Help! Think we have fleas

[ACJane]

What are your top tips?
Should we get a professional in?

Have treated the dog with spot on type stuff and will get tablets from the vet.
I have spray and will use that on furniture and around the house.
I have washed all of the dog's bedding and blankets.

What else can I do?
If we have caught them relatively early is there hope we can get rid of them altogether?
I am allergic to their bites so it is a huge problem.

What makes you think you have them? Thorough and frequent vacuuming with the vacuum cleaner emptied into an outside bin. If you do have them, and there aren't many, they will bite your dog and die. If they have already. laid eggs in your soft furnishings and on floors, you will hopefully vacuum them up. Those you miss will hatch, jump on your dog and die.

If they're biting you, chance are you have more than a few. If the dog is treated, you should be able to get rid of them quickly. The problems start when you have an infestation - really hard to clear.

Oh, and don't bother with supermarket spot-ons - get what vet recommends even if you order online.

We have seen them on the dog, I have been bitten and then found one on my slippers today and the dog is not even here today.

Vet prescribed flea treatment, not over the counter.

Indorex for the house. Spray everywhere including under/behind furniture. You’ll need multiple cans for an average size house.

Job jobbed.

These messages are encouraging - there are plenty of old threads where people truly struggled to get rid of them for ages and ages.

I am hoping we have got in early but as the dog lives at another house part of the time (long story!), it relies on the other person really tackling their home too or they'll reinfest the dog presumably and he will then return here with more fleas!

We had flees from our cats and paid the council but it didn't kill them completely. Indorex was the only thing that worked. I resprayed a few times . The smell is pretty toxic.

INDOREX and proper vet flea treatment will be what solves it.

Go to the vets and get some strong prescription stuff. Your right treat the house , wash everything. Flea comb the dog and treat any other animals

we paid the council, they came twice but we still noticed stragglers after ! indorex was amazing plus intense hoovering

diatomaceous earth is super good for using in the carpet/pet bed etc we used it in the corners of the carpets, stairs and by the cat flap

Is it worth getting the council if Indorex does the job DIY?

After one sprays how long does the smell linger for? Dc and I are currently finding the odour pretty grim (although rather that than bastard fleas!)

I hoovered absolutely everywhere, put the heating on and coated the house with indorex. Supposedly this wakes them up so they get the indorex in them. Then I hoovered every day for a week, then repeated the indorex. Never seen another since and had a super clean house! Dog had moved up to the next weight band for his treatment , so we'd been under dosing him. Lesson learnt!

The smell doesn't last for long, I opened the doors and windows after a couple of hours. DH took the dog and DC out. Try not to breathe any in though , it's strong stuff.

Treat the dog with a vet issued treatment. Wash the bedding.

Use flea bombs to kill them around the house. Aerosol sprays are nowhere near as effective - you'll miss bits. Last time we had cat fleas I used Fortefog P Midi Fumer flea bombs and they did the trick.

Wash all dog bedding. Bath dog. Bath dog second day. Treat with flea treatment after 3 days after 2nd bath. Hoover and steam mop all hard services. Wash cushion covers. Spray rooms with Indoret including skirting boards and then go out for 3 hours. You can also get a bomb to smoke room and you will need to go out for 5 hours.

Smoke bombs sound tempting!

Dog has not been upstairs at all and is not allowed up there, so I am hoping we have caught them early enough that they will only have been downstairs but I will still spray up there too and wash bedding.

Fortunately the house is actually a bit bare downstairs at least and there are not so many soft furnishings to deal with - it's hard floors and no rugs as I didn't want them with muddy dog paws around!

Indorex and then again 2 weeks later. Hoover EVERYWHERE and put spray in the hoover bag.

Spot on for the animals.

Had a good spray into the Dyson collection cannister already - that was something I wouldn't have known to do without Mumsnet!

The flea bombs will treat the whole house in one go. One per room or as per the instructions. Put them on saucers to protect the floor. Switch off smoke alarms. Shut all the outside doors and windows, open all the inside doors, send everyone out, get them let, and clear off for a drink in the pub walk in the park for a couple of hours.

You do need to take extra precautions if there are any other pets in the house, particularly if there's a fish tank.