Fleas!! Very long- but I beg for help!?

Question

Fleas, need advice!! (kind of long)?

Between my room mate, my boyfriend, and myself our home seems to have been taken over by fleas! We have two indoor cats and one small dog.

I know what advice I will get first hand- and thats get frontline or advantage. I know...my animals have been covered every month since we have gotten them!..so I have been taking the right precautions.

We didn't realize we had the tiny bloodsuckers as bad as we do until today though. For ten hours straight my room mate and I changed all linens and did ALOT of laundry. We used borax for the furniture and we mixed salt and bleach in a spray bottle and sprayed EVERY single baseboard in our apartment! We mopped with bleach and we vacuumed the entire place numerous times, including the furniture!

The problem is...we continued to find fleas on the animals. They received their advantage two days ago- why isn't it working? Plus, they have been covered monthly!!

Could our apartment be infested or what are we doing wrong?!? Pleeeeassseee help- this is very gross and I feel like a bad owner :(

Please give as much detail as possible and the more answers the better. Thank you to all in advance!

Answer 1

did you check yourselves for fleas or their knits? I know that idea is disgusting, but very likely and possible.

Answer 2

Just get an anti-flea spray or take them to the vet or give them to someone else. Or you may want to google "getting rid of fleas".

Answer 3

I would definitely try to get the animals out of the house for a couple hours while you clean the house, just so you know they haven't caught a few while you were cleaning.

Advantage is suppose to get rid of the fleas even through the house but it takes time.

You can wash the animals with DAWN dish soap, and it should completely get rid of them. Make sure you rinse the animals off COMPLETELY, if not it could cause some not so pleasant skin irritation.

I'm so glad you are taking care of the problem instead of getting rid of them! These animals are VERY VERY lucky!! :)

Answer 4

i used advantage and i also used Raid  Flea Killer Plus Carpet & Room Spray

http://www.killsbugsdead.com/fop_fk_pc_r...

along with the cleaning washing of the close .i used a can one each room including furniture it worked wonders especially on the rugs

Answer 5

have you tried washing your pets in a flea treatment solution since you saw the outbreak? The flea treatments you mentioned are good, but they are a preventative, because the animals already have fleas you probably need to wash them and get them flea free before using advantage again for it to be effective.

Answer 6

WOW! Listen carefully. This too is long.Borax & Bleach. Never heard of that for fleas, only roaches. Fleas and ticks are a pest population with a life of their own.

You must fumigate, for fleas & ticks (even if you don't have ticks). The problem with the spot on treatments not working is that it can't handle the overwhelming of the infestation you apparently suffer. I know health, safety & welfare are utmost important to you and you human companions.

You must be able to vacate the appartment long enough to fumigate. Protect your food product, open containers and plants, or whatever accordingly as well. But you and your animals, including fish if you have them, must leave for the time it takes to use the gas. I'm not sure if it is a "RAID" product but you can find it in Home Depot or even your local grocery if they carry it. There is usually 2-3 in a blue pack or you can buy them individually. The product is emulsified in water to produce a gas not a spray. A small canister that has an aluminum top to peal off, fill water to water line indicated and put it back into itself  and walk away. It will emmit a slow gas that gets into cracks and crevices and is residual without leaving a residue. Set one on flat surface in each room of the apt.open doors, drawers and closets inside apartment. Close ac vents if  ac duct work is shared by other apartments. You may want to tell your neighbors and landlord. Get every one out for the required time, come back in with a towel or cheap painters mask on and air the apt for about an hour or so before settling in. Remove all poison containers, wash bed sheets and pet bed covers and check around for dead vermon that your cats might like to play with later. Roaches, rats, whatever  they might find that crawled out of the walls.  Wash tank & replace filter & water if you have fish. That said, while you were out you should have bathed your animals with a good flea shampoo, Adams or Hearts, something good. The spot on stuff is useless under your current conditions. It is going to be an expense that at first could shorten your grocery list for the month, but who can live in those conditions. Fleas at large will kill your animals and certainly create health risk for you as well.

