Defleaing
#11
Super Member
Join Date: Jun 2011
Location: Michigan. . .FINALLY!!!!
Posts: 6,726
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Save yourself all this work and just get flea medicine from your Vet. When you put it on your pet it will kill all the fleas on the pet and all in your house. Fleas jump on to feed off the pet's blood and jump back off. All fleas will be gone in a few days. I was so glad years ago when it was available and I have never looked back. No matter what you use you will never get rid of them.
#12
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Thread Starter
Join Date: Feb 2007
Location: Illinois
Posts: 2,104
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Yes my cat gets flea treatments. My cat goes outside but since it has gotten warmer he doesn't go out as much. But I seem to be finding them in the house. So far not a lot but but I'm sure it will be soon. Has anyone heard of the apple cider vinegar treatment?
#14
Super Member
Join Date: Jul 2010
Location: Lebanon Missouri
Posts: 2,668
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I have tried this and a dozen other ''home''flea remedies. All have failed. I have 5 fur babies and they get treated with Advantix and the house gets bombed. I get the Hot Shot bombs at Dollar General -they last longer then Raid bombs. They also get rid of Sand Flea's -Ants -EarWigs and a few other buggy pests. Hot Shot is a water based product, which is a great thing for any one with health issues and they are cheaper. I bombed the middle of May and I'm still bug free and I won't have to do it again til mid August. I put the critters out and I go do my errands.
#15
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Around here fleas are a real pest whether you have pets or not. If you go into a flea infested home you can bring home eggs on your shoes. I know this as I have had do de-flea my home several times and I do not have pets. As for natural products, borax works best. It will not kill the fleas but it will slow them way down so you can vacuum them up. Vacuuming often and well is the best ongoing treatment. Once, as I was going to gone for a few weeks, I sprinkled borax on my kitchen floor and parked the vacuum out side the door. It looked like I had spread a lot of salt on the floor, when I returned it looked like I had salt and pepper on the floor in even measures. Not yet in the door I bent over slightly to get a better look and a flea jumped up and bit my neck. So I plugged in the vacuum and scooped them all up. then I took the bag out to the burn barrel and lit them up. I swear I could hear their screams as the fire took them. The point is if you have fleas, pets or not, you will have to work at getting them out of the house. I finally used a combination of borax, vacuuming and a couple of bug bomb days. The offenders are cat fleas, they are as small as a pin head, hard to see being just a black spec, and the fact that they do not live on the host, instead they can live in any thing "soft", furniture, stuffed animals, pillows, mattresses etc. Then they heat sense a host is near and jump on for a meal. They can jump 12 feet. They lay eggs in their soft homes to perpetuate the cycle. The best daily prevention is vacuuming, vacuuming, vacuuming. However much you might want to avoid the bug bomb if you are really infested you will have to go there at least once. Fleas can go up to a year without feeding so you cannot out live them. Once you have your home flea free, and you have pets the flea prevention pet meds out there on the market are you best bet. By the way I am highly allergic to flea bites and for me they are not just itchy but quite painful. the best treatment I have found is to daub the fresh bite with vinegar to relieve the intense painful itch.
#17
Member
Join Date: Jan 2012
Location: San Marcos, California
Posts: 62
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I am a retired vet tech. Fleas have been around for years and years. Here are some things that I would recommend to my patients with great results. If you have a big flea problem you can not just treat your pet. The house, outside, etc. need to be treated also. Any good flea boom will work in the house. I would recommend you use more bombs then it says. Any good outside flea control will work. A few days after you have bombed the house put about 5 - 6 mothballs and vacum them up. Remember to vacum the sofa, chairs, etc. The moth balls will kill any fleas larvae, eggs that are left behind. From this point, use moth balls everytime you vacum. No one is ever totally free of fleas as they hitch rides on our shoes, socks, etc. But using moth balls will keep them in check. Please, please do not use any detergent on your pets. After wetting always start with the head area using baby shampoo then move backwards with a good flea shampoo leaving it on for at least 5 minutes. Or take to a groomer where they have and use professional products which are not available to the public. Good luck in your quest, you can do it.
#18
Super Member
Join Date: Mar 2011
Location: Maryland
Posts: 2,376
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Whew, I don't miss the days of flea baths and spraying the house. I keep my dog on Heartgard and Frontline year round. There is a pill that will kill the fleas on the dog very quickly. Shelters use it on incoming/outgoing dogs. (I don't know about cats; that can be different) Fleas have a hard shell because their skeleton is on the outside of their bodies. Borax breaks that down and they die.
I would consult your vet about something you can use right now for the dog and that will prevent them coming back. If your yard is full of fleas, you need something you can give on a regular basis.
There are things that are relatively non-toxic that you can use in the yard to keep the fleas down but I am not familiar with what they are.
For the house, I would either get an exterminator or invest in the flea bombs that will kill the fleas AND THE EGGS. You don't want to be doing this every time you turn around.
Good luck. It is not a pleasant problem to have.
I would consult your vet about something you can use right now for the dog and that will prevent them coming back. If your yard is full of fleas, you need something you can give on a regular basis.
There are things that are relatively non-toxic that you can use in the yard to keep the fleas down but I am not familiar with what they are.
For the house, I would either get an exterminator or invest in the flea bombs that will kill the fleas AND THE EGGS. You don't want to be doing this every time you turn around.
Good luck. It is not a pleasant problem to have.
#20
Super Member
Join Date: Sep 2011
Location: East Tennessee
Posts: 1,102
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Last year, we had a bad flea problem. I had very good luck with salt. I sprinkled it everywhere. I also put out pans of soapy water (I didn't mess with the lamp, but I'm sure that would have helped) and they just jumped right in there and couldn't jump out. I put them under furniture. They were probably trying to escape the salt!! I vacuumed every day until it was "better", then I got lazy and vacuumed once a week. I should mention that we have 3 indoor/outdoor dogs and 4 indoor cats.
This year, I was determined not to repeat. So I got the generic stuff from Walmart that is half the price of the "real" stuff and started putting it on the dogs in March. I am also very adament that the lawn stays mowed this year!
Last week, someone else told me to get Yeast pills from the Pet store. 500 pills for $10, but they are much cheaper from Amazon, so I'm ordering from there soon. She said once she started giving that to her dogs, they never had fleas. All of the dogs and all but one of the cats love them and think they are treats!! But as long as the dogs don't bring fleas in, the cats should be ok.
This year, I was determined not to repeat. So I got the generic stuff from Walmart that is half the price of the "real" stuff and started putting it on the dogs in March. I am also very adament that the lawn stays mowed this year!
Last week, someone else told me to get Yeast pills from the Pet store. 500 pills for $10, but they are much cheaper from Amazon, so I'm ordering from there soon. She said once she started giving that to her dogs, they never had fleas. All of the dogs and all but one of the cats love them and think they are treats!! But as long as the dogs don't bring fleas in, the cats should be ok.