BS: Fleas

Subject: BS: Fleas
From: GUEST
Date: 09 Aug 12 - 05:54 AM

I have two cats and each year suffer from fleas, they don't bother my wife but I get bitten to death and have constantly itching, especially on my legs. The cats are treated as is the house but I cannot rid the place of fleas. Any ideas of how to better treat the house, the cats and me.

Subject: RE: BS: Fleas
From: GUEST,999
Date: 09 Aug 12 - 08:27 AM

I hope this is helpful.

Subject: RE: BS: Fleas
From: jacqui.c
Date: 09 Aug 12 - 08:30 AM

From experience I would say that repeated treatments of the house over a period of a year is the only way to really get rid of fleas. The eggs can sit for quite a while before hatching.

Subject: RE: BS: Fleas
From: artbrooks
Date: 09 Aug 12 - 08:37 AM

Flea bombs, at least 3 times, six weeks apart (as I remember). If your cats go out, figure that they will bring some in, flea collar or not, so this is really an ongoing process. We haven't been bothered with them since we moved to 5000 feet, but that may not be the best long-term solution for everyone.

Subject: RE: BS: Fleas
From: pdq
Date: 09 Aug 12 - 09:04 AM

Do you have a yard? Do the cats play outside? What part of the country do you live in?

Subject: RE: BS: Fleas
From: GUEST,CS
Date: 09 Aug 12 - 09:15 AM

Groom daily - only takes twenty minutes and the cats LOVE it.
Hoover at least twice a week.

Subject: RE: BS: Fleas
From: olddude
Date: 09 Aug 12 - 09:53 AM

Treat the cats with Advantage .... this is the worst year ever since it has been so warm. That stuff works like a charm ...

Subject: RE: BS: Fleas
From: GUEST,leeneia
Date: 09 Aug 12 - 10:18 AM

You don't say what treatments you are using. Treatment runs the gamut from calling in a pesticide applicator to putting lemon juice on the cats' fur (good luck with that.)


If you read the literatur (like that website), you'd get very discouraged. It seems like your whole house is loaded with fleas - fleas and their eggs in bedding, in the furniture, in carpeting, in the grass. The 'experts' are against any modern, professional products (pesticides), but they never back up their fears. They recommend 'natural' controls but they never provide evidence that they work.

Here's my latest experience. About three years ago, I took my cat (indoor cat) to the vet's to be boarded for a vacation, and the assistant reported quite stiffly that she had had "many fleas" and needed treatment. We had had no idea. We hadn't noticed fleas, and we hadn't been bitten. So we bought some Front Line, which you apply to the back of the cat's neck. (where she can't lick it off) If fleas hatch in the house and jump on her, they die from the Front LIne.

We have not vacuumed, have not washed blankets, have not sprayed. We do brush her, but haven't noticed any fleas. Every month she gets her treatment on the back of her neck. Now my vet sells a brand called Revolution instead of Front Line.

I believe the monthly treatment works better than a flea collar.

I have a friend who has several pets. She deals with fleas by combing with a flea comb and dipping the fleas (which can't stand heat) in a tin can of hot water. How she finds the time, I do not know.

If you are really bothered by the idea of fleas in your house, sure, you can vacuum, throw away the vacuum bag, (because they survive in it), and wash all the bedding. But to listen to the "experts" you'd have to be doing that constantly. And when they say vacuum, they mean vacuum every carpet, every crack, every joint in the furniture. Who can really keep doing that?

You say you are suffering many bites. I'd be willing to bet that the fleas that bite you are landing on you out-of-doors. They are not leaping off your cats and on to you. My friend's vet told her, "Fleas aren't stupid. They aren't going to leave a nice warm pet, whose fur they can hide in, to jump onto you." My experience is that that vet was right.

Back to fleas out of doors: I once visited a friend in a nice, tidy suburb with velvety, manicured lawns everywhere. I walked from my car into his house, and discovered many flea bites on my legs. Don't believe that propaganda about keeping your yard nice and neat to keep out fleas.)

How rich are you? I suggest you indulge your mental health and send the cats to the vet for treatment, hire a professional to fog your house, get some dope for the backs of their nets, put cortisone on your bites so they heal, and then just exercise ordinary cleanliness about the house. Then KEEP YOUR CATS INSIDE.

The cheap plan is get some neck-dope, brush the kitties for a while, dipping any fleas in hot water, vacuum (immediately destroy bag), wash bedding, then KEEP THE CATS INSIDE, for their sake and the birds'.

