Fleas I can't get rid of.

[inthisworld]

Hi, I'm posting here as I am at my wits end and it's making the whole family miserable.

We looked after a friends kitten (almost an adult) while they went travelling for about 6 weeks. Everything was great until about 3 days before the kitten was due to go home.

We haven't had cats before as a family but both had them as kids a long time ago.

My partner found a flea on his arm one evening so we checked the cat and it was infested, I don't know how we didn't notice as it was terrible. It's a black cat but still. Ever since he has been bitten endlessly by something, I told him probably midge flies as it's hot etc but it's severe now.

The cat is a house cat so has never been outside or to anyone else's house. And we don't have any pets of our own and we don't know anyone else who owns a cat. My parents have a dog but it's flead monthly and I've checked it to make sure we're not just bringing them back.

We went straight to pets at home and bought all the necessary stuff to control the infestation and I told my friend, she was mortified and apologised even though we have no idea when the fleas got to the cat so I told her not to worry.

We treated the kitten with the best they said to get in the shop and also spent an absolute fortune on sprays and powders etc for our home to make sure we covered everything.

We literally hoovered and washed everything, and have done so ever since as we were told they lay lots of eggs so we have kept treating the house but the cat has been gone a week and a half and we are still finding fleas on us from time to time.

We've gotten rid of the rug in our living room as it's a really deep pile and I worried they could be living in it. It's honestly making us so miserable. We have two children and it is freaking me out that I'll never get rid of this problem.

I read online that the fleas can live up to two weeks without a host which I assume would have to be an animal? But I don't know much about them.

Sorry for the long post but please please can anyone suggest anything to help, I can't relax in my own home and it's a horrible feeling. My partner is covered in itchy bites and I feel so bad for him. The rest of us haven't been bitten apart from me once or twice. I probably find one on myself once every day or two at the moment.

Thank you 😊

Watching as our cat is going to the vet in 5 minutes due to being flea-ridden.

We also treated him with stuff from Pets At Home - vet said over the phone that Frontline is increasingly not working so wishing I hadn't bought a 6 pack now.

We have sprayed the house with an excessive amount of Indorex (it said 1 can for a 3 bed house, I did 3 and a half!) and were gratified to see a dying flea in the process. So potentially the only live fleas left are on the cat.

The cat is not bothered even though his hair is falling out.

@AnnaMagnani

That's exactly what we bought! To be fair, within a few hours we saw dying fleas on the kitchen floor at the time (we kept the cat in there to make sure it was working). And that spray seems good but we have no cat and still have fleas 😩 it seems like a never ending problem at the moment.

I hope the vet can sort it for you. It's interesting that the spot ons aren't working as well

We had, for the first time in years of pet ownership, a hell-express delivered flea problem last summer. It was insane. No matter how much I treated the cats and dog, spot-on just wasn't enough. And I really didn't want to fumigate the house.
For us, 'Zero In' home flea powder did the trick. You just shake it on carpets, sofas, wherever the pets really hang out (one of our places was the chair in front of the PC desk- there were fleas galore).
I just leave the powder to sit for a few hours (you don't have to leave it that long but I tend to) on a day when I'm going out. I hoover it up when I'm back home.

This year, I started treating the pets earlier than usual with spot-on (from about March/April- usually I wait until summer) and I haven't had to use the flea powder this year apart from once in the bedroom when I noticed a single flea. It never mushroomed into a bigger problem. I just laid down the flea powder on the carpet where the dog had been curled up sleeping and it seemed to do the trick.

It's a bit hard to shake the stuff out- it requires patience, but it works.

Thank you @TheVanguardSix I'll get some and try that! It sounds promising!

Bravecto spot on and Indorex for the house and then again two weeks later.

You need to spray in your hoover as well.

We have come back with Bravecto, wormer and yet more Indorex.

Fingers crossed.

If you have cars, you ought to treat those with indorex too. I read somewhere that for every flea on your pet, there are 200 more eggs/fleas in your home. Don't forget to treat porches and entrance halls too.
Best of luck

Get a pest controller in. They have access to much more powerful insecticides than you can get over the counter.

Rotate your treatments. If you use Frontline all the time, the fleas will start to tolerate it.

We use Frontline, then Advantage and the time after that, another treatment I can't remember the name of right now, then, back to Frontline.

Has the cat gone home yet? If so call the local council and get a pest controller out, they will come and spray your house and it’s kills every single living thing in it. Not cheap…. Around £90 but it’s the only thing that worked for us

Yes and if you get the powder, OP, definitely change the bag after you hoover up everything.