Fleas, fleas and more fleas

[Exit]

Does anyone have any ideas on how to get rid of fleas - products or techniques that work well? It is a really a bad year for fleas here. We have two cats and a dog with fleas. They seem to be passing the fleas back and forth. I am not sure but they may be on the carpets. One cat had a bath at the vet, which got rid of the fleas, but they returned. We put flea medicine on the dog and cats, but the fleas persist. The dog goes outside and I think she picks up more fleas each time, so it seems to be a losing battle. I remember commercials for flea collars a long time ago, but I don’t know if they still have them. If they do, which brand works the best? Any other ideas are appreciated.

 

[mike c]

i used the flea collars - put them on all the dogs - no more fleas

i even bought a second set, but never got to use them.

iirc, it was a bayer brand flea collar

 

[Rickster71]

Unfortunately there is no simple fix.
If you see adult fleas crawling on your pet,
it is only a symptom of a much larger problem.
Below are two links, good luck
http://www.doyourownpestcontrol.com/fleas.htm

http://www.howtogetridofstuff.com/pest-control/how-to-get-rid-of-fleas/

 

[Adam]

My dog started to have a flea problem last year. We go for walks through the "wilderness", and she picked them up. Like Rick said, there can be a much larger issue than you realize. They could be all throughout your house. I think that the key is to break their reproduction cycle.

Rick's links provide a lot of good info. I read through sites like that back when the problem was worse. I haven't gone as far as to treat my yard and whole house with chemicals, but I think that the fleas have been greatly diminished for us by doing the following few things:
1. Get a product that will kill the fleas on your pets and that has some longevity to help kill fleas that aren't on them on the time of application. I've started using Frontline Plus, but there are others out there. Flea collars certainly also have longevity, but I've read (doesn't mean it's true) that they can have more adverse effects than the topical treatments.
2. Vacuum. Research has shown that getting sucked through a vacuum cleaner is harsh enough that it kills fleas.
3. Wash the bedding/sheets that your pets use to try to kill fleas/eggs that are there.

Best of luck to you and your friends.

Adam

 

[Halon451]

I agree, there is no simple fix, so you must prepare yourself for a battle.

Two things I would immediately recommend (as I have been through the scenario you describe), is this:

1.) You must do a whole-yard treatment for fleas - I was lucky to find a local pesticide dealer in my area, a small privately owned shop that sells industrial and commercial grade pesticide products. The fellow in there was extremely helpful and suggested a product called Talstar, which came in granular form and is easily dispensed in the yard with an ordinary handheld seeding dispenser.

2.) At the same time, you must bath each of your pets with a good flea/tick shampoo to kill the living fleas on their bodies. Following this, I use Advantix (available through local vet offices) - it's like Frontline, where you squeeze the liquid from a tube onto their shoulder area, but this stuff actually works. It's a monthly dose, and they're about $20/dose at my vet. I've used all the other brands before, and I swear by this stuff - it actually does work.

3.) The third aspect of this battle is to rid your carpet and upholstery from the fleas and eggs that have been deposited there. This is the trickiest part - b/c you may not get all of the eggs, so two weeks later, voila - you're going to have some fleas appear again. The trick here is to utilize a good flea spray that they make for carpet and fabrics, and vacuum the HELL out of your home, I mean literally multiple times in a row.

This is the three pronged attack that I ended up having to do, and we've been flea-free ever since. The key is to do all of these simultaneously, so you're not undermining one of the three by not doing the other.

Hope that helps - good luck!

 

[Rickster71]

Great advice from Adam and Halon.

If I may add one thing. Throw out the vacuum bag after you're done, so the eggs won't hatch, and re-infest.
Good Luck.

Rick

 

[itschris]

We just had a bout with this when our friend came with their dog. First, I don't think I'd use flea collars... especially on a small animal. We have a 21 pound cat and it did nothing for the fleas and the vet told us not to. Your basically hanging a poison ring around their neck that typically will not work.

The first thing is bath them and get yourself either Advantage or one of the other vet recommended treatments. You just put a little on the back of their neck and it circulates through the oils in their skin. When we put it on Fudgie, you could actually see some fleas jumping off and die. Fleas in your home will still jump on your pets, but will die.

Boric acid is great for treating carpets and make sure you throw out the bag when you vaccume. The yard needs to be treated as well. Also, get a comb and comb out your pets. It's a good way to check the progress. If you're still getting a lot of "flea dirt" then you still have the fleas.

You gotta do everything at once in a coordinated attack.

 

[Tarub]

Shoot em'!

Kill em' all and let God sort em' out.

Pray for peace but prepare for war!

 

[MinusTheBear]

The best line of defense with fleas is prevention. There are many good products out there for flea prevention. They also help control things as ticks and mites etc. Get them on a program in the spring and then you do not have to worry about any infestations on your dog and in your home.

Lots of great options out there like Advantage, K9 Advantix, Capstar, Frontline Plus, talk to your vet and see which one is right for your beloved pooch.