Subject: RE: BS: Fleas
From: Bettynh
Date: 09 Aug 12 - 10:55 AM

Brushing is nice, but fleas know how to run and hide in fur. Your cats are walking transport for adult fleas and shelter for their eggs. Give them a bath - nice warm water deep enough for them to sit in, lots of soap, and enough time and soap to remove both adult fleas and the dirt/eggs on the skin. Be sure every flea is washed down the drain. Do it weekly, and it'll make a difference. For yourself, if you look down and see many fleas, jump into a bathtub and wash them off with lots of soap. If you can stand it, go back to the area where the fleas were and vacuum, making mad dashes to the tub to scrub off the ones that jump on you. Wash all the cats' bedding and hang it outside for a week or more to dry. Take a critical look at the cats' lounging places - a cat tree covered with rug glued to wood or cardboard can't be washed, and will need to be sprayed heavily, for example.

My cats never learned to like a bath, but they endure, and feel much better. Be sure the water is really warm (cats' body temp is higher than ours) and there's a clean warm (hot for us) place for them dry off (clean bedding). After the summer, when the fleas have slowed reproduction a bit, is the time for the neck-dope. It's a long-term treatment, I think, and not very effective when you all are being literally eaten alive. Baths are more of a struggle when the temperatures (and dew-point in winter) are lower, so brushing may be enough most of the time.

Subject: RE: BS: Fleas
From: GUEST,999
Date: 09 Aug 12 - 10:59 AM

Leeneia's advice about keeping the cats inside is smart.

Subject: RE: BS: Fleas
From: SINSULL
Date: 09 Aug 12 - 11:19 AM

Treat the cats and VACUUM VACUUM VACUUM all surfaces until the problem is gone.

Subject: RE: BS: Fleas
From: GUEST,999
Date: 09 Aug 12 - 12:21 PM

I saw one site that suggested adding a flea collar to the vacuum bag to kill off fleas that get in there. (Don't know why they suggest that. I always heard that nothing lives in a vacuum.)

Subject: RE: BS: Fleas
From: Bee-dubya-ell
Date: 09 Aug 12 - 12:23 PM

The only thing I've ever found that handles a severe flea infestation is a professional exterminator. You can easily spend more for off-the-shelf products (and run a higher risk of toxic exposure) trying to fight them yourself than if you just bit the bullet and paid a pro for a one-time treatment.

Subject: RE: BS: Fleas
From: Ebbie
Date: 09 Aug 12 - 12:30 PM

Or move to Alaska. My vet told me that fleas on an animal in Juneau means only that the animal is a recent importee, that fleas will not survive here.

No-see-ums and skeeters are a different subject...

Subject: RE: BS: Fleas
From: Charley Noble
Date: 09 Aug 12 - 12:55 PM

This is the first summer in ages that we've had continuous flea infestations. Usually applying Frontline to our two cats was enough to deal with the critters. This year we are spraying three different kinds of organic sprays, vacuuming and throwing away the bags, and capturing them one by one with masking tape on our legs and ankles. We may have to exercise the nuclear option.

Since we've temporarily moved to Chicago we haven't seen any fleas but at the daily hotel and restaurant prices we are paying this may not be a viable option for much longer.

Cheerily,
Charley Noble

Subject: RE: BS: Fleas
From: GUEST,leeneia
Date: 09 Aug 12 - 01:20 PM

BWL, you speak much sense.
John: loved your joke

But how do flea collars work? Do they kill fleas or simply mess with their sex lives? A flea collar in a vacuum-cleaner bag may act too slowly to keep fleas from escaping.

I suppose a person can give a cat a bath, particularly if you started when the cat was a kitten. But my little lady was adopted from an abusive home. She loves us, but has lots of fears. If we tried to put her in water, I'm sure serious lacerations would result, and she would lose her trust in us.

For heaven's sake, don't use Dawn soap, as suggested on a site linked here. Dawn soap is designed to degrease kitchen pots, and it's too strong.

Charley: can you find a nice 'residence inn' so you can cook for yourselves? How do you like Chicago? The aquarium is great, also the Art Institute. I've also had it on the back burner to visit the Oriental Institute.

I hope Chicago is cooler than Kansas City. We've had weather over 100 for days. Fortunately, the hot spell just broke. 88 feels like heaven.

