Fleas found: please can someone give me a step by step plan of action?

[batteredlanger]

Hello! DH is freaking out, I'm hanging in there! But I've been googling flea infestations and I'm not quite sure where to start, what order to do things in, what I can do NOW, what has to happen next iyswim. We have one very outdoorsy cat who comes in to sleep during the day. He has been recently treated but I probably left it too long between treatments.
I'm a bit daunted by what I have read about getting rid of fleas as we have 3 kids aged 5,3 and 1 do can't leave salt sll over the carpets for ages etc. we have loads of stuff crammed into a top small house..I don't have a tumble drier so am I going to have to take Everything for s service wash? It will literally cost over s hundred pounds I'm sure and we are already struggling with the bills! And do we need to throw all the mattresses away? I'm just s but stressed as its hard to keep on top of day to day chores with two small kids at home all day. So the epic cleaning snd hoovering we'lol need to do for the fleas is daunting. Can anyone tell me where to start and what order to proceed?

Oh look I'm fairly casual about these things generally, and if it was just a few fleas on the cat then I wouldn't mind at all. But poor dh's ankles are getting bitten so much that he can't sleep and when he turns on the light to check in the last couple of nights he has had about 8 fleas feeding on him which he showered off. I have seen fleas on my children's skin and when I walked in my room it was only a matter of minutes before I had a visible flea feeding from me somewhere. We found larvae in my sons bed spread and they are freaky little buggers! I may be getting unnecessarily stressed but am I really overacting. Also with regard to the cat being outside; its summer and he's a cat that spends most of his time outside anyway: it's not like I e stopped feeding or stroking him!

Thank you to everyone who has given practical advice, and for making me feel better generally.

Indorex, vacuum, no more cheap shit spot ons from over the counter. You'll be fine.

I don't wanna be awkward but the official word is you can't see flea larvae with the naked eye. So not sure what's in your son's bed (sorry).

Just read that flea larvae live on adult flea poop (I long wondered what the larvae ate). Another reason to vacuum!

If you advocated the cat it needs to be inside to get bitten and kill the fleas.

Theres an injection they can have to stop fleas breeding so the house doesnt get infested. It lasts 6 months.

Just treat the cat with the proper stuff from the vet. Keep treating the cat every month with stuff from the vet. Keep the cat in so it can get bitten and they die. Stick some flea collar in your Hoover bag. Don't use the contraceptive for fleas it takes
Too long to get rid.

Chill man just get on top with the treatment and keep on top of it. Don't bother with shop bought rubbish.

ragged I have seen flea larvae too (under the cat's blanket on a dark chair - they were small but visible) ...
Think about it - that also says pupae are the size of a grain of salt...they have to be a little bigger than that cos adult fleas are bigger than that (the ones that bite humans and you see are ones looking for their first blood meal) - and insects can't really 'grow' (they have an external skeleton) -they can plump out a bit before the shell hardens up but not grow from a grain of salt to adult flea size (unless they shred their exoskeleton and I haven't read anywhere that they do... in fact just found this link www.veterinarypartner.com/Content.plx?A=3237 to quote
Q: On a given dog or cat, sometimes the fleas look smaller than average. Are these baby fleas?
A. No. Remember the flea life cycle. The fleas you see on a dog or cat are adult fleas. They vary in size depending on the nutrients they got in prior development as well as individual genetic make-up. Adult fleas have an exoskeleton made of chitin, as do all insects. They can’t grow bigger than they are.

I used to work (in a lab) with fruit flies...(bigger than fleas so you can see their eggs and newly hatched larvae) -the larvae feed and grown (actually have 3 sizes as they shred their skin - as from that link apparently so do fleas) - before they pupate and a fruit fly pupae is about the same size as the body of a fruit fly...

Actually I learned something - what I thought were immature nearly hatched adult fleas coiming in on the cat from outside (they were slightly smaller than normal - I thought their exoskeleton hadn't fully hardened so they 'plumped up a bit') -but from that it was because they had been outside and probably not as well fed etc as the ones from inside...

I had an infestation last year and was quite hysterical about the whole thing. Plus I'd been using a vet product religiously, Frontline Combo, only for the vet to tell me that fleas are developing an immunity to it.

It took me 3 weeks to get rid of the buggers. Here's what I did

I got new stuff from the vet - Stronghold - so turning cat into flea killing machine. I ordered 6 cans of RIP Fleas and 6 cans of Indorex from Vet Direct. I bought a bunch of hoover bags.

I get really bad allergic reaction to bites, I had to take antihistamines daily, so I spent 3 weeks with my jeans/pjs tucked into socks. I sprayed my ankles and all exposed skin with mossie repellant and sprayed over my socks for good measure. Visitors were banned.

I vacuumed one room at a time but before vacuuming sprayed the door threshold area. Vacuum room, move as much furniture as possible, spray thoroughly, close door on room and start on the next area, repeat, repeat, repeat. Then ventilate rooms. Spray into hoover bag, leave for a while then bin the bag.

I washed all bedding, soft furnishings and cuddly toys at 60 degrees. I threw out 2 rugs.

The most intense period was the first week then I eased off a bit.

I found loads of pupae in the grooves of our wooden floor under the sofa and under mats by the door. They were quite large, about the size of a grain of rice. More like arborio rice or pudding rice, not long grain.

They're quite sticky so I couldnt hoover them up. I sprayed round where they were then kind of squooshed them with a baby wipe and put the wipes into a lidded jam jar and binned it. The bastards started hatching too but got caught by the spray/squooshing. Ugh.

It was awful and I felt so dirty. DH and DCs were quite blase about it but they weren't eaten alive. I had over 20 bites just on ankles and some have left permanent scars.