 

[10010011]

I would highly recommend Advantage to kill and keep the fleas off your pets.

As for the ones in the house, good old flea bombs seem to get them. I prefer the Raid Fumigator over the aerosol bombs.

If you do not want to use chemicals then they say a mixture salt and boric acid powder (like you use for roaches) works.

 

[jvgillow]

Advantage worked great for my cats when they had fleas earlier this year. I also went through the trouble of treating the carpet and vacuuming thoroughly, although I don't know how much good that did. It's most effective to treat the host animal.

I did stop using it 3 months after the problem went away since my cats are indoors only. With outdoor animals you really need to keep continual treatment.

 

[j_garcia]

Revolution is the single best product I have ever used. Advantage is similar but didn't work as well for my cats.

Boric acid works well in the yard but it kills other insects also, some of which can be beneficial if you do any kind of gardening - food or floral.

 

[PSWii60]

My dog started to have a flea problem last year. We go for walks through the "wilderness", and she picked them up. Like Rick said, there can be a much larger issue than you realize. They could be all throughout your house. I think that the key is to break their reproduction cycle.

Rick's links provide a lot of good info. I read through sites like that back when the problem was worse. I haven't gone as far as to treat my yard and whole house with chemicals, but I think that the fleas have been greatly diminished for us by doing the following few things:
1. Get a product that will kill the fleas on your pets and that has some longevity to help kill fleas that aren't on them on the time of application. I've started using Frontline Plus, but there are others out there. Flea collars certainly also have longevity, but I've read (doesn't mean it's true) that they can have more adverse effects than the topical treatments.
2. Vacuum. Research has shown that getting sucked through a vacuum cleaner is harsh enough that it kills fleas.
3. Wash the bedding/sheets that your pets use to try to kill fleas/eggs that are there.

Best of luck to you and your friends.

Adam

I agree. Although I don't have any pets (do toddlers count) my in-laws do and they use Frontline Plus. They said it works great! Anyone have a cure for ants?

 

[j_garcia]

My vet said Frontline is garbage. We tried it and it wasn't working which is why we took them to the vet and confirmed what we had already found out. YMMV.

Boric acid mixed with sugar is very similar to what is used in ant stakes, and seems to work very well. They eat it and take it back to the colony and it kills them and is also relatively harmless to pets/family. Diatomacious earth is also a good repellant around the outside of the house.

 

[Halon451]

Anyone have a cure for ants?

Ha! God, I wish I did - down here in the Sunshine State, we have a major problem with fire ant mounds. There is just no winning, you may get ahead for a while with whole yard treatments, but it usually wears off within a short period of time and you're back to square one. For a while we had those small, black (sugar ants?) making long trails on the outside of the house - again my local pesticide dealer hooked me up with some stuff that knocked that problem out real quick. It's called 'Demand CS' - comes in a small bottle of super concentrated poison - the poison is actually contained in small spheres, so it doesn't kill them right away, the roving ants bring it back to the colony where these spheres burst, and ends up killing the queen. Dead queen = dead colony. That guy has become my new best pal in pest defense!

My vet said Frontline is garbage...

Ditto - we tried Frontline first, nada. Advantage - same results, none. The only one that has worked solidly for us (and for my Golden Retriever of course ) has been Advantix (not to be confused with Advantage).

 

[MR.MAGOO]

I do not have pets so can't advise, my humorous response would be to get rid of animals with hair or feathers, and get some reptiles!

 

[sholling]

Does anyone have any ideas on how to get rid of fleas - products or techniques that work well? It is a really a bad year for fleas here. We have two cats and a dog with fleas. They seem to be passing the fleas back and forth. I am not sure but they may be on the carpets. One cat had a bath at the vet, which got rid of the fleas, but they returned. We put flea medicine on the dog and cats, but the fleas persist. The dog goes outside and I think she picks up more fleas each time, so it seems to be a losing battle. I remember commercials for flea collars a long time ago, but I don’t know if they still have them. If they do, which brand works the best? Any other ideas are appreciated.

Good luck. Flea collars don't work but drops do on dogs (not cats). Until I moved to where we live now I'd always relied on Advantage drops and they seemed to work very-very well. Fortunately, we now live in an area too arid for fleas and ticks and I've seen a grand total of 0 fleas and 1 tick in 10 years. You could always move to a desert.

 

[j_garcia]

Drops work just fine on cats. We used Revolution and it works really well. Advantage worked fine too on both the dog and cats.

 

[MrBoat]

Best soap I found to get them off of the dog was Dawn (original) dish detergent. Stuns them rather permanently. Typical flea shampoos would still have them jumping around the tub. It's worth it to pay a professional to spray the entire yard a few times.

 

[sholling]

Drops work just fine on cats. We used Revolution and it works really well. Advantage worked fine too on both the dog and cats.

I'm glad that the drop are now cat-safe. I'm probably 10 years behind the times. We just don't see fleas here.