Subject: RE: BS: Fleas
From: theleveller
Date: 09 Aug 12 - 01:27 PM

Bath the cats? Do I look like I need skin grafts? A dose of Frontline every three months sorts them out and I won't have to have a blood transfusion.

Subject: RE: BS: Fleas
From: GUEST,999
Date: 09 Aug 12 - 03:06 PM

Leveller: may I suggest you get soap on the cats then put them in a flush toilet to rinse them. Find a willing volunteer to open the toilet lid after a half dozen flushes.

Subject: RE: BS: Fleas
From: GUEST,Eliza
Date: 09 Aug 12 - 05:04 PM

Frontline is excellent (as has been suggested already) But you say these fleas are bad 'each year' and I'm wondering if what your cats have got is actually harvest mites. Here in UK during harvesting of wheat etc the tiny mites that live among the crops seem to get averywhere and cause much irritation with our cats, particularly behind their ears, causing scabs and lumps. Frontline should deal with these mites, but your vet may prescribe something more effective.

Subject: RE: BS: Fleas
From: Charley Noble
Date: 09 Aug 12 - 05:55 PM

leeneia-

No, we need to get back home to Maine. Chicago has been nice; today I explored the Navy Pier. My concert went well and we've enjoyed prowling around, and Judy had her NCSL meetings. But our two cats miss us, not to mention their little friends. I can just imagine how they will all jump with delight as we open the door.

Cheerily,
Charley Noble, still adrift in Chicago

Subject: RE: BS: Fleas
From: gnu
Date: 09 Aug 12 - 06:22 PM

I had terrible problems with fleas on the cats for years but finally found the solution. Never had a flea bite since.

The ex took the cats.

Ohhh... I GOTTA... no ex bites since either. >;-)

Subject: RE: BS: Fleas
From: Neil D
Date: 09 Aug 12 - 09:54 PM

Vacuum every day and either throw away the bag outside, or empty the canister outside depending on the model that you own. I asked my vet last year what they recommend when our house got fleas from our dog. First we had to switch from Advantage, it didn't work as well. They recommended Knockout spray by Virbac. They use it in office, so I got it on Amazon. It costs about $20 a can, but one can goes a long way, covers about 2000 sq. ft. It worked like a charm and keeps fleas from coming back for7 months. Here is a link to for the spray on Amazon. Good luck.

                                 Christina

Knockout Spray

Subject: RE: BS: Fleas
From: theleveller
Date: 10 Aug 12 - 04:19 AM

"Leveller: may I suggest you get soap on the cats then put them in a flush toilet to rinse them. Find a willing volunteer to open the toilet lid after a half dozen flushes."

Well thanks a lot! I tried that but forgot to take them out and then sat down without looking....think I'll have to change my name to Claude Balls.

Subject: RE: BS: Fleas
From: GUEST,Wyrd Sister
Date: 10 Aug 12 - 06:09 AM

I've just returned from the vet (dog's booster jab) and they said they'd never known a summer like it for flea infestation. This is UK, despite all the rain which you'd think would have drowned them.

I back up the Frontline/Fipronil on the neck, although this time the vet recommended pills for the dogs. Never trying that for the cats tho'!

For yourself, antihistamine tablets, or even painkillers to deaden the nerve endings if the itching gets too bad.

Subject: RE: BS: Fleas
From: GUEST,leeneia
Date: 10 Aug 12 - 10:08 AM

Eliza, that's interesting about the harvest mites. I'd never even heard of them.

Apparently the Guest who started this thread never came back. Don't you just love people like that?

Subject: RE: BS: Fleas
From: GUEST,Eliza
Date: 10 Aug 12 - 01:42 PM

Hello there leeneia! The Latin name is Trombicula autumnalis. They cause just as much irritation as fleas here, especially during August & September. They can also bite humans. I don't know if they exist in other countries, but I'm guessing they do, in some form.
Yes, you'd think the mysterious Guest would come back and comment on our helpful suggestions!

Subject: RE: BS: Fleas
From: Bat Goddess
Date: 10 Aug 12 - 02:13 PM

Charlie, I LOVE the Oriental Institute. One of my favorite museums.

I'm allergic to any insect that injects an anticoagulant -- fleas, mosquitoes... So if there's a flea in the house, I know it. For your itching, antihistamine plus hydrocortisone cream.

Both the cats are now indoor cats, so I haven't had to deal with fleas for some time now.

