Treating fleas in house. Indorex v "natural" (non chemical) methods

[AnotherEmma]

So, cats had fleas. Definitely our fault for not keeping on top of regular spot on treatment. Have remedied it by treating them, setting reminder on phone to do it monthly, and stocking up on treatment. (Am using stronghold
plus from vet but v expensive so will alternative with Advantage, that's worked for us in the past when we did it regularly.)

The issue is getting rid of fleas in the house. Vet recommended Indorex. The thing is that my DH has an obsession a strong preference for avoiding harmful chemicals in our home, and prefers to use natural products for everything from toiletries to household cleaning products. We have young children which is also a factor in this obsession preference. He is predictably not keen to spray everywhere with Indorex. He thinks it should be sufficient to clean thoroughly and regularly (vacuuming everywhere, washing blankets and bedding, etc) plus obviously treating the cats regularly. I am torn as I can see DH's pov but am also worried about ongoing flea infestation which is obviously not pleasant.

So, cat experts of The Litter Tray, what do you say? Have you managed to ward off fleas without Indorex and with thorough cleaning
only? Or are we just fighting a losing battle?!

Just cleaning isn't going to kill flea eggs

Indorex and go out for a while. Air property properly on return.

I haven't managed to get rid of fleas even with Indorex. I had a professional pest exterminator and still haven't managed to get rid of the bloody things. I think you have no hope with just cleaning.

Losing battle unless you absolutely strip out every last bit of furniture in your house.

If it's wood laminate, you could steam mop the whole thing, spray steam around the edges etc and the structure would be clean. You could probably do a similar thing for most of the furniture, but there is a chance it might hurt upholstery and wood.. your risk.

Cold, vacuuming, CO2 fogging, desiccation, softer chemicals (home remedies etc using daft ideas like lemon juice etc) won't do anything.

If you have a carpet, not a chance unless you go over every last inch... and even then you'd risk them jumping to a bit you've just done. Much better chance with laminate or hardwood (but then they can dive into the cracks).

Dealt with 2 flea infestations in my life. Rentokil needed for both so didn't mess around with the second one got them straight in.

And is he hot washing all of your soft furnishings and hoovering every conceivable nook and cranny?

or will he expect you to do it before admitting defeat and using the indorex anyway?

Well, no, but it'll remove them, won't it?

We keep the cats downstairs where we have hard floors and washable rugs and mats. (They were banished from hall/stairs/upstairs after one cat went through a long phase of urinating indoors in various places.)

The cats do obviously sit on the living room furniture; sofa, armchairs and cushions, so I'm concerned that vacuuming won't be enough for those, if the eggs or cocoons have burrowed deep inside.

How stinky is Indorex... any chance I could spray it and air the room while DH is not around and get away with him not noticing?!

Crikey sorry had only read first reply and there have been lots more while I was typing (slowly, it seems!)

Salt. Everywhere and leave it down for as long as you can
It will kill the current fleas and dry up the flea eggs.
We had a bad infestation and couldnt use anything harmful as we lived with someone who was house bound and a very old cat

Salt was our best friend

I still haven't recovered from having fleas. I panic every time I see a black speck 😂 we had to do several rounds of indorex (Amazon kept putting it in my suggested for you 😂) flea foggers and almost constant hoovering. It was very unpleasant, I react quite badly to bites. I thought we'd have to get rentokill in. I warn all my friends don't let your pets flea treatment lapse. I don't know if it was harder to control because we don't have pets 🤷‍♀️ we got them from looking after someone's dog.

Seems so unfair when you were doing someone a favour!

Maybe they're harder to get rid of when you don't have pets? Because if a pet's been treated the fleas should die when they bite them...

i am really kicking myself for being so lax with the flea treatment 😭

It doesn't have much of a smell. I think you'd get away with it

Thank you. Think I might do it next time he's working at the office and I'm at home.

You must use indorse or you have no chance of sorting it out.
Really important that you do the whole house including upstairs as eggs and larvae will travel on your shoes!

I won't use indorex, friend of mine suffered a prolonged bout of ME after using it (or something similar). 2 cats that go outdoors and so will pick up fleas again anyway even if we eliminated them indoors .

So we (well, the cats) live with low level intermittent fleas. They don't have flea allergies, we don't get bitten, but yes, they do scratch occasionally. What we do do is:

Spot-on treatment but not monthly, seems to be more effective if every 3-4 months

Regular hoovering (no fitted carpet bar stairs, which probably helps)
Flea comb the cats every week or so - usually catch a couple, but if we keep on it, no more that (and they purr like mad the whole time)

That is disgusting, it’s cruel to knowingly let your cat live with fleas . I hope you tell any visitors to your home that you have fleas .

I find it interesting that although the majority advocate using Indorex, there are two people on this thread who haven't/don't use it, so DH is not alone in his opinion, and it does put me in a tricky position.

Frankly I just don't know if we have the time or energy to obsessively clean everything in our house only to find that the fleas return - the thought of it is very depressing.

Accepting a low level flea infestation is not an option because one cat has an allergic reaction and we've been bitten ourselves, the bites are very itchy and unpleasant.

@AnotherEmma you could get the Program injection for your cats , it works by sterilising the fleas . Most vets have a monthly scheme which covers flea / worms / annual vacs etc so may be worth looking into .

Using Indorex now to sort what's probably a small flea problem will use far fewer 'chemicals' than when DH's 'natural' methods fail and you end up with a bigger flea problem and have no choice but to use even more 'chemicals'.

We seem to have managed a flea problem with a mixture of spraying a 50/50 white vinegar and water solution on carpets, beds and soft furnishings and then followed by salt - lots of salt! Vinegar kills the adults and the salt dries up the eggs. Then very thorough vacuuming of everything including curtains etc and then immediately dispose of vacume bag. Then washed everything with some white vinegar in each wash. We were lucky that after doing this both we and the cat were out of the house for a few days and so far so good. Good luck. It’s hard work but seems to have worked and we are now 6 weeks post treatment.

Update. It has been 6 weeks since I first posted. Cats have had their second flea treatment. DH has been vacuuming and steam cleaning obsessively. We still have fleas in the house and the bites are driving me CRAZY. DC has a few, too 😭
Have renewed my research and found recommendations for diatomaceous earth, which we might try. I've also discovered that you can get flea traps?! So I will be trying those.
The cats are definitely flea-free, as far as I can tell. I stand by my theory that a treated cat is a good weapon against fleas - hopefully the bastards die when they bite the poisoned cat.

Seriously, just use the indorex

I know, I know But my DH is a stubborn bastard. I don't know how much longer to give it before putting my foot down.

Six weeks ago sounds like when you should have put your foot down, if one of the cats has an allergy.

What are you treating the cats with now? Six weeks of you and the kids all being bitten is far far too long. His method hasn’t worked. Time for Indorex