why does hoovering encourage fleas to breed?

The vibrations sort of wake them up. The eggs can lie dormant for months until some unsuspecting mammal comes along and they hatch and jump.

peekyboo · 27/08/2017 22:35

Terrible, shameful link fail....

Floellabumbags · 27/08/2017 22:45

I hope you are thoroughly ashamedWink

DorisDangleberry · 27/08/2017 22:51

I thought there was nothing worse then fleas, but maybe that link is it

BettyIsABoy · 27/08/2017 22:54

I was nearly about to get a couple of cats. I am seriously rethinking.

CreamCheeseBrownies · 27/08/2017 22:58

Get pest controllers in - try the council. They spray round the margin between carpet and wall where fleas love to hide and no vacuum cleaner ever really gets into. Ours promised a second visit if necessary for free, confident that it was hardly ever needed. We did get a second spray but I had over 400 bites before they were called, so an awful infestation.