HELP! Fleas IN MY CHILD'S *HAIR*! (Definitely not lice!)

[rosemarycottage]

Help!

I've never had a huge problem with fleas before. I have two cats, and they spend the majority of summer outdoors and the majority of winter indoors. I treat them with Frontline Combo just about every month. I've had one of them for ten years, one for two years and I have never had a problem with fleas before now.

But now? Loads of the little buggers. I've flea bombed the whole house, hoovered everywhere including mattresses and chairs, I've frontlined the cats again for what little good it does but I'm really distressed:

Because I've found them in ds' hair. They definitely aren't lice (he's had lice before and I do know the difference). I've also seen them jumping around on my clothes - clothes I've only just washed - even when I've been out of the house.

I'm mortified. And frankly, really upset to see fleas jumping around on my ds and feel like there's nothing I can do.

I can get the council to fumigate and that's my next step but I'm frightened that these aren't actually cat fleas but the rare human flea. Apparently these are indeed rare but often live around pigs. Well guess where we visited about a week ago? A farm. That included a pig sty. Didn't stay long but... could it be that?

And if it is human fleas what the hell do I do? Go to the doctor?

This is making me really upset. He starts school in September; if he still has fleas in his hair then he might get bullied and that's not even to mention how horrid it will be if he gets bitten. :(

Anyone had this problem before and what would you advise / what did you do?

Do lice shampoos work on fleas? (Trust me, they are definitely fleas not lice, I know the difference). Should I go to a doctor or a vet?

HELP!

I honestly don't think it's necessary to treat the house BUT if you're in a hurry to get shot of the buggers completely then yes do it.

I hesitated as we have SO much stuff and it would take about a month to do.
Plus the advocate has worked really fast. She was getting up and leaving literally a hundred little white eggs, it was awful, and loads of flea dirt - went from that to about 3 eggs and no dirt within a week, maximum. In fact it hasn't even been a week yet!

I paid about £40 from the vet (inc free consultation) for a 'large' cat (about 4-6kg so anything other than a kitten really) and you get 6 months supply and a free one as they had an offer on.

If you pay a tenner or so for a script you can then order lots at once from pets direct or whatever it's called, sorry, can't remember the website - for £24 for 6.

Petmeds!

We had a bad infestation once - i had bites on lower legs and noticed one on my clothes when I was at work - horrific.

I treated the animals and used flea bombs on the house - there were in an areosol that locks open. we set them off before we went away for a few days. Worked a bloody treat. I think this was the one I used here

I remember seeing a poster in the vets once that said:

"For every one flea on your pet, there are 200 in your home"

We used flea bombs too once the pets had been treated, they were fantastic and ended the whole cycle.

They'll be in your carpet. We bought sprays from environmental health and sprayed every inch of carpet, left windows open and went out for the day.

That worked but you'll still see them as new eggs hatch, but they will go within a few weeks. The flea weeks were bloody awful.

I just got back from a week away. My dogs are all deflea'd with the right stuff and we dont have cats.

First thing I see when i go to plug in the electricals in my bedroom? Yes a starving flea!

I am immune and dont feel the bites but OH reacts badly to them.

The vet assistant said the eggs can even lay dormant in the garden . I always thought they needed to be indoors and warmish.

Bloody fleas.

They can lay dormant for up to two years

I've just noticed a load of dead woodlice by my front door. I sprayed a couple of weeks ago, and it's obviously still working. Hopefully it will get spiders too

Well the few eggs that lay dormant for that long are probalby somewhere you never go...it only takes disturbance of their environment to hatch them.

Then they will leap onto the nearest passing pet and die.

You can't get rid and just leave it, you have to keep treating unless your pets never go outside and meet hedgehogs/other cats. Otherwise it will just start up again.

The good thing about rentokil is that they'll do a free consultation to tell you what the problem is. They came around the dame day for us. Then they recommend the treatment plan but weren't hard sell.

I would catch one in a jar, or photograph it then have them come round to confirm. Then you'll know what you're dealing with.

How are you both? Was thinking that you have moved quite recently and so it could be the fleas have been dormant and then landed onto your cats. Our big flea problem happened a few months after we moved house.

Yes to Indorex.

If you comb them out (from cats or ds's hair!) use a bowl/old icecream tub of water, with a few drops of washing up liquid or a bit of left over soap in it, to drown them - the soap breaks the surface tension & stops the little sods skating across the water & climbing out!

LM yes I was wondering that too, as this didn't happen in my last place but I had the two cats then?

Phoned the vet who wants me to wait until the Frontline has had chance to work. So will attempt to buy better meds online.

Hi. Can I ask how do I get rid of fleas in her hair?