Scared of Sevin Dust ~ help with fleas needed fast!!!

[Wiglwerm]

Ok. Here is my story. We moved down to florida a few years ago from up north. You do not have the same kind of flea problem up there...we were VERY unprepared. In 10 yrs in Mi we maybe saw 5 fleas, and of course I flipped and was sure we were INFESTED. Foolish me, I had no clue. When we moved down here our two dobies became beyond infested, I tried frontline, Advantage...barely visable results, then DE, then flea powders then dips, also put sevin dust all over the yard. I could not stand to look at my dogs scratching, I bathed then daily and thought I may go insane at the thought of all those crawlies on my babies!! THEN I TRIED COMFORTIS!!!! OMG!! That stuff is a Godsend!!! One horse pill each (supposedly monthly) and WITHIN 30 MINUTES!!! the fleas were JUMPING off of them. (first hand account) This stuff kept those fleas gone for 3 months before I had to give it again. I mentioned this to my vet and she said she noticed that she didn't need to give monthly either. If anyone here gets a flea problem this stuff will end it. I cannot use it on my small dogs under 5 lbs but if I ever have a flea season like that comfortis will be my first choice. Hope this info can help anyone fighting those nasties!!

 

[xyresicchick]

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You won't get any static from me. Do a little research on hair color, as just one example, or drugs to prevent osteoporosis and breast cancer.

Trouble is, we are already at the point that the only way to be safe is to stop eating, drinking and breathing.

Or just eat organic food.... yeah, its a little more expensive, but buying less food is the easiest way to DIET as well- which i can imagine would do good for many people in a country where obesity is an epidemic.

Oh yeah, and your HEALTHCARE costs will go down dramatically as well, since you will be healthier and not full of CHEMICALS!

 

[Laurajean]

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Sorry, I have to disagree Rufus. I'm the Manager of a Pest Control Company and a flea cannot jump 15 feet. They can jump 200-300 times their body length, but that hardly equals 15 feet.

Here is an excerpt from an article I wrote that was recently published on alternative flea control. DISCLAIMER: I wrote this article to a reader inquiring about fleas in their home and on their cat. This advice was NOT written with chickens in mind! If readers take the following advice, please remove your chickens from the coop during this process and use caution around pets and children! For example, I would not use Frontline on a chicken, this was written with dogs and cats in mind. So please take some of the advice but leave what doesn't apply with chickens.

Here is my article:

1.VERY FIRST thing to do is get Frontline from your vet (or online, as long as it is a reputable site and you are sure it's really brand name Frontline). Advantage and other professional brands from a vet are okay too, but do NOT waste your money on Hartz from your local walmart. Fleas have been immune to it for many years now, it no longer works. You must do this first, to get them dying and/or jumping off your animals. Blood is their food, so they cannot be on your cats. This way they can't thrive.

2. This may be the most under-estimated yet most effective thing you can do: Vacuum, vacuum, vacuum! I cannot stress this enough. Vacuum obsessively all over your house, carpets and floors and furniture. Whichever you have, canister or bag, change it at the end of each day or they WILL find their way out of the vacuum. Hoover's official website says that 7 back and forth passes over each strip is an effective vacuum. That means: "forward and back = one pass", etc. Seven times before moving on to a new strip. So you need to really vacuum the heck out of all possible areas. This will do several things: 1. It will suck up fleas and eggs, 2. It will suck up dead skin from people and pets that are food for them, and 3. It will cause the larvae in the cacoon stage to hatch from the vibrations, making them easier to kill and shortening this whole process.

3. Next. Either A. Hire and exterminator at this point to treat the home(best option), or B. try do it yourself methods, as follows:

To treat yourself: Buy Borax, available in your local grocery and department stores in the laundry detergent section. It's usually called "Twenty Mule Team Borax", or any brand clearly labeled Borax will do. Buy several boxes. It's cheap. Borax dries up eggs and larvae, preventing them from hatching. Go home and find a coffee can with lid, or Pringles can, etc, and poke holes in it to make a shaker can. Fill it with Borax and sprinkle heavily on carpeting and pet bedding, and in cracks and crevices of hard flooring. CAUTION: Borax is strong! You should wear a dust mask while doing this, or be in a well ventilated area, but it will make you choke if you breathe it in, so be careful. Don't touch your hands to your eyes until you are done sprinkling, then wash hands well.