Even now that the fleas are well gone I spray lightly about once a month after hoovering as an added protection.

Sympathies to you.

Indorex for the house - it is effective for 12 months and one can should do an average 3 bedroom house. Advocate should be done every 4 weeks for the cat. Wash everything that is washable and empty the vacuum bag immediately into an outside bin as soon as you finish vacuuming EVERY nook and cranny.
Fleas do not live on animals, they only jump on to feed and spend the rest of their time in the environment so treatment on the cat only helps kill the infestation if the cat is in the house. Also if the cat has a particular area outside where it lies, treat that too.

Ime, You need more than one can of indorex for a 3 bed house if you're treating an infestation and spraying into nooks/ crannies/skirting boards/under furniture. One can is fine for prevention. I ambitiously started off with 2 cans and ran out rapidly!

Deux I do our 3 bedroom house with one can and never run out. Helps that we have wooden floors though.

Oh, I sprayed wooden floors too and repeated every few days. Was on good terms with courier from Vet Direct.

Yes I'm pretty sure they were flea larvae; they matched up with my googling anyway, which said they grow up to a quarter of an inch long.
The cat hasn't been treated yet as the vet won't give the strong stuff without seeing it. He's getting it today and then will be allowed back in. I'm still a bit confused about what we need to do- everyone has had such different flea experiences and advice ranges from doing very little to manically moving furniture and hot washing everything. But thanks all for your advice

Deux, yes I spray hard floors too but I think I'd use more on carpet?
It doesn't need repeated once applied but you may still see flea evidence for a few days until all eggs and larvae are dead.

battered, your vet or staff there should talk you through the safe, effective use of the products they stock.

I sprayed my entire house with Indorex when we came home from holiday once to find it was Fleamageddon in the house. It was about £8 a can from an online supplier (animed or something) so shop around before buying it. I's worth buying several cans!

All I did was spray the house, treat the cat and dog, and hoover regularly - emptying the hoover bag after every use.

cats everything I've ever read says that adult fleas do stay & live on the cat! Some will fall off but mainly they stay on the cat. And that makes sense from an evolutionary point of view ... If they left they would have no guarantee they could find a new host to feed from etc...
so if you just treat the cat eventually you will win but it takes longer...all the eggs, larvae, pupae in the environment have to mature and find the host (cat)...

soupdragon making me consider a name change!

unlucky, Sorry I didn't go in to enough detail.
Only around 5% of fleas live as an adult feeding on animals and people - they also jump from host to host. They can survive for months without a feed.
The other 95% live as eggs and larvae in the environment where the eggs were laid by the adult. To get rid of an infestation, you need to treat all stages of the life cycle. That's why if you only treat the animal, you don't clear the infestation, especially if your cat is outside a lot.

Ok Catz - we agree on the whole ...but if you just treated the cat with a long lasting treatment - so all the fleas were killed eventually you would cure the infestation - as no adults - so no more eggs, so no more larvae, so no more pupae...so no more adult fleas...but it would take the minimum of the lifecycle - so iirc 9 days but could take months and months in cold weather...

Following this thread as we have the same problem

Ashamed to say that we didn't keep up DCat's flea treatment well enough over the winter & now he has brought us home lots of lovely fleas. DS1 is the worst affected, to the extent that his school rang me to ask what the little red marks were all over him , DS2 has a few bits but it looks more because he is such a skinny little thing. Treating them both with Anthesan, which seems to stop them itching.

We Frontlined the cat on Monday & he wasn't too keen on that so he hasn't been back in the house since Not worried about that, he is an outdoor cat & lives between here & my parents' house, he most likely shelters in a shed there when he wants to.

I also took off & washed all the sofa covers - a massive job, which seemed to work, as for a couple of days we saw no fleas. We have seen more over the last day or so, though, which I assume is eggs hatching, they are only tiny things as well.

Last night, before we went to bed, we bug bombed the lounge & dining room & I got up early to get down here before the DC & air the rooms & wipe any surfaces & toys.

Today's plan of action is to borrow a hoover (ours broke, mainly wooden floors so tend to sweep anyway) & hoover like a mad thing, perhaps put down some flea powder before (not sure it'll work but won't do any harm) & then order some more bug bombs for upstairs. At the weekend we will probably take up the only remaining carpet in the house, which covers the stairs & landings. It's not a particularly nice carpet, just what we inherited when we moved in. I have been googling carpetless stairs & found some really cool ideas on what we could do with the stairs without spending too much (totally broke atm) so that's good

It is just very embarassing & pretty soul-destroying to have these fleas. It makes me feel dirty & itchy Sometimes it feels like we'll never get rid of them!

The Advocate treatment will eventually kill the fleas in your house. Whatever the cat sheds is toxic to the fleas.

As well as lots of hoovering, you can also make flea traps around your house.

Put a bowl of water with some fairy liquid, and position an angle poise lamp (not LED) over it. The fleas are attracted to the heat and will jump into the water. This is a good way of gauging how much progress you are making on getting rid of them.

We Frontlined the cat on Monday

I think Frontline is the one that is now ineffective. After Fleamageddon, we switched to Advocate.

I had this problem a few years ago, I spent a small fortune on shop bought products including Indorex & smokers . Seemed to work for a while but obviously didn't kill all of them or all the eggs... So frustrating & upsetting especially as our cat had passed away in the meantime.

A friend's husband was a pest control person & came in sprayed the entire place including inside wardrobes etc we had to stay out for 4 hours but problem was solved once & for all.

confused another saying don't use frontline ! I had been using it religiously before we had our infestation... and this was several years ago we must have been one of the first and vet thought I'd not been using it correctly.... Now some vets acknowledge that fleas are becoming resistant to it.