Fleas

[Firsttimmummy]

Hi all please can I have some advice we have a massive flea issue and I have been using indorex and capstar for my animals but we still have fleas? We flea our cats and dogs every night and they still there. I'm not sure what I am going wrong as I washed their beds, obviously done the stuff above. I have a toddler and I am now being bitten which I realised I have a slight allergic reaction too but I'm more worried about my little cuties.

I called the vets and they recommended capstar and told me to order it off Amazon as it was cheaper which I did ...

Does anyone have any advice I will try anything safe. Thanks :)

I’d go to the vet for prescription strength for all of them, or a private prescription and buy online if that’s cheaper.

You need prescription strength flea treatment for all your animals - unfortunately that probably means they'll all need to go in and see the vet (depending on when they were last seen) due to a change in the law.

You need to keep vacuuming and steam-cleaning your carpets and soft furnishings to get rid of the eggs if the indorex isn't doing it.

Don’t use at home flea treatment daily unless advised to by the vet. It sounds like you need prescription strength if it’s such a big problem, can you make an appointment with the vet?

Keep going with the spray but vacuum as often as you can quite vigorously to lift the eggs out of your carpet.

Can you separate the animals while you tackle the problem so that they’re not constantly reinfecting each other?

Please make sure you’re checking the packaging of the flea treatment you’re using as it’s unlikely any should be administered daily, that’s on the stretch for a treatment overdose which can increase the risk of the adverse effects listed happening to your animals. It should be monthly between treatments for majority of brands, anymore it’s a toxicity risk.

You should call your vets practice and get them all booked in to be weighed (this can usually be a nurse consult) if they’ve been seen within the veterinary drug licensing timelines, if not it will have to be a full veterinary health check and consult for each animal done by a vet where they can usually dispense a prescription grade flea treatment which is significantly better than what you can buy over the counter in shops. Please make sure you are following the guidelines when administering it, as it is a dosage per weight.

You also need to kill the cycle in your household, due to the sheer amount of flea treatment you’re using I wouldn’t recommend using a flea shampoo additionally as you’re supposed to wait 48-72 hours after medicating an animal to use depending on the brand but instead bathe your pets in warm water with a natural gentle pet shampoo to prevent irritating them, get a flea comb (usually a few £ from the pet shop) and brush the fleas out in the water as you would typically do if a human had nits in their hair for example. You need to wash all soft furnishings that will fit in the washer, including all bedding or anywhere the cats go on a 60 degree wash. Following this, everyday you need to be steam cleaning soft furnishings and vaccuming across skirtingboards/corners/sofas/carpets.

Indorex should do a 3 bedroom house for up to 24 weeks which kills larvae (eggs) as well as fleas themselves which might have hidden from the vigorous amount of cleaning you have to do.
unfortunately, I’m not sure how many pets you have but it is likely that they are using them all as hosts and reinfecting themselves.

Capstar is another over the counter brand and can be more effective than others but if you’re not following weight dosages, not adhering to the paperwork on when to medicate unfortunately it’s just another form of chemical treatment - it also kills adult fleas only if I remember correctly so it will not stop the cycle if they’ve hatched larvae on yours pets/in the house.