Bastard fleas

[blubberball]

Posting here for traffic. AIBU to please ask for recommendations to get rid of the twatting things? I called pest control, but they said that my animals would have to move out for 7 days. I have a cat, and I've defleaed her with Stronghold from the vet. I have some spray for the house, from the vet, and I've been hoovering and steaming. Washing bedding at 60. I have ordered some Indorex from Amazon. Anything else? It's not a massive infestation, but I see 2 to 3 jump on me a day, and my children have bites on them. It's freaking me out. Please help!

@IToldYouIWasFreaky the state of my ankles!! Dh, Ds and the baby are left alone. It's me and my 6 year old that get eaten alive.

@WankPuffins Not pathetic at all. That does sounds miserable, and I suffer with depression myself. I hope that you can find some tips that work for you, and so sorry you're going through that on top of Covid and caring for a baby.

We moved into an infested house in March when I was 5 weeks pregnant and it was a flipping nightmare for 4 months. We don't even have pets. It doesn't make you sound ridiculous Wankpuffins, it's absolutely horrendous. Ours seemed to like jumping onto my face best. Couldn't find anywhere to rest and our ankles looked like we had a serious skin complaint. We were hoovered, mopping with bleach, boil washing , spraying and fog bombing. I don't know if it was coincidence, but one day we borrowed a steamer and used that then sprayed everything with Indorex and apart from the odd flea once a week or do, that was it.

It is just so blissful when they go. You'll get there. It just doesn't feel like it'll ever end when you're in the middle of it x

STOP STEAMING you will wash all the Indorexx away prevent it from lasting on the carpet.

I won't steam now that I've done the Indorex. Just hoover. 😁

Just had another one jump on me! Gah! They drive me completely mental!

Another tip to deter being bitten is garlic tablets. For humans and cats.

We tried everything mentioned above. We have had cats for many years had a huge flea problem all of a sudden. Spent an obscene amount of money on treatments. Then we tried plastic flea collar and then hoovered regularly for 10days. All gone! Miracle! Honestly, try it. We could not believe it. Absolutely amazing and so simple. It was from Amazon they last 12-18months

Indorex and regular hoovering worked for me! I made the mistake of buying Frontline from the supermarket and it didn’t work so the poor cat was infested. I now only buy the stuff from the vet and treat at the first sign of scratching and haven’t had much issue since

The light bulb traps are to indicate the severity of an infestation, not to actually eradicate them.

You need to treat the whole house with indorex or acclaim (I have no idea why the pest control person wanted your pets out for 7 days, whatever they use should be safe once it dries, within an hour or so!)

By whole house I mean:

Between sofa cushions.
Along all carpet joins
All floorboard cracks
Under furniture
Along skirting boards
Any mattresses

Wash things on hot, steam things you cannot wash or treat.

Then treat any pets - these will amost certainly be cat fleas as those are the most common and most other types don't live on anything but the host species (dog fleas, cat fleas and human fleas do) for long but remember none of them live ON the host species for long anyway, most of their life is spent in your soft furnishings and crevices in flooring. The fact you still have an ongoing infestation means whatever you've treated the house with is ineffective or hasn't been applied effectively.

Use whatever the vet is currently selling - anything over the counter has come off SQP/Veterinary prescription only licence and that normally means it is now less effective. The only place those flea collars you buy in the pet stores is suitable for is inside your hoover bag!

If you have animals allergic to fleas use a product that kills them quickly, like Capstar, and then follow this up with a longer term treatment.

Also worm your pets, fleas are part of the tapeworm lifecycle.

If after a few weeks you are still seeing fleas, you need to look at who is bringing them into the house quickly enough that you see them before they die. Sometimes you find your cat is going out and sitting somewhere riddled with fleas and bringing them home.. sometimes its a human vector!

@WiddlinDiddlin Thanks. That post was very helpful and informative.

My mother was a pest controller.. this was one of the more useful things I learned from her!

Hope you get it sorted, its bloody miserable having a hopping house!

Getting rid takes at least 3 months because of the life cycle of the flea. Basically you can’t kill the egg so waiting for them to hatch. It’s just awful eh.

Our local pet shop told me in hushed tones that many treatments don’t work. They took the room bombs and foggers out of my shopping basket and handed me a single can of furniture/carpet spray, afraid I can’t remember the name 🤦‍♀️ but read reviews and ask around vets and shops, don’t assume a treatment will work in your area as the fleas get resistant to stuff. For us, Advocate works on the cats but the other flea drops I was using no longer work in my area.

Vaccum as much as you can, especially under sofa cushions and between floorboards / where carpet meets wall. Empty vacuum bag into plastic bag and tie shut then get out of house (preferably do all this to the vacuum outside). Otherwise you are letting a few fleas hop out when you open the vaccum.

@Skysblue Thanks.