IF YOU LET THE ANIMALS OUTDOORS AND ARE NOT THE RESPONSIBLE PARTY FOR OUTDOOR PEST CONTROL THEN YOU ARE WALKING BACKWARDS NO MATTER WHAT ADVISE YOU FOLLOW. Spot on treatment, collars, nothing will help if you let them out into an infested environment and/or don't take control of yours indoors. I own my property and have only an occasional problem. Seldom bathe my dogs and only put a flea and tick collar on them Iget from my vet. It is expensive but reliable and totally effective within 24 hrs. My dogs live out doors most of the time as they are my sentry & guards for my home. I do not have fleas in my house because I control my grounds outside. I USED TO PAY A COMPANY EVERY MONTH FOR PEST CONTROL BUT THEY DID MORE HARM THAN GOOD, AND COST ME A SMALL FORTUNE; THAT I CAN SPEND MYSELF AT HOME DEPOT FOR A FEW PRODUCTS AND DO A BETTER JOB. I HAVE GIVEN THIS SAME ADVISE TO FRIENDS AND ASSOCIATES WHO WHEN FOLLOWED CONSISTENTLY HAVE THE SAME OUTCOME AS I DO. THE KEY IS CONSISTENCY AND SPECIFIC TO YOUR ENVIRONMENT. I am a home owner, you live in an apartment. I also have neighbors with animals that don't care to heed my advise, so I have to be extra diligent. I could make a fortune on my advise but it is free. email me for more space and time to communicate.

You can also use "SEVEN" DUST.  . Comes in a red shaker canister and a 5 lb bag, last I used it. IT WILL NOT HARM YOUR PETS. Atleast it says it on the package (read it) and I have never had an animal get sick from it. Border the apartment baseboards with it powder carpets and pet beds. It has almost immediate knock down and lasts a long time. Empty your vacums after clean up fleas will manifest in the vacum. I put powder in the bag too to assist with that issue. I use it as a flea powder occasionally on the dogs. I don't have cats but know are constantly l*****g/cleaning themselves so I'm not sure I would powder the cats. But my friends have used it according to their mixed animal needs and adaptations and never heard of harm done. Try the SEVEN DUST right away because it may be a less expensive and immediate relief, not resolve, but relief, if you have to plan to fumigate. I can give more product information reference fumigation and collars once I find out the product name tomorrow or whatever if you want to email me.

Good Luck, I know this is a growing problem and summer is the worst time.

If I can help you further email at [e-mail]

  

Answer 7

I just went through the same problem. I live in a bedroom with my boy and my cat, the little bugger got out one day and came back with fleas! Within a week I couldn't even put my socks on without getting bitten, so i read on the DIY website a couple of tips. 1 was to sprinkle salt on the carpet and then vacuum it up, I tried this but I didnt really get much result. So I personally dont recomend this. I also dont recomend the expensive Advantage, as this also had no result for me.

Although, after searching and searching, I ended up buying a flea killing carpet powder, which you also have to vacuum up, this runs about $4.00 at wal-mart. I also bought this great spray called "Hartz- flea control" runs about $6.00-$7.00. I sparayed my kitty with this until he was soaked, and rubbed really well all over his coat. Within a minute the fleas just started falling dead. I left my kitty inside the shower for about an hour while I was sprinkling the carpet with  the powder (he wasn't really happy) but anyway he eventually lost all the fleas and we got rid of them, now we are flea free. It's not an easy process, but you'll be glad you did it.

Answer 8

You're not a bad owner, stop thinking that.

Yes it does sound like your apartment is infested so here's what you need to do. You need to take the cat to the vet and get the Program injection (this lasts for 6 months) and also get Capstar tablets (these kill fleas that jump on the cat). If you can leave your cat at the vet for the day it's best because you need to flea bomb your apartment and the cat needs to not be there for this as the chemicals are toxic.

Fleas are hard to kill, bleach really won't do it and the main issue is their eggs - this is what the bomb will get as well as the live fleas. If you do this you will be flea free within a week.

I realise I bang on about this a lot but I've been here myself and tried everything including Frontline and Advantage and the above method is the only one that worked for me. If the cat goes outside it will still need Frontline as Capstar and Program do not prevent ticks.

Good luck and if you can, let us know how you go!