Ok, so do this at least once a day. I'm a bit obsessive so I do it twice a day. But leave it for about 6 or more hours at a time, then vacuum it all up, VERY thoroughly. Again, I cannot stress enough the importance of vacuuming a TON. So after you vacuum up the borax, do it all over again. Sprinkle new borax, leave for 6 or so hours, vacuum up and repeat. Do this for at least several days to a week.

It is important that your cats be already treated with Frontline at the beginning of this process or the fleas will just jump onto them for safety, where they will have a food supply and reproduce, and you will have a never ending cycle.

A side note: Be sure to vacuum the borax up very well in the pet bed areas, so they will not breathe it in when they lie down.

An exterminator can use chemicals that will make the process quick and easy, so you need to decide if you have the money to opt for a professional, or would rather take the time to do this yourself.

If you follow the above directions and vacuum thoroughly at least twice a day, but really as often as possible, this should solve your problem. I have been sticking with the borax/vacuum method for years, and it has never failed.

Obviously, throughout this process, continue to inspect your pets and keep a close eye out at your ankles, etc, for any signs of fleas. You should notice them diminish, but it will take several cycles until they disappear. This can take a couple of weeks.

 

[HathawayHens]

I am a vet, and as a little free advice, Comfortis is a GODSEND for dogs with fleas, because they bite and they die... this stops the life cycle. For cats, any of the topicals are good. Just be certain to treat every pet in your family. Follow the above post for advice, looks good to me. Fleas are awful, I sympathize!! And it is a bad year for them... I have been seeing over 10 pets a DAY for flea allergy issues!!!!

 

[Ladyhawke1]

Yes and cancer feels so really good too after eight major operations. What don't you not understand about blood dyscrasias?

http://www.preventcancer.com/consumers/household/carcinogens_home.htm

See Flea collar:

http://www.preventcancer.com/consumers/general/dirty_dozen.htm

http://www.preventcancer.com/press/releases/may09_02.htm

Avoidable cancer and childhood cancer increase.

 

[chickbird]

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it is very harmful to the lungs of humans and animals as it contains silica.

 

[missred871]

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your vet must have super ants, we live in ga the capitol of fire ants in the summer, all we use is over and out it is the only thing that works for us. As far as your flea problem, my mom is having a time of them this year as are we. I use DE on the dogs and Sevins on the birds. Hope you find a way to curb them, they sure can suck!

 

[farmboy222]

I use pine wood shavings in my pen and nests , the pine resins repels fleas . If I did dust I would use rotenone , an organic plantroot based insecticde . I believe cat and dog flea powders use this . I use rotenone based powder for all my garden bugs including potato beetles, cucumber beetles, flea beetles,raspberry bugs,onion and carrot flies,etc. The dust is sold under various brand names . Here in Nova Scotia I buy "King Bug Killer" . It lists the active ingredient as .5% Rotenone . This stuff is very effective and completely biodegrades in a few days , so you might have to make several applications.

 

[Ladyhawke1]

This is called an anecdotal story.

My ex-in-laws once knew this Radiologist. He was one of those very educated people, and he believed that if you could not see it, feel it or tasted it….it did not exist. To make a long story short…..he never wore protective gear when taking x-rays.

Armed with his own brand of wisdom and a nice career in medicine ...his nose eventually was eaten away and you might say it just fell off.

No one knows if he had any other body parts fall off. It seems a word to the wise is sometimes NOT sufficient.

 

[darkmatter]

Ever since we got Guineas to patrol the property for Ticks, we also saw the Flea population collapse. Does anyone else know if it was the Guineas that did it? I have watched the Guineas cruise the yard pecking at stuff I couldn't see-----can they see and catch/eat such small insects?