The main thing is, you've got to get the second hatching two weeks after you treat.

I've used various commercial and organic flea collars and sprays and flea bombs a couple times. (I found them to be more aggravation than they were worth.) Then I put moth crystals under the rugs and down in the cushions of chairs, etc. But you've got to be really careful with moth crystals. Probably best if you put them in the vacuum cleaner bag. They're poisonous and release benzene fumes and are probably most safely used in the vac and then disposed of.

Linn

Subject: RE: BS: Fleas
From: GUEST,peregrina
Date: 10 Aug 12 - 02:58 PM

There's also an anti-flea injection called Program. It interrupts flea lifecycle at a different stage from collars and frontline and lasts about 6 months. If you have indoor cats and clean your house really well after the shot, you may be able to get house and cats flea free for a good long time. It's a good option if you don't like the idea of the susbtances in collars and frontline circulating in your house.

Subject: RE: BS: Fleas
From: Gurney
Date: 10 Aug 12 - 08:23 PM

To rid the house of fleas. Go away for a couple of days!
Frontline the cats, take them to the cattery, fleabomb the house, leave the house closed up to raise the heat level.
Fleas hatch in the heat and succumb to the insecticide in the fleabombs.
The aerosol fleabombs we get have the active ingredient of Pyrethrum. They are on-only aerosols, start them and get out.
Vacuum in shorts when you come home. Any surviving fleas will land on your legs and you'll feel them.

Pyrethrum, derived from plants, kills plants! The aerosol propellant is sometimes flammable, so unplug everything, extinguish the pilot lights in gas appliances. Read the instructions on the can.

Works in summer.

Subject: RE: BS: Fleas
From: gnu
Date: 10 Aug 12 - 08:47 PM

"The aerosol propellant is sometimes flammable, so unplug everything, extinguish the pilot lights in gas appliances."

But, surely that would take care of the fleas AND any housework needing done?

Subject: RE: BS: Fleas
From: GUEST
Date: 11 Aug 12 - 05:45 AM

Thanks for all the advice folks, preperations are now in place for an all out assault on the flea population. Vacumm is being tuned up, sprays, collars, bombs are being purchased (again) .. This is war!

Just one thing, I am inundated with bites, my wife isn't, how is it that one person can be badly effected and one not?

Subject: RE: BS: Fleas
From: Bat Goddess
Date: 11 Aug 12 - 07:37 AM

You, like me, are allergic to the anticoagulant injected by fleas. Your wife is simply not allergic.

When I was a child, my mother just couldn't understand how much mosquito bites itched. I didn't swell up, just itched FOREVER. I'd get slapped for scratching them off.

I'm affected the same way by flea bites, just itching for what seems an interminable amount of time. Once I got physically ill from too many blackfly bites, but at least I never got sick from mosquitoes or fleas.

Take an antihistamine (like Benedryl) and rub hydrocotisone into the bites. I need both for the itching to stop.

Glad I haven't had to deal with fleas for a number of years now. Both our cats are inside cats.

Linn

Subject: RE: BS: Fleas
From: maeve
Date: 11 Aug 12 - 08:28 AM

Might be helpful:

http://www.ipm.ucdavis.edu/PMG/PESTNOTES/pn7419.html

Gardens Alive Flea Light Trap

Subject: RE: BS: Fleas
From: Charley Noble
Date: 11 Aug 12 - 11:45 AM

Thanks for all the advice and humor!

We just got a report from our cat-sitter that our fleas are alive and well, and eagerly awaiting our return.

Charley Noble, still adrift in and about Chicago

Subject: RE: BS: Fleas
From: GUEST,Eliza
Date: 11 Aug 12 - 01:35 PM

I sometimes use a steel fine-toothed nit comb ( available from any chemist) to check my cats. You only need to pass it through the fur at the neck. Any flea poo (small brown bits) or actual fleas (squash immediately between your thumb nails) can be spotted easily. Then you get busy with the Frontline. If it's just the odd flea, the comb will find it and you can sort it out without Frontline.

Subject: RE: BS: Fleas
From: Gurney
Date: 11 Aug 12 - 04:06 PM

Gnu, "Surely that would take care of the fleas..."
I'd think it more likely that the little devils would be happily hopping around the wreckage. They are TOUGH.

'Happily Hopping.' That would make a title for a children's song.

