Urgh I found a flea!

[Naturegirl82]

Last night giving ddog a groom and spotted a flea. She is a CKCS blenheim with a fair amount of white so they are quite obvious on her. I removed the flea and very closely inspected her and couldn't see anymore and there were only 2 small patches of flea dirt I could see. She is up to date with her flea treatment so is it likely that she picked this up on her walk yesterday afternoon (6-7 hours before I spotted it)? I'm giving the house a good vacuum today and washing any bedding etc on a hot wash. Will this be enough? She hasn't been scratching or licking anymore than usual so hoping this means my house isn't infested!

But some Billy no mates by csj - it takes 6 weeks to fully kick in bits it's very good!
Talk to the vet about a better treatment while you wait for billy to take effect, some of the flea treatments are encountering resistance now and are becoming ineffective.

Vacuum thoroughly, spray thoroughly with indorex, dispose of as much soft furnishing as you can, wash the rest the hottest it will take then spray when dry would be my advice.

Ps if you spot a single flea there are guaranteed to be hundreds if not thousands living in the environment....

Take no prisoners! Be brutal! Repeat indorex 6 months later as fleas can live without a host for up to a year in your house!

There is no product on the market that has a residual effect (last four weeks) and has instant kill. Depending on the product you used kill time from flea arriving on pet is between 2 and 8 hours so I would hold fire changing product till you know there is a problem.
It is worth hovering and spraying at this time of year to keep on top of whole life cycle,

Been to the vets and got a different flea treatment that I can apply now and some indorex. Will give the place a good vacuum then spray later just before we go out. Hopefully that should stop any infestation. Not looking forward to vacuuming everyday for 7 days though!

I'm amazed at the hysteria about fleas
We have three dogs and a cat, all treated with veterinary prescribed flea treatment. However we do still find the occasional lodger in residence, generally a bit woozy and easy to catch so I'm reasonably happy that the treatment is still working.

Anything that may involve extra washing or hoovering I generally ignore :o

feathery I'm usually fairly laid back. I've spotted a flea on ddog before and just got rid. I decided to spray this time as I spotted a second flea on her so don't want to run the risk of a full on infestation with a 1 year old walking around and another on the way. I won't be getting rid of any soft furnishings though

The other thing that has made me slightly dubious is we were using frontline and there seems to be some suggestion of resistance developing. I've switched to advantage now anyway so should be ok.

To feathery, you need to be hysterical where fleas are concerned.

Fleas and tapeworms go hand in hand, you don't usually get one without the other and they are transmissable to people!

Most animals are allergic to some degree to flea bites and can get rashes, hot spots and all sorts of nasty, painful conditions as a result.

A heavy flea infestation can make an animal seriously sick and weak, in the very old, young or sick they can actually kill them.

Fleas can't survive on people, but that won't stop them biting you!

When you spot one flea on a pet, there are usually hundreds more busy breeding in your carpets, under your skirting boards etc..
They can stay there for up to a year without a host!

If you don't eradicate them ruthlessly and thoroughly they can sometimes breed and infest your house and get totally out of control.
Some of the threads made on here, netmums and pet forums by distressed parents talking about how fleas are jumping all over their kids, crawling on clothes are just horrifying.

butt I was thinking more of the OP's situation. I can assure you I would not be so sanguine about a full on infestation :o

Yes but what I am saying is the op has found one or two fleas.
Which doesn't seem like that big of a problem.

But those two fleas likely have hundreds of family in the house and if the situation isn't dealt with quickly it could become a much bigger problem surprisingly fast

Goodness, I just wash them down the sink :o

I must be incredibly lucky as the odd hitchhiker I've found never amounts to anything more. Though my house is quite cold and has no carpets downstairs. Perhaps we are the flea equivalent of Escape to the Country and ours house is the one nobody likes :o