Ugh fleas! Any advice from folks who've successfully got rid?

[WoolyMammoth55]

Hi all,

Had a crappy situation whereby our lovely elderly neighbour took a turn and went into hospital in mid-December. She has a sweet small elderly terrier who gets on well with our 9-yo cocker and we agreed to look after him until she was better.

He's an itchy little guy but always has been so I didn't think much of it. After a week our chilled girl was itching too so I took her to the vets - and she was covered in fleas :( Turns out neighbours dog was thoroughly infested, likely he had been for a while. They are now both treated and seeming fine - phew!

Vet suggested Indorex for the house - but I was holding off in hopes we wouldn't need to do it. Now I'm getting bitten so clearly the fleas are in our home... :(

I was holding off because we have 2 kids, 4yo and almost 1. After I got bitten DH worked hard to get each of the bedrooms cleaned and sprayed at times when the kids can be elsewhere for a stretch. We haven't sprayed the living room as it has hard floors - but now the bites are persisting. I assume maybe the fleas are in the sofas, and/or travelling on us or a dog upstairs into the sprayed rooms and re-infesting them? UGH!

Anyway, we're taking the Xmas tree down today and so I'm hoping I can get the downstairs room cleaned and spray this evening once the boys are in bed.

If I then re-spray upstairs first thing in the morning, will we be rid of the fleas? It's hellish trying to work out the timings for how to clean and spray the whole house in one go without baby breathing in tons of insecticide!! We don't have family close by or anyone we can stay with, sadly.

Anyone got any advice and /or tips? I would be happy to try a different spray but I think it's our inability to "treat the whole house at once" that's the problem, not the spray... But I'd be grateful for any advice!

Thanks x

Indorex is amazing stuff. Get two cans from Amazon and do the whole house and then again in two weeks time. You spray all flooring, even wood as they get into cracks. Do one room at a time, shut the door for an hour. It's not particularly strong smelling stuff.

By the time you are seeing adult fleas, the house is riddled. The egg, pupae and larval stages as well as a fair part of the adult life all occur off the pet so you need to see the problem as a pyramid with the adult stage at the top and a huge mass of eggs at the base.

In my experience the only thing that works is Indorex and as the PP said, use it twice. Vacuum clean throughly first and then spray for the first time and leave it down for as many days as you can bear it. The idea of the second spraying is to knock down the hatch of eggs as indorex doesn't get the eggs.

Flea eggs are now known to live at least 17 years in the environment. They hatch due to warm moist conditions and vibration which signals the presence of a potential host. They go through the various life stages to adulthood and then hop on to the host for a blood feed, to mate and lay eggs. The eggs are designed to roll off into the environment to start the cycle again. They are amazing creatures but the bites drive animals potty and will keep you awake too.

Indorex, only way to go. Got rid of the fleas. Regular hoovering too

I’m just going through this myself. I was prescribed Broadline by the vet for my cat and it didn’t work. I’m currently waiting for some Advantage to arrive now that the 30 days have passed.

I read about flea traps and set some up with soapy water in a shallow container and a candle in the middle as the heat is supposed to attract them. Not to be recommended!! But I caught a few.

I sprayed with Indorex. It says to hoover every day after as the vibrations speed up the hatching cycle The video on their webpage gives slightly different info to the can.
uk.virbac.com/products/parasiticides/indorex-defence-household-flea-s

I left the soapy water down without candles and the fleas were attracted to it anyway and drowning in it so that was great! Speaking to DM about a flea infestation time years ago, she said that she would leave a cup of tea on the floor at night and it would be full of them - sugar or no sugar.

Good luck getting rid of them. DH wouldn’t know we have fleas - they aren’t interested in him at all but they make a meal out of me and DD.

Its a nightmare. Get flea treatment from the vet as most have resilience to over the counter stuff. Give all carpets, dogs, dog beds and soft furnishings a wash each week. Each time you see a flea give a Bob Martins tablet.

After you hoover, spray the Indorex into the hoover bag or they'll just hop out.

We had a huge infestation and indorex completely got rid of them. I do the house once a year with it even if I don't see any obvious signs of fleas.

Hoover like your life depends on it especially in nooks and crannies and around the edges of rooms.

When our cats got fleas, the vet gave them an injection to get rid of the fleas (not a clue what it was!) and told us to send them into any areas of the house affected almost like little trojan horses, as the fleas would jump onto them, then drop dead. It worked and saved us having to let off any dodgy chemicals in the house. I would chat to the vet again rather than but any over the counter stuff.

As others have said, Indorex (don't forget the car) and hoovering and laundering on top of vet strength flea treatment. The unhatched eggs can live a frighteningly long time so regular hoovering is a must.

I bought one of these and if your dogs will tolerate it, it can be a useful heads up and is very effective.www.<a class="break-all" href="https://amazon.co.uk/Masterclip-Grooming-Rabbits-Effective-Ectoparasites/dp/B07RQMFDPD/ref=sr_1_5?crid=13A9FCRUM8UFP&keywords=dog%20flea%20comb&sprefix=dog%20flea%20comb%2Caps%2C187&qid=1641211268&sr=8-5&tag=mumsnet&ascsubtag=mnforum-the-doghouse-4443215-Ugh-fleas-Any-advice-from-folks-whove-successfully-got-rid" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">amazon.co.uk/Masterclip-Grooming-Rabbits-Effective-Ectoparasites/dp/B07RQMFDPD/ref=sr_1_5?crid=13A9FCRUM8UFP&keywords=dog+flea+comb&qid=1641211268&sprefix=dog+flea+comb%2Caps%2C187&sr=8-5

"When our cats got fleas, the vet gave them an injection to get rid of the fleas (not a clue what it was!) and told us to send them into any areas of the house affected almost like little trojan horses, as the fleas would jump onto them, then drop dead"

That was probably lufenuron, licensed as Program.
The isoxazoline (-laner) drugs will do the same job- Easecto, Bravecto, Nexguard, that kind of thing.

Indorex is the biz and you can't make an omelette without cracking a few eggs so pick a reasonable day, spray the lot and get everybody out for a walk for an hour.

I use Bravecto on our dog and when our cat had fleas and they’d spread in the house, Indorex worked brilliantly.

Had to get pest control company in. Sorted it where nothing we tried worked.

Our vet gave us Bravecto which greatly puzzled MIL who patronisingly told me that I had not got my dog protected against fleas and must have got mixed up with worming tablets. 'No no dear you can't get a tablet for fleas'
I had to Google it to show her as nothing I say could ever be right.
Fingers crossed it seems effective so far

I use Bravectospot on for my cat, it's fantastic stuff. It's given every 3 months don't know if it's the same for dogs

Get the pest control in.its the only thing that really works.my experience with all the other stuff,the fleas just come back after a short time.