Fucking fucking fleas

[MrsHathaway]

Last month we had fleas - I'd been using the shop flea treatments, not realising that they're utter crap. So we went to the vet's for the spot on and the house treatment stuff and we sprayed and hoovered and steamed and boil washed fucking everything and observed the containment and ventilation protocols and everything.

THE LITTLE FUCKING BASTARDS ARE BACK - or possibly just hid away more likely - and although the cats aren't particularly bothered, I am absolutely covered in fucking itchy bites that make me want to grate my skin off then bathe in acid. I just caught one of the little arseholes putting a hole in my arm I hope his squashy death was infinitely painful.

HOW HOW HOW do I get the jumpy little bastards actually out of my house for good? Should I actually take the cats to the vet's to be treated or is the problem likely to be in the soft furnishings? Theoretically the cats aren't allowed in the parts of the house where there is carpet but that's easier said than done

Should perhaps have nc as "I have fleas" is not a very MN boast.

I got quoted £65 for the programme injection for a 4.2kg cat. Is that about right?

The flea treatment they sell in Pets at Home has been our salvation.

Our dog was in a hideous cycle of treating/no fleas for a couple of weeks/infested again. We spent loads of treatments sold to us by the vet, including the useless Frontline.

We now use the Pets at Home treatment and he has been clear for over a year.

Oh i feel your pain! Same thing happened when i was pregnant. Near the end as well. I was exhausted and obsessed.

It took 2 months for them to go, i even bought a new Dyson. It was Indorex that finally got the fuckers.

Program is really the only thing that stops an infestation. Advocate is brilliant for preventing one Frontline is about as much use as a chocolate tea pot.

I'm not really with you on what flies you have but have you tried filling a bottle (narrow bottleneck) with 1 dl syrup, 2 dl vinegar, 1 drop of dishwasher liquid (but no more, just to break the surface tension). Since nobody has mentioned this recipe yet, maybe it doesn't work with these particular flies, but otherwise it's a good recipe to have handy if the house suddenly is filled with, say, fruit flies. The flies find the smell of syrup and vinegar irresistible, yummy, yummy... and try to land of the water surface (hence the drop of dishwasher liquid ).

Ok will go to vet's and ask for Advantage/Advocate. Will respray unwashable soft furnishings and hot wash other things.

The Indorex claimed you don't need to do mattresses because they can't get through the sheets but I get bitten to miserable shreds in bed so am

Um, previous poster, it is fleas (that live on cats and dogs) not flies. I see your user name is language learner so no offence intended if english is not your first language.

Oh God I did mattresses. I did everything. Whilst muttering 'die you bastards' under my breath. Just make sure you air everything well before you go to bed, so preferably do it in the middle of the day with windows open.

Ask your vet about Comfortis flea tablets, more effective than spot ons.
If using a spot on would recommend Stronghold

Not flies, fleas! Good tip for summer though thanks.

We had this once and actually we were told they move to humans when they can no longer go on the cat (who has been treated). Our cats no longer had fleas when my son was badly bitten. In the end we paid £100 ish and got the infestation man in. That was the end of it.

The utter, utter bastards.

Ours were left behind by our dear departed cat, we went on holiday having sprayed everywhere and came back to the fuckers popping out of the carpet and onto us! They only bite one of my DS and my DH, not me and other DS, so they went round each room letting them hop on, then drowned them in soapy water. We caught about 30 fleas that night. It was a super way to end a holiday

@RebelRogue Thankyou lovely. Nightlight

I havn't read the other comments but I'm just gonna tell you what I did when we got the dreaded fleas.
We have a dog and 3 older kittens and we were absolutely invaded! We tried flea powder flea collars flea sprays about 8 flea bombs in every room but still kept finding bites on me and itching animals. We gave them all flea treatments and used shampoo but NOTHING seemed to work. I found on the Internet sale and bicarb are the best things to dry them out and kill them as they walk around so I treated the animals again, sprayed salt under the sofa on rugs all around the edges of the carpet and any where else I could get away with , then I sprinkled bicarb on top and left it for almost a week then hooverd it all up , emptied the hoover bag and repeated and I havn't seen them since! I've since bought some industrial flea spray that is supposed to work for a year incase they do come back but I think the salt seems to work best!

We had an infestation and it took a good couple of months to get rid of them all. We had a professional spray and then kept going ourselves with Indorex every couple of weeks. The advice the pro gave was that you should hoover thoroughly before spraying and then avoid hoovering after spraying for as long as possible as hoovering lessens the potency of the spray.

Have you done your car etc.? We found we were getting bitten in our car until we hoovered and sprayed a couple of times.

It is hideous though. Haven't seen one/been bitten for over a month now so I'm quietly confident they are gone. And I'm now super vigilant about only using vet prescribed stuff and doing it monthly on the dot!

As others have said, Indorex!!! This stuff is our saviour! Mr BC attracts them like flies to poo but I spray Indorex once a year (on and under sofa, round skirting boards, in bedroom and bed frame etc) and kills the little arseholes dead, including their larvae and eggs.

Advantage is effective and available without a prescription (Amazon!)

Stronghold kills the little bastards within an hour once applied.

Another vote for salt, we were flea infested last year and one of my cats reacted to a flea treatment.

The vet advised table salt, you have to sprinkle it all over the carpet quick thickly and leave it for as long as possible.

I boiled washed everything as well, bleached the house top to bottom etc.,

It worked for us (I have four cats).

You can get Advantage at Pets at home as not prescription.

What no-one else has said is that you need to keep treating all the animals every 4 weeks ( in the case of advantage, advocate, stronghold, broadline) on an ongoing basis FOREVER, otherwise Your cats will just go outside and get infested again and bring the fleas back home. Also nothing will kill the flea eggs in your home so you need to ensure that whenever they hatch they will be killed by the treatment on your cat.

Hoover house thoroughly then spray indorex everywhere - the house/curtains/gaps in skirtings/car etc. Indorex kills all stages of the flea life cycle. Leave for 3 days then hoover again.

Leave saucers of water under bookcases/beds etc to see if fleas are still present as they tend to jump in.

Flea collar in hoover

Advocate every 4 weeks on cat and let cat go everywhere in house so be ones a flea killing machine when fleas jump on and bite.

Indorex every year as per above.

Flea bombs/foggers/ shop bought products are a waste of money - don't bother.

Good luck

*becomes

Is Program effective for outdoor cats please? Bogbastard has fleas yet again and I'm wondering if it's a good idea.