Fleas :(

[geologyrocks]

Hi all,

From reading this board it seems like fleas are pretty common but they are completly new to me.

Over the past 2 weeks dd has been co planning about bites...about 7 in total which we put down to midgets or something. Yesterday at the dinner table I saw a creature on her head. I took it to the vet (mortified now haha) to get confirmation that it was a flea. I bought spot treatment advocate) and RIP Flea spray. I've booked washed all the kids bedding (except duvets) and hoover mattresses.

I'm going to lash the actual duvets into the tumble drier now...That should kill anything shouldn't it. And I've sprayed all the rooms..not as thoroughly as I'd like because we got a delivery of new beds this week and I can't access some parts of the carpet or skirting boards because the bed is just too heavy.

I feel like the whole house is CRAWLING...if anything touches off me lightly I think it's them. I feel like throwing everything away.

We actually haven't seen any fleas bar that one..would we see them hopping around? We tried to check the cats (we have two) when putting the treatment on and DH said he couldnt see any but I don't know how closely he looked. We also haven't seen any major scratching from the cats either and dp said we would.

I have one of the cats in the vets on Tuesday anyway because I feel like she has lost weight so I can ask the vet to check.

Is there anything else I can do? I'm so paranoid about them..esp because we have a 6 month old who likes to play on the carpets.

Do I need to wash all the soft furnishings in the house? All the clothes? I've done 2 lots of washing today of bedding at 90 degrees but the cycle takes so long...would I get away with 60 degrees?

Sorry that was a bit long winded but this is all completly new to me

They're horrible aren't they - you reacted quickly so hopefully it's under control now, vet can check on Tues

Yeah horrible little buggers. I'm just so that I don't know how long they have been around for. We havent been great with spot treatments up to now...now that will def change going forward

Advocate is great.
Indorex is the best for the house if it needs doing again.

You can buy a flea comb to check the cats for flea dirt/actual fleas - it will give you an idea of how big of an infestation you're dealing with... Advocate will help quickly though, and hoovering often.

Unfortunately the cats won't let us near them :(

I've been hoovering all day, I did the mattresses again last night and hovered upstairs and all carpets and rugs downstairs. I took a storage box from teenage ds room and found a day flea on the lid of it. That's the first one bar the original I've seen in the house.

I'm very concerned that I can't access everywhere in the rooms because of heavy furniture, so i cabt spray or hoover. I could barely sleep last night with the worry of it and I just feel like they are everywhere.

As an aside when ds gets in he will be straight up to clean that room....the absolute state of it...food...wrappers...crap everywhere

Do you think I should get indorex too..lash it on the house this week also?

Indorex is great if used correctly. Make sure you hoover the house concentrating on the skirting and any floorboard/cracks in the Lino etc.

Follow the instructions, apply the spray and shut the doors etc, then air the whole house and hoover again. Hoover every day for at least 10 days - - a ball ache I know but flea larve will only hatch when there are vibrations i.e. An animal walking past, a Hoover is like a huge animal as when fleas hatch, they need to feed. This is why many people find they get bite marks on their ankles if fleas have hatched (and they might not know). Flea eggs can lie dormant in the carpets etc for up to 2 years depending on the temperature (hotter the temp, the faster they complete their lifecycle). Ex VN here.

Thanks fernweh, I'll order some from Amazon tonight. I'm at work tomorrow so I won't be able to do a proper big hoover until Tuesday.

I'm raging because only last week we decorated and swapped the kids rooms with ours..they got new beds (same mattress tho unfortunately) but the beds weight an absolute ton...they can't be moved.

Our new room is tiny for our kingsized bed so I'll have to somehow get our bed up every day to hoover underneath..it's a diva.

How do I know they are gone if I have only seen the two fleas so far?

And also, if an egg hatches can that flea lay an egg straight away?

https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B078SNBN8M/ref=cmswwrcppapiii_JeroBbZR51BFB

This kind of flea trap was fab when we had problems with fleas. I kept it switched on as often as possible and it seemed to catch them. It was wonderful after seeing the sticky pad covered in fleas at the start and then empty when we'd finished dealing with them.

Flea eggs also hatch in response to a change of temp and/or Carbon dioxide in the air. We found that our when running a bath after the cat had managed to pick up fleas then sleep in the airing cupboard in the bathroom.

I'd indorexed already though, so it was hatch, hop, hop, die.

Quite satisfying not for the fleas .

Fleas, as I understand, have to feed as soon as they hatch - hence itchy ankle bites (from humans walking around the room) or pets getting bitten. The females need to feed before laying eggs, which are tiny, oval and white, and are not stuck to the hair (like lice eggs are) so fall out wherever the animal goes. Dog and cat fleas don't like human blood particularly, but will feed from a human if there is no animal immediately to feed from.

The theory around vacuuming is that to the unhatched flea (now in a cocoon) it feels as if a huge juicy animal is walking by ripe for biting. They hatch out and then take up the household flea treatment that is sat in the carpet. Then whoops dead! As you'll have eggs laid at different points, in different stages of their lifecycle, vacuuming every day will grab any mature enough to hatch at that point, and so on and so on....

As the lifecyle of the flea is temperature dependant, the higher temperatures are, the faster their lifecycle. This is why we used to see flea seasons ie summer = lots of fleas. However, central heating has changed this, but as it's been bloody glorious lately, the lifecyles will have been shorter.

Hope this helps!

Thanks so much fernweh.. very helpful!

I'm hoovering alot compared to normal but I'm still concerned about the areas I can't reach (which is alot of the skirting and carpet in the bedroom) - we had a period of just over a week where the beds were meant to be delivered and we were let down at the last minute so we had dismantled and thrown away all the other beds so we were camped on the floor so I'm extra paranoid.

I've a long shift at work tomorrow..first day back from maternity leave soon Tuesday I'll attempt to spray again all the places I can't get to.

There's been zero bites on dd since Friday...She was the only who used to bring the cat into the bed with her...And noone else has been bitten...is that wishful thinking that they are on the way out?

I checked the cats again today for all of 5 seconds...Our short haired cat seemed to have nothing on him (but then.i didn't get a proper look) but the long haired had...grit...for want of a better word on his skin...possibly flea dirt?

Thanks ladies for the tips on Indore and the trap. I'm def gonna get Indorex and be really through on Tuesday and escape the house for the day

One way of checking for flea dirt (which is flea poo - or semidigested blood) is to put the animal on an unfolded newspaper, then brush or stroke vigorously so that all the bits of dirt etc falls out of the fur onto the paper. Gather it up and get some wet cotton wool or wet white toilet roll and dab up all the bits of dirt. Leave for a couple of minutes, and if there is any flea poo, this will spread out like an ink splot.

If you get this spreading ink type colour, then you definitely have flea droppings so therefore fleas in the house.

Fleas have to live on the animal so survive, so flea poops will be present in the fur. You will only see fleas off the animal if a) they've just hatched from the environment b) they are biting you as you are the nearest animal to them once hatched c) they are on your pet d) gross, but the animal has died and they are looking for a new host.

Indorexx and RIP fleas are same stuff manufactured by different companies. So there is no additional benefit in restorative with Indorexx.

We got a bit behind with flea treatments and I saw a couple on our duvet. I boil washed everything then that weekend I sprayed the whole house with Indorex including mattresses and the sofa and left it and went out for the day. I think you hoover, spray then hoover again. If you can at least get the spray in the gaps you'd be ok.