Subject: RE: BS: Fleas
From: gnu
Date: 11 Aug 12 - 08:22 PM

Indeed. The little buggers are resilient. As Eliza said, "...or actual fleas (squash immediately between your thumb nails)..."

Yeah, right. Try to get the little bastards in the right position. And you GOTTA! or you can't get close to crushin em. Sledge hammer!

Or, if yer Dan, 12 ga slug.

Subject: RE: BS: Fleas
From: GUEST,Eliza
Date: 12 Aug 12 - 05:04 AM

I once took in a poor little stray cat, and did the nit-comb routine with him. The fleas get caught in the tines, it's quite easy to squash them. I got over FIFTY of the little buggers. In those days Frontline wasn't invented, and you had to use an aerosol which would've terrified the cat. I rehomed the little chap, and he grew into a lovely grey moggy.

Subject: RE: BS: Fleas
From: GUEST,leeneia
Date: 12 Aug 12 - 06:25 PM

Catch the fleas on the comb and dip them into a can of hot water which you have handy. Much more pleasant than trying to squash them.

Sometimes they manage to jump off the comb, though. I suppose they get right back on the pet and get caught next time.

Subject: RE: BS: Fleas
From: GUEST,999
Date: 12 Aug 12 - 06:35 PM

Fleas, more than ya wanna know, maybe.

He mixes up the use of affect and effect. Otherwise, it's a pretty informative article.

Subject: RE: BS: Fleas
From: Tattie Bogle
Date: 12 Aug 12 - 07:46 PM

As an aside to this, can anyone explain how a cafe in Spain had decided to display an English translation of their menu outside.
The heading was "FLEAS AND SANDWICHES"! (We fell about laughing!)
I can't work out how they could have got fleas? (Spanish for which is pulga - is there another meaning??)

Subject: RE: BS: Fleas
From: GUEST, topsie
Date: 13 Aug 12 - 07:30 AM

A handwritten T and a handwritten F can be confused, so maybe an over-elaborate T became Fl - thus Fleas for Teas.

Subject: RE: BS: Fleas
From: Tattie Bogle
Date: 13 Aug 12 - 09:38 AM

Nope, it was typed: definitely Fleas and I have the photo to prove it! Anyway teas are not very Spanish! Their coffee is very good!

Subject: RE: BS: Fleas
From: GUEST, topsie
Date: 13 Aug 12 - 09:48 AM

It could have been typed by someone who had been given a handwritten note. I agree about the Spanish coffee, but this menu was presumably meant to attract English tourists.

Subject: RE: BS: Fleas
From: GUEST
Date: 13 Aug 12 - 02:21 PM

"F" Day is tomorrow, everyone out at work, cats locked out in the garden. I've got enough gas bombs, fuggers, sprays, candles, ointments etc to deal with a small continent. Thanks for all of your advice, hope it works, we've got friends staying next weekend!

Subject: RE: BS: Fleas
From: WalkaboutsVerse
Date: 14 Aug 12 - 06:00 AM

It went down like a lead balloon but, standing in a lift, I once reminded my fellow passengers that, if we could jump like flees, we wouldn't need a lift - apparently, more than 100 times their body-length!

Subject: RE: BS: Fleas
From: GUEST,petecockermouth
Date: 14 Aug 12 - 06:12 AM

do the wee birds nearby a favour and your neighbours whose gardens your cats crap in and drown the vermin. everyone wins!

Subject: RE: BS: Fleas
From: Charley Noble
Date: 14 Aug 12 - 07:35 AM

Nit-comb, check! Boiling water, check!

Well, the little devils were certainly pleased to see us come into the kitchen. They gave a cheer and jumped with delight onto our pantlegs, twenty at a time.

We sprayed and vacuumed again. and doused our two cats with Frontline again.

This morning we haven't found a live flea but we know that more will be hatching soon.

We may need to use the flame-thrower...

Charley Noble, back in Maine

Subject: RE: BS: Fleas
From: GUEST,Seayaker
Date: 15 Aug 12 - 05:43 AM

I had a working dog that used to pick up fleas like a magnet picks up iron filings. The Vet sold me some "Advantage" which worked a treat.

It's very important not to use dog Advantage on a cat though; it can kill them.

Subject: RE: BS: Fleas
From: GUEST,Seayaker
Date: 15 Aug 12 - 05:54 AM

btw. Tried Guest999's cat flush method.

Soap up cat, into toilet, lid down.

Couple of flushes.

Lid up, no cat.


Toilets